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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Jan 30, 2008
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March 2008, Vol 98, No. 3 | American Journal of Public Health 392
© 2008 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.132894

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Who Are We?

Mary E. Northridge, PhD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief, AJPH


Figure 1
Most readers of the Journal will recognize the title of this column as a tribute to the irrepressible writer and producer, Michael Moore. In his latest documentary, titled Sicko, Michael Moore interviews people who have been denied and were formally paid to deny necessary health care treatment in the United States as part of a profit-driven health care system. He also interviews people who both receive and deliver free, universal health care in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom regarding cost, quality, and salaries. He asks of Americans, "who are we" as a society to sacrifice sound health in favor of corporate profits?

In true Michael Moore fashion, I wrote to him and asked him to contribute to this issue of the Journal.

Dear Michael Moore:

I’m writing to you as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Public Health, the scientific, peer-reviewed journal of the American Public Health Association. We are in the midst of our annual meeting in Washington, DC, and I’m following through on a suggestion by our Feature Editor Gabriel Stover in asking you to consider writing the lead piece for our March 2008 issue devoted to "Health Care Systems."

I saw Sicko last summer with my partner John Duane (a lawyer and former New York State Assemblyman), and we were both moved and convicted by your film. As the public health researcher and advocate of the couple, I keep asking myself the question, "Who are we?" John, of course, would like our government to do his laundry (just like you!)

Please let me know if this is possible for you, given your heavy commitments. I would need a 550 word contribution and a portrait of you for the Editor’s Choice column that leads off every issue of the Journal on or before December 15, 2007. Regardless, thanks for your tireless advocacy around health care and other vital needs of civil society.

In solidarity,

Mary

At the time of this writing, it is December 17, 2007, and I’ve yet to receive a response from Michael Moore, so I’m pinch-hitting for him to meet our publisher’s deadline. The progressive spirit of Michael Moore nonetheless infuses this issue, and his advocacy is honored through the photograph of him with US Representative John Conyers (p. 388), who formerly graced these pages with a column of his own (see Conyers J. A fresh approach to health care in the United States: improved and expanded Medicare for all. Am J Public Health. 2003;93:193).

My answer to Michael Moore’s question, "Who are we?" is embodied in the public health science and scholarship published each month in the Journal. For it is the collaborative editorial team of the Journal that finds ways to lead us forward toward the goals of health and health care for all by the themes they select to champion, the support they offer one other, and the high standards they set for themselves and the work they are dedicated to advancing. It was International Associate Editor Kenneth Rochel de Camargo, Jr who motivated me to see Sicko, and Image Editor Aleisha Kropf who conceptualized the cover based upon its message.

Who are we? We are the ones entrusted with inspiring readers of the Journal to value sound public health and create just health care systems for all members of society.





This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
AJPH.2007.132894v1
98/3/392    most recent
Right arrow Submit a response
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Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
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Services
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Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
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Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (1)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Northridge, M. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Northridge, M. E.
Related Collections
Right arrow Other Health Financing
Right arrow Other Health Service Delivery

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