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. 2009;24(Suppl 2):S11–S18. doi: 10.1007/BF03182303

Leadership in public health

Howard K Koh 1
PMCID: PMC7097219  PMID: 20024817

Conclusion

The modern public health model for leadership will unlikely be the omniscient figure with easy answers.51 Rather the public health leader of the future may well be the transcendent, collaborative «servant leader»50,52 who knits and aligns disparate voices together behind a common mission. They pinpoint passion and compassion, promote servant leadership, acknowledge the unfamiliar, the ambiguous, and the paradoxical, communicate succinctly to reframe, and understand the «public» part of public health leadership. By working between and above the levels of leadership of self, others and organizations, these transcendent leaders can ultimately shift the paradigm from «no hope» to «new hope» and create a renewed sense of community.

Such leadership will be vital as the 21st century progresses. Beginning the journey to new hope may start by motivating underdogs who nurture the spirit, discover a passion to serve, cultivate interdependence, and create uncommon bonds. These emerging leaders can tap into their unique talents, passion, and compassion to promote a mission of «the highest attainable standard of health» for all, in every community.

Keywords: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Servant Leadership, Harvard Business School, Public Health Practice, Drunk Driving

Footnotes

Dr. Howard K. Koh was the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health, Associate Dean for Public Health Practice, and Director, Division of Public Health Practice, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.

Dr. Howard Koh, former Director of the Division of Public Health Practice, Harvard School of Public Health, is currently the Assistant Secretary for Health in the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This article was written prior to Dr. Koh’s appointment as the Assistant Secretary for Health and does not necessarily represent the views of HHS or the United States.

This article is based, in part, on a talk delivered by Dr. Koh upon receiving the Harold Freeman Lectureship Award at the Intercultural Cancer Council’s 11th Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved & Cancer in Washington DC in April 2008. Parts of the article are also drawn from a previous article «Public Health Leadership in the 21st Century« by Koh and McCormack, published in a collection of working papers by Harvard University Press in 2006.

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