Title: Vision Statement from Robert Burke, PhD
Author:
Section/SPIG: Aging & Public Health
Issue Date:
The Vision Statement from Bob Burke, the new Chair of the Gerontological Health Section (GHS) at The American Public Health Association (APHA)
January 2006
As your new Chair, this is the first opportunity for me to present my vision for our section. As we all know from first hand experience, the GHS section has made tremendous strides in many areas. Those most important to me are and will continue to be colleague building, preparing future professionals in gerontology and health policy, and in increasing section fiscal soundness by fund raising, and by working on and researching policy relevant advocacy issues for America’s maturing and disabled. GHS members have been at the forefront of thought and social change since the section started over 20 years ago and I will make every effort to retain this goal.
At our business meetings, many of us have spoken about why we are in GHS. For most of us, membership in GHS was typically not the first section we joined when we became members of APHA. For me I have found a community of professionals who share the many different aspect of the study of aging. Our different perspectives have only enriched our section.
After completing graduate school I was more concerned with policy development and advocacy. I was interested in advocacy on three levels: 1. Advocating for quality of care and life for the aging Americans, 2. Advocating for public policy based on research and 3. Advocacy to equate applied policy relevant research on the same level as traditional academic research. At that time the American Sociological Association (ASA), my “academic home base,” was more interested in pure research rather than applied research. Simply, the ASA did not share an interested in public policy and advocacy. As a result I became more and more interested in the policy and advocacy activities that were the benchmarks of the APHA. I first joined the medical care section because my boss was the coordinator for abstracts review for the annual meeting. In the era before abstract computerization he needed all hands on deck to help process the abstracts. No, not to review abstracts but to Xerox them, mail them out to reviewers and nag the reviewers to get the evaluations back from reviewers. Since that section was so large, abstract coordination it was a hassle to say the least.
In the early days of GHS, though I still kept my ties with the Medical Care Section, I started to investigate GHS submit and have an abstract accepted as GHS and its members shared more of my interests than the Medical Care Section. What I found most appealing was the inclusiveness of its members. After attending business meetings, I found the GHS to be egalitarian, not controlled by a few schools but most importantly, it was clear that the perhaps unstated mission of GHS was to get more and more researchers, academicians, clinicians and policy makers working together in a spirit of cooperation to advance the knowledge and the public policy of aging.
Over the past two years working with the Chair, Steve Wallace and the Past Chair, Connie Evashwick, in my “chair-elect” period, I have learned much. Most important of which is that we are perceived by headquarters as a strong group of colleagues and are known for working as a team. We are also known as being successful fund-raisers, better than other APHA sections. So what is my vision? What do I think we can do over the next two years? A key part of my vision is to continue the work and efforts of my predecessors and colleagues. That would certainly be an adventurous undertaking and certainly something I will do. But as I think about what a special capabilities I have, two capabilities come to mind, they are management and location. It has been awhile since the GHS chair has resided in Washington. I propose that I will make it a plan to be visible and be accessible and visible to APHA’s national office. The second part of my vision is to rely on my managerial ability to enlist your help and your talents to help me and the section by sitting on committees, tasks forces, and, when asked, working on special projects. I ask for your assistance in developing creative plans and ideas to:
Continue our advocacy work
Have fun while working with each other
Increase more student participation
Increase more professional participation
Increase endowments for our awards
Maintain the level of communication with each other as well as with other sections and the national office.
As a measurable indicator of success, I propose that as we prepare for the Boston Meetings in November, I would like to have at least two cosponsored sessions with sections who have already shared an interest in working with us as well as at least one other section work with us on the auction and reception.
Most importantly, I want GHS to be the inclusive, open and supportive environment for professionals and students, who want to research, teach, explore, learn, evaluate, and develop proposal for the continually maturing America. Finally, I need you to make the vision and GHS successful. I look forward to working with you and on our next conference call, discussing your ideas on how to make the vision a reality.