Welcome to my blog on Public Health Matters, where I share resources and provide commentary on current, past, and future issues in the field of public health.

I’m excited to start this blog at this time, because this week — Monday, April 6, through Sunday, April 12, 2020 — is the 25th anniversary of National Public Health Week (NPHW). Also, in the U.S. and around the world, we’re in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it’s highly likely that public health questions are your mind as much as mine.

On this blog I will include links to solid scientific sources, convincing political and policy concerns, and to the lighter sides of life.

Since mental health is today’s theme for NPHW, you might want to visit the Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn! exhibit from the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Among other excellent examples, this online exhibit includes the 2012 book by Ellen Forney, Marbles: mania, depression, Michelangelo, and me: a graphic memoir. Forney also guest curated the exhibit. Many health and illness themed graphic novels are included in the exhibit. I’m going to add a few to my reading list: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel; Lighter than my shadow by Katie Green; and Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me by Sarah Leavitt.