One by one, the 76 graduates from Harpur College’s Global Public Health (GPH) program crossed the stage, receiving a Commencement sash and a warm congratulations from Professor Titilayo Okoror, the program’s founding director.
May 15 marked the first dedicated Commencement ceremony for the popular degree program, established only two years ago. The inaugural event featured two special guests: professors Michael and Carol Weingarten. They recently established the Dr. Michael S. and Dr. Carol Toussie Weingarten Endowed Faculty Fellowship, which benefits a faculty member engaged in path-breaking and relevant research, teaching, scholarship, or creative activity to enhance Harpur College’s offerings in global public health.
Michael S. Weingarten ’70, a physician and professor of surgery at Drexel University’s College of Medicine, where he is also assistant dean of Medical Scholars Tracks. In addition to medical specialties in vascular surgery, wound care and minimally invasive surgery, he earned an MBA from Villanova University. Carol Weingarten is an associate professor of nursing at Villanova University and the inaugural director of Villanova University Radio’s WXV&U Health.
Both Weingartens congratulated GPH graduates on their accomplishments and urged them to use their gifts to make a difference in the world.
“Never could I have imagined that I would be here today to address the first graduating class in Global Public Health,” said Michael Weingarten. “I’ve gotten to know Dean Clin and Dr. Okoror during my many visits over the years. It took incredible vision and determination to start this program.”
As a field of study, research and practice, global public health strives to achieve health equity for all people worldwide, Michael Weingarten said. Disease doesn’t respect national borders, as seen during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the recent outbreaks of hantavirus on an international cruise ship, polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and measles in South Carolina, he said.
“Delivering basic health care to populations is only part of the solution,” he said.
Global health initiatives need people of diverse professional backgrounds, including those with financial skills to organize and fund programs, healthcare providers who build trust in the vulnerable communities they serve, epidemiologists who identify trends and monitor outcomes, and experts in the environment and ecology who help us understand the impact of climate change and pollution, he said. Add into the mix politicians who can advocate for laws that codify basic human rights, and teachers who share their expertise with the next generation.
Michael Weingarten has firsthand experience working in a community where medical providers couldn’t pass on their knowledge and expertise. In 2010, he took part in a surgical mission trip to Haiti after a devastating earthquake; the country’s healthcare community had ceased to exist where they were stationed, which resulted in a gap of several months after their team left and another arrived.
In areas as wide-ranging as international affairs, health science research, public health work and health systems management, the discipline recognizes and engages with cultural diversity without “fear of the foreign,” noted SUNY Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies Nkiru Nzegwu. It also provides an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary lens that will allow graduates to think and solve problems differently from previous models, she said.
“You have it in you to go out and change the world,” Nzegwu said. “All you have to do is draw on the toolkits we have given you and walk fearlessly and with confidence.”
Program graduates are headed to a variety of destinations, from graduate school and medical school to careers. Wherever they land, Okoror reminded them of public health’s key lessons: Become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Be honest. Stay humble. Always strive to learn more.
“You must be honest to admit what you know, and you must be humble to admit what you do not know, which allows you to learn from everybody,” she said. “But more importantly, you must be hungry and want to know. Never, ever stop learning.”
