Applying global health lessons to U.S. health care
The conversation around health care policy in the United States, mired as it is in partisan bickering, has gone off course from what should be its larger goal — building the foundation of a secure and prosperous society, according to Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) student Suzanne Brundage, SM ’14. Having recently left a position as assistant director of the Global Health Policy Center, part of Washington, D.C. think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Brundage hopes to bring the lessons she’s learned from her global health work — such as building coalitions and connecting the dots for policy makers between health and economic prosperity and security — to bear on domestic health challenges.
Joining CSIS soon after graduating from Bennington College, Brundage quickly moved into high-level policy work, including briefing members of Congress on global health issues and leading a commission whose work was cited in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a convincing argument for U.S. engagement in the world.
Although she loved her job, Brundage began to feel pulled toward helping the U.S. health care system become the best it could be. “The global health community has so much energy and creativity behind it,” said Brundage, who is earning her degree in health policy and management.