Rutgers dean argues for ‘humanizing’ public health in AI era

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free New York City newsletter here.Public health has long focused on the biology of pathogens — how viruses spread, how vaccines save lives, and how treatments can prevent disease — but Perry Halkitis believes the field should take a closer look at the role that humans play in public health.Such is the focus of his new book: Humanizing Public Health: How Disease-Centered Approaches Have Failed Us.Halkitis has served as the dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health since 2017. Prior to that he worked as a professor at New York University’s Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies, where he conducted research on HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and mental health. He is also an epidemiologist, applied statistician, and public health psychologist. His academic area of expertise is people who have been infected and affected by HIV — a topic he explored in an earlier book, The AIDS Generation. It may come as no surprise tha