A Conversation with BU’s New School of Public Health Dean, Determined to Have “a Real Impact on Real People”

A Conversation with BU's New School of Public Health Dean, Determined to Have "a Real Impact on Real People"

Adnan Hyder shares his vision for bringing positive change to society and keeping empathy at the core

Grace. To meet the current moment-a time of multiple global public health emergencies, of division and uncertainty at home-we must "begin with grace," says the new dean of the Boston University School of Public Health.

"We are in it together," says Adnan Hyder. "Allow people grace-in their research, education, teaching, and interactions-and that grace will allow us to have a more empathetic community around campus. I'm looking forward to engaging the community, meeting with faculty, staff, and students, and hearing their ideas on how they want the School of Public Health to do things in the world."

Hyder joined BU this fall from the George Washington University (GW), bringing a wealth of expertise on violence and injury prevention, noncommunicable diseases, health systems thinking, and bioethics. Hyder, who is also BU's Robert A. Knox Professor, says this moment in the public health landscape calls for an innovative and evidence-based public health response centered around empathy, compassion, and equity.

"For me, a fundamental goal for the School of Public Health will be to make communities and stakeholders understand that this school has a real impact on real people," he says. "It's not only about doing the right thing, but also communicating what we do so that people everywhere understand our role and work."

Describing himself as a structural thinker, Hyder says capacity-building has been a central component of his career over the last 30 years, including at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (where he also earned an MPH and a PhD) and at GW. He has held multiple leadership positions at both institutions, working to improve global health systems in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

"I like to organize and build things, and that became a good trait for me to have in administrative positions," Hyder says. "The more I took on, the more I enjoyed them-and the more I found that I could do this work effectively."

At Johns Hopkins, he founded and directed the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, leading research on drownings in Bangladesh, childhood injury prevention in Malaysia, hospitalized injuries in China, and road safety in multiple countries, among many other projects. At GW, he was a founding director of the Center on Commercial Determinants of Health, studying how private industry contributes to illnesses, disabilities, and mortality across the globe. "Expanding the frontiers of public health research into other sectors through this type of interdisciplinary research has been key to understanding larger health and social problems confronting our country and world," says Hyder, "and that is what makes our work so exciting."

As he settles into his role as dean, he says his first task is to "listen and learn."

Hyder spoke with BU Today about his public health journey, from highlighting inequities in his native Pakistan to his priorities as dean.

BU Today: You've said that you started your career with a mission of social justice. Can you expand on what inspired you to pursue a career in public health?

Hyder: I was inspired to join the field while I was a medical student at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. After my first year of medical school, I traveled to the northern parts of Pakistan to collect data for a health and demographic survey. As I worked in remote areas of the country, I came across people who were living in abject poverty. It felt extremely wrong to me that my fellow countrymen and women were literally living in caves. There were children who were dying, and families had many other health and economic problems. I did not know it at the time, but the frustration and anger that I felt was what fueled my desire to work toward social justice. This desire stayed with me throughout my medical career and ultimately led me to shift from clinical medicine to public health. This social justice mission has remained with me and continues to guide my thinking about how we can have an equitable world where all people have the ability and opportunity to achieve optimal health.

BU Today: This is a changing environment for public health. How do you think Boston University and the School of Public Health should navigate this moment?

First, I want to acknowledge that these may be considered the best of times or the worst of times, depending upon how one views it. It is very true that threats to the academy, science, and evidence are coming from various directions right now. The role of universities and schools like ours is to uphold our core principles, which is that we value all human beings and their health, as well as science, including scientific inquiry and scientific methodology. Fundamentally, we are in the business of improving the health of the public, and our principles should always guide us.

But this is also new territory for many of us. Some of us have never seen the types of threats and pitfalls that are confronting us. These threats will challenge the intellectual, administrative, social, cultural, and political skills of everyone in our profession. I think the balance is going to be somewhere between retaining the principles of public health and negotiating it in a way where we can still be productive and still have impact, despite the contextual constraints around us.

As schools of public health, we are also facing challenges with funding, student enrollment, and our research. As a community, we have to work together to see how we can negotiate these times. I think schools that support their faculty, staff, and students and that retain a sense of autonomy in confronting these problems will do well. It's not going to be easy, but I do believe that we can rise to this moment.

BU Today: What are some of the priorities you hope to address over the next year?

I want to be very clear that SPH's priorities will emerge from our school and university community, not from me alone. My role is to study the school and to engage the leadership, faculty, staff, and students in conversation-and then use that insight to develop a strategic pathway as we enter our 50th anniversary year in 2026. I love the mission of the School of Public Health, and that's why I am here. What we have to figure out is how we can achieve our vision and mission based on the new realities and whether there are new and innovative strategies, pathways, and workflows that we should do in order to achieve them.

In that context, I would say that achieving financial sustainability, enhancing our research portfolio, making sure that students feel welcome and have great experiences, and increasing enrollment are broad areas that deserve our attention. By focusing on these areas, we can ensure that our school has a real-world impact that is recognized locally, nationally, and across the globe. We will be intentional about providing a benefit to the world around us.

BU Today: How can the school better prepare students for a changing public health workforce?

Students expect to have a high-quality education that is meaningful to them, that is technically solid, and that allows them to enter the public health workforce. Every school attempts to do that-we've done an incredible job, as I can see in the past, and we need to continue to do so. The nature of the workforce might change over the next few years, and the opportunities may not always be in the traditional spaces, so we have to look at new types of positions, placements, and opportunities-whether that's in the private sector or in industry or in start-ups that may be looking for people with public health expertise.

BU Today: BU has a reputation for interdisciplinary research and discovery. How do you hope to foster collaboration and convergence between SPH researchers and students and the rest of the University?

I have been actually doing that for all of my career-working with engineers, lawyers, philosophers, and anthropologists from my vantage point in public health. This notion of interdisciplinary, and eventually transdisciplinary, engagement has been part of my history. Now I hope to do it at a fundamentally different level, where we develop programs that can be intellectually exciting and financially viable. And I think BU is the right place to do it, because we have everybody's thinking aligned on that front.

BU Today: Are there particular opportunities for collaboration that you're excited to explore?

I will hesitate to be very specific here in terms of schools or disciplines, but I will give you a couple of examples where I believe BU is already working. For example, the whole area of urban health: how do we grow people in cities? How do we manage people in cities? That has implications for transport, pollution, heat, and cardiovascular health. The urban environment is ripe for engagement across the borders, so how can we do more of it, how can we do it better?

On the global side, let me give you the example of population migrations. What does this mean-in my case, for human public health, but in another situation, for logistics, for supply chains, for businesses? How can we address this? These are types of problems facing the world that require all of us to band together to figure out those solutions.

BU Today: What is the role of the University, and SPH, as a global citizen?

I come from South Asia, I've been an international student, I migrated 35 years ago, so I recognize my intersectionality very clearly. I believe that global solidarity is essential for public health. And that is one of the principles and value systems that we hold by; we look to help and support people everywhere. Today, it is increasingly important to both express and acknowledge that global solidarity, because people around the world are suffering different types of issues, whether it's the earthquake in Afghanistan, the outbreaks of infectious diseases all over Africa, or the tremendous refugee crisis in Europe. Each one of those issues calls out for a global solution. And I'm a very firm believer in engagement with global bodies and agencies, and I feel that we will be better scientists, researchers, and teachers if we can learn from each other.

BU Today: At the other end of the scale, BU and SPH have a long history of service to Boston and its local communities. What role would you like SPH to play in our city?

The social accountability of academic institutions is extremely important. And that begins from home. It is essential for the School of Public Health and Boston University to play a positive role in the health, development, and economy of Boston. And I know that the School of Public Health has been a very strong proponent of that historically, but I want it to be one of our important features going forward, whereby we acknowledge that we live in a community, we live in a city, and ask ourselves the question, how can we help, how can we support those around us?

BU Today: What other messages do you have for the BU community?

The School of Public Health is here to help and support the goals of BU. We want to be an amazing citizen of Boston University. So, if the School of Public Health can support the research, education, and service enterprise of any other school, any other center, and of the larger University, we are ready to play our part. Our doors are open, and we welcome outreach and engagement, consistent with the vision and mission laid out by the president. We want to do new things that make sense for the world we live in today. And if you can partner with us in doing those, you're most welcome.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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