July Alumni Spotlight with Carolyn B. Slack
Carolyn B. Slack received an MS in Preventive Medicine from The Ohio State University in 1982. (Her academic advisor was Marty Keller, MD, PhD) Slack also has an associate's degree in Nursing from Adirondack Community College and a BA in Sociology from Boston University. Slack presently works as director of the Division of Maternal Child Health (MCH) at Columbus Public Health. Her duties include providing department and community leadership on maternal and child health issues, and overseeing operations of programs within the MCH Division with a total budget of $9.6 million.
What do you enjoy about your work?
First, I work in a leading public health department with intelligent and dedicated colleagues. This sets a great context for my work. Second, I have a passion for improving the health of women and the health system for women, children and families. I am glad to see individuals having their needs met in our clinics, in homes and in the community. I thoroughly enjoy working on system initiatives where we bring partners together and reform systems to work better for people. Finally, and at the core of my work, I love using data for decision making. Collecting, analyzing and using data to plan and develop programs and initiatives and to affect policy decisions for women, children and families is fulfilling and meaningful.
What’s challenging about it?
Many public health issues are very complex and there is not a single strategy or solution. For example, infant mortality, our most sensitive indicator of the health of the population, is extremely challenging to address. We need to invest in broad services to individuals, assess and address system issues and take into account broad social and justice issues that affect it, e.g. poverty. Identifying stable funding to protect and promote the health of the public is also a major challenge.
Do you have a fond OSU memory to share?
I have a couple. First, I started classes in the late 1970s. There were a few of us who were women, who had returned to graduate school after several years professional work and several of us were married and some had children. This group bonded, many of us were juggling full time grad school, part time jobs and parenting. And one of those women is back at OSU CPH – Phyllis Pirie! (Pirie chairs the College’s Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion and serves as interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.) Also, computing in the late ’70s early ’80s would be considered (and is) archaic now. I have memories of lugging around my boxes of cards for class projects and my thesis and waiting to get on one of the student computers to do my research analyses.
What’s one thing you learned at the College of Public Health that’s helped you in “the real world?”
My class work and thesis research affirmed the importance of using sound data for informed decision making.
What public health issues concern you the most?
I have been on the outside for quite awhile now! However, the issue on which I gauge our public health efforts is the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). The IMR is the most sensitive index we have of a community’s health. This statistic is not moving as it should and underscores the effects of poverty on health. In addition, the persistent racial disparities in pregnancy outcomes highlight major deficits in our nation.
What advice do you have for others who are interested in pursuing a career in public health?
Public health work can be both broad and diverse to population or issue focused. And that scope of work could describe what you did on Tuesday! There are great opportunities for learning each day. You need to be comfortable being flexible. Explore all facets of public health through coursework, research and internships. Then, follow your heart and passion to focus on a particular facet of public health.
I think you also have to reconcile to yourself that sometimes, even with compelling data and sound practices or programs, there may not be the political will to do what you know needs to be done. This is a painful part of our work. I would also recommend that you have some course work in grant and proposal writing. So much of our public health funding depends on grants.
Anything else?
Public health is social justice, and advocacy is part of that work. When you work in public health, you are making a difference.
