Appointment of Editor in Chief of Public Health Reports : Charting the Journal’s New Course and Sustaining Momentum

When I mention Public Health Reports (PHR) during my public appearances, my audiences are often surprised that the US Surgeon General, among his other competing responsibilities, oversees the publication of a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. My office, the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), hosts the journal but respects its editorial independence by not imposing any influence over PHR’s editorial decisions or processes. Our goal is to communicate an important message to the US public: the OSG believes in delivering to this nation the best in cutting-edge public health research.

Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH

Vice Admiral, US Public Health Service

US Surgeon General

PHR has had a rich history since its inception in 1878. Contributing to this rich history is the appointment of Hazel D. Dean, ScD, MPH, DrPH (Hon), FACE, as the permanent editor in chief of PHR. In an earlier Surgeon General’s Perspective, I had announced the selection of Dr Dean as the acting editor in chief of PHR. ¹ With the appointment of Dr Dean as the permanent editor in chief, we are beginning a new and exciting chapter in the journal’s history.

Dr Dean succeeds Frederic E. Shaw, MD, JD, who served as editor in chief from May 2015 through April 2019. During his 4-year tenure, Dr Shaw modernized the journal’s processes and championed its excellence and rigor of scholarly writing. ¹ Under Dr Shaw’s leadership, PHR became a model of what can be achieved through public health partnerships. Collaborating partners include the OSG, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, and SAGE Publishing Inc, one of the largest international publishers of scholarly literature. Dr Dean will now carry the baton of public health partnerships.

Hazel D. Dean, ScD, MPH, DrPH (Hon), FACE

Editor in Chief, Public Health Reports

Dr Dean’s background in biostatistics and epidemiology, her impressive publication record, and her work as the former deputy director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) are critical to PHR’s continued success. ¹

Her subject matter expertise in one particular area aligns well with one of the journal’s primary focus areas and is an important cross-cutting priority for the OSG’s initiatives: the social determinants of health, health equity, and health disparities. In 2003, Dr Dean became NCHHSTP’s first associate director for health disparities and director of the Office of Health Disparities, now the Office of Health Equity. In these positions, she developed national guidance on reducing and eliminating health disparities in HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis; advocated for bioethics, human rights, and civil rights in research and health care; and helped increase the diversity and representation of racial/ethnic populations in the public health workforce.

As NCHHSTP’s deputy director from October 2006 until September 2019, when she accepted her new position at PHR, Dr Dean led several agency-wide initiatives on public health, health equity, and employee recognition and career development. She also helped guide NCHHSTP’s efforts to integrate the social determinants of health approach by using public health policy, data, partnerships, capacity building, research and evaluation, and health communication. These efforts were documented in 3 supplemental issues of PHR: Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Tuberculosis (2010); Data Systems and Social Determinants of Health (2011); and Applying Social Determinants of Health to Public Health Practice (2013). ^{2 -4}

Dr Dean’s expertise in public health workforce development is an important asset in her new role as editor in chief of PHR. As a champion of NCHHSTP’s workforce development, Dr Dean used a scientific approach to assess and refine the center’s workforce development and capacity-building efforts. She also led the innovation and implementation of 14 workforce capacity-building and engagement programs at NCHHSTP ⁵ and used a data-driven approach to establish professional advancement and training programs. Her expertise is of great value to OSG because worker health and well-being are closely intertwined and are an important component of the Surgeon General Community Health and Economic Prosperity initiative, which was recently described in PHR. ⁶

I hope that under Dr Dean’s leadership, the journal will strengthen its ties with CDC, a rich resource of subject matter expertise and the home of 3 sister publications: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Preventing Chronic Disease. Finally, I hope for a more engaged dialogue with PHR readers through my Surgeon General’s Perspective series and through social media, where the journal will have a more visible presence. Dr Dean and I share the vision of improving our nation’s health through correcting health disparities and ensuring equal access to economic opportunity and health for all in this nation.