Public Health Time Machine
I graduated from Roslyn High School on Long Island, N.Y. (pronounced LonGGG-Ghi-Land, if you’re from there) in 1986. My hair was big, my jeans were tight, and my collar was up. I was pretty clueless. Which brings me to public health . . .
I graduated from Roslyn High School on Long Island, N.Y. (pronounced LonGGG-Ghi-Land, if you're from there) in 1986. My hair was big, my jeans were tight, and my collar was up. I was pretty clueless.
If someone had asked me in 1986 if my chosen career would involve public health, I would have given them a funny look, put on my giant headphones, and turned up the volume on my Sony Walkman tape recorder to jam out to Huey Lewis and the News singing "Hip to Be Square."
Fast-forward 25 years to this past Saturday night when the '80s came roaring back at my 25th high school reunion. I've kept in touch with only a few friends from back then, and I wondered what it would be like. Would I still be the nerdy, but semi-popular kid who never really felt like he fit in? Would the men be wearing loafers with white socks? Would the women be dressed in Madonna's "Desperately Seeking Susan" chic?
As it turned out, of the 50 (in a class of almost 200) who showed up, people looked great, they had left the '80s behind, and seemed to be enjoying their lives. I had fun catching up, sharing some laughs, and reminiscing about old times with old friends.
But being the public health nerd that I am, I couldn't help but think about some of the important ways that public health has impacted our lives since 1986. I was struck by three things:
First, it is impossible to have been a child of the 1980s and not have been impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was exploding in the world around us during our teen years. Today, I imagine that the biggest societal fear that kids grow up with is terrorism. Back then it was getting sick and dying from sex. By 1986, the World Health Organization reported 38,401 cases worldwide of HIV/AIDS. Today there are approximately 34 million people living with the disease.
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