Considering Violence as a Public Health Issue

According to the public-health leader Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, violence is not inevitable. It is a preventable societal illness.

The former Massachusetts commissioner of public health will address this topic in a lecture titled "Violence Prevention: A Public Health Mandate" at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, in Watson Auditorium.

Having witnessed the escalating problem of youth violence firsthand through her work as a physician in the inner city of Boston, Prothrow-Stith became a pioneer in the reframing of violence as a preventable public health challenge. Her lecture will address issues of broad social impact with relevance to the political and social sciences and will touch upon themes of social justice.

Prothrow-Stith is currently associate dean of diversity and Henry Dickering Walcott Professor of the Practice of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 1987 she became the first female commissioner of public health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In that position she established the first office of violence prevention in a state department of public health, expanded AIDS/HIV prevention programs and increased drug treatment and rehab programs.

Prothrow-Stith's approach to violence as a social disease will offer Wheaton students a new way to consider topics of violence, says Associate Dean of Health and Wellness Craig Andrade.

"Violence is a preventable part of culture, yet it is continually growing in all contingents of society, especially in the college environment," Andrade says. Referring to shootings and other incidents of violence on campuses in recent years, Andrade explains that "somehow, in the way we speak and act, we contribute to the culture of violence, and as a community we need to find a way to move toward a more peaceful society."

Prothrow-Stith developed The Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents and authored Deadly Consequences, the first book to present a public-health perspective on violence to a mass audience. In addition, she has authored or co-authored more than 80 publications on medical and public-health issues, including Murder Is No Accident and Sugar and Spice and No Longer Nice, which addresses the growth of violence among teenage girls. Both books were co-authored with Howard Spivak, M.D.

Prothrow-Stith has also hosted several international delegations and conferences on issues of violence prevention and has worked to develop partnerships among local, national and international community programs through the satellite broadcast training series, Partnerships for Preventing Violence. She has received 10 honorary doctorates, the 1993 World Health Day Award, the 1989 Secretary of Health and Human Services Award and a Presidential Appointment to the National Commission on Crime Control and Prevention.

Check the Wheaton calendar online for event details.