The College of Public Health honored Gina McCarthy, director of Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health and Global Environment and former EPA administrator, with the 2018 Thompson of Public Health Award for her leadership in implementing strategies for a healthier global environment.
McCarthy intentionally linked national environmental policy to public health initiatives in her tenure as EPA administrator under President Barack Obama, shifting the landscape of environmental policy at the time. Her initiatives protected water sources, cut air pollution and strengthened chemical safety to protect the most vulnerable Americans from negative health impacts. One of the most innovative being the Clean Power Plan, which set the first national standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing power plants. The college applauded these achievements, and many more of McCarthy’s accomplishments, at the 2018 College of Public Health Pre-Commencement Ceremony on May 5, where she was presented the 2018 Thompson Public Health Award by Dean William Martin II, MD.
“As a recent WHO [World Health Organization] report estimated, seven million people a year die prematurely from air pollution. So we have huge work to do, together. It’s not just in the developing world, it’s in the United States too,” McCarthy said the crowd of graduates, family and friends, and faculty and staff of the college. “This is why I’m excited we have brand new people who are thinking about tackling these issues, thinking about joining to figure out how we not just address pollution, but deliver health care more effectively.”
A current professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, McCarthy urged graduating Buckeyes to take charge in addressing public health problems as they become new leaders in the field.
“The most important thing for the graduates to know is that all of the great changes of the past in this country have been led by young people ... You stand up for what you believe is right. You speak out about unfairness and inequities in your classrooms, city halls and streets across the country,” McCarthy said. “Young people, you welcome risks and you actually let science be your guide, especially when that science is inconvenient. So remember that when you go out into the real world. You’re the champions because it’s your future.”
The 30-year public health professional ended her speech advising students to not be discouraged by recent federal policies that reject the existence of climate change and long-term negative effects of air pollution.
“Graduates, you have exciting opportunities ahead of you. You can make a positive impact on the world. I don’t know where you came from, but in my life, that’s what I was told life is all about: It was about fighting the good fight,” McCarthy told graduates. “You didn’t have to win, you just needed to be on the right side of the issue and do the best that you could. Frankly, given the work that you have done here, when you leave [Ohio State] you have an obligation to give that a try.”
The Thompson Public Health Award is presented annually by the College of Public Health to an individual or organization in recognition of their contributions to advance the nation’s public health. It was established in 2014 in honor of Ohio State President William Oxley Thompson’s decision to ban tobacco use in Ohio State’s university buildings in 1900.
