Vol. 6 (2017): Stanford Journal of Public Health Volume 6 Spring 2017
A LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
We are excited to welcome you to the sixth volume of the Stanford Journal of Public Health, which—for the frst time—features voices from not just the public health community at Stanford, but from across the nation.
The current U.S. administration has aroused deep uncertainty in the public health community, clouding the future of public and global health with numerous policy priorities: the attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, attacks on climate change initiatives, and a far-reaching national budget that would slash global health funding. Now more than ever, the Journal seeks to encourage and uplift scholarly discourse on today’s most pressing public health topics and to organize and center the student public health community’s stories and discoveries.
In this issue, we invite you to explore the expansive reach of public health issues. Learn about humor therapy in medicine, discover how our writers developed a rapid and inexpensive biosensor, enter a conversation about recent healthcare reform regarding end-stage renal disease, and digest a comparative analysis of health systems. Immerse yourself in our writers’ worlds through their vivid and moving storytelling, from a researcher’s journey uncovering humanity by mapping diseases to a student’s moving account of his brother’s fght with cancer.
Since the Journal’s founding in 2011, we have been fortunate enough to work with inspiring faculty and staf from all corners of campus, and we would like to especially thank The Program in Human Biology and Students Activities and Leadership for their continued generous support of our endeavors. And finally, we want to thank our talented and dedicated staf for making all of this possible.
We celebrate the diverse perspectives of our student public health community, and we hope you’re just as encouraged and inspired by these voices as we were when we read them. As always, we welcome your thoughts, comments, discussions, and suggestions about our work, the public health community, or any issue you would like to see us cover.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at stanfordjournalofpublichealth@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Michelle Bach ‘19, Aprotim C. Bhowmik ‘18 , Jason Li ‘18
