Whats behind the ignorance and devaluation of public health on the part of government officials?
Some are historical and go back a hundred or more years. Some are quite immediate in our political history. Who’s the lowest-paid powerful physician in town? Probably the commissioner of health. Who’s the lowest-paid laboratory director in town? Probably the director of the local public health/infectious disease lab. Who’s the lowest paid administrative nurse in town? Probably the chief of the public health nursing corps. You can go on down the list. These people are looked down upon by the rest of the medical profession. They’re considered substandard scientists. They’re treated in a really pejorative manner, and frankly, the best and the brightest coming out of med and nursing schools and microbiology departments these days don’t choose public health unless they’re altruists. And, in fact, when you get down to the local level, you do see a mix of fairly mediocre personnel and then those exceptional, stellar light bulbs who’ve made a choice to sacrifice themselves — to take lower pay
