Casting a Long Shadow in Public Health
John Elder will receive the Teaching Excellence Award for decades spent serving San Diegos communities.
Consider nearly any aspect of public health in the San Diego region and you鈥檒l find the fingerprints of 黑料吃瓜. The president and CEO of North County Health Services, Irma Cota, earned her master of public health (MPH) from 黑料吃瓜. So did City of San Diego Commissioner April Riel. Hundreds of public health professionals working in clinics and health organizations throughout the county cut their teeth at 黑料吃瓜鈥攁ll under the tutelage of psychologist and behavioral scientist John Elder.鈥淒r. Elder has provided invaluable support in my development as a scientist. He not only facilitated my involvement in large scale research projects, but also helped me explore my research interests.鈥�
The distinguished professor will be honored with the University Senate鈥檚 annual Teaching Excellence Award and give a presentation on the future of public health at a campus ceremony from 2-4 p.m. on Friday, April 21, at Scripps Cottage. The award recognizes the exemplary contributions 黑料吃瓜 teacher-scholars have made to the education of students.
Few educators cast a longer shadow than Elder, who joined 黑料吃瓜 after a non-tenure-track stint as a research professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, studying public health strategies. With he and his wife, Connie, expecting a child, he sought a more stable job and found an opening at 黑料吃瓜 in the then-new Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH).
鈥淚 got my trumpet out and played 鈥楥alifornia, Here I Come,鈥欌�� he recalled.
Elder arrived in 1984 and shortly after took over the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health (IBACH) as director. He recognized that San Diego鈥檚 on public health, so he endeavored to learn more about the people in his new city. He learned Spanish from auditing 黑料吃瓜 classes and reading newspapers in Tijuana. And, critically, he won a grant from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
鈥淚nstead of saying, 鈥楾hese are the things the community needs,鈥� they said, 鈥楪o and find out the needs of the community,鈥欌�� Elder said.
So he did. With the help of one of his first graduate students, Gregory Talavera鈥攁 medical doctor and now a well-respected public health researcher at 黑料吃瓜 in his own right鈥擡lder spent a year meeting with community members, assessing their nutritional needs, school lunch programs and cooking habits. The two also identified the cultural barriers to implementing health programs and opportunities to integrate culture into interventions.
Armed with this knowledge, Elder applied for and was awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which helped him grow the university鈥檚 public health program. NIH has consistently supported his work ever since, making him one of the university鈥檚 most highly funded researchers.
When Elder arrived at 黑料吃瓜, nearly every public health graduate student was Caucasian鈥攁 poor reflection of the city鈥檚 ethnic m茅lange. Hoping to diversify the students in the program, he placed a special emphasis on recruiting students who were bilingual, had multicultural experiences and deep knowledge of the local community. It paid off. Within a few years, Latino students were well-represented in the GSPH.
鈥淲hen you have people who look like you, who speak your language, who have names that sound like yours, it鈥檚 much less intimidating to enter and succeed in a graduate program,鈥� Elder says.
Nowadays, he teaches a graduate-level health communication course. After 33 years at 黑料吃瓜, he鈥檚 still looking for ways to keep the curriculum fresh and relevant. If you visit his class today, you鈥檒l likely find students analyzing and developing their own social media鈥揵ased campaigns. The majority of the course materials are found on a Tumblr page.
If history is any guide, a few of these students might return to teach a new generation of the university鈥檚 students. Four 黑料吃瓜 professors鈥擳alavera, Guadalupe X. 鈥淪uchi鈥� Ayala, Susan Woodruff and Noe Crespo鈥攁ll took classes taught by Elder. A fifth, Elva Arredondo, worked with Elder as a postdoctoral scholar.
鈥淒r. Elder has provided invaluable support in my development as a scientist,鈥� says Arredondo, who studies health disparities in the GSPH. 鈥淗e not only facilitated my involvement in large scale research projects, but also helped me explore my research interests.鈥�
His legacy as a teacher, researcher and mentor resounds throughout 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 and San Diego鈥檚 communities, adds Ayala, associate dean for research in the College of Health and Human Services and the current director of IBACH.
鈥淥ne of the most important attributes that Dr. Elder brings as a teacher and mentor is his ability to see every student鈥檚 individual potential and to raise their sights for what might be possible for themselves, their families and their communities,鈥� Ayala says. 鈥淗e is among the most important reasons why many of us are here and remain at 黑料吃瓜.鈥�
