What characteristics make a leader and what challenges will public health leaders face in the coming years?
Some of public health's biggest names discussed these topics at a forum moderated by Will Hueston a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Panel members included Peter Fernandez, a high-ranking USDA official; Geoffrey Lieu, a Hong Kong-based health care executive; and Janet Porter, a top administrator of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Plotting your career to "become" a leader won't work said panel members. Rather, take time to reflect on goals, be inclusive of colleagues, and take risks.
Lieu offered this succinct leadership advice: "Do good and do right," he said. "I can't define that for you; it has to come from your heart."
Complacency is public health's biggest threat said panel members, whether the topic is pandemic disease or recruiting future leaders.
"We must build up international infrastructures," said Fernandez.
"We need to attract the best and the brightest to the field of public health," said Porter.
Hueston took the discussion one step further by linking the issue of complacency back to the discussion of leadership.
"Public health leaders should look at complacency as an opportunity rather than as a danger," he said.
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