Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson

PART 1.1

The risk of smallpox was accepted as just an unfortunate part of life. Getting sick was a person’s fate. But in the late 1700s, Dr. Edward Jenner saw things differently and applied a “cause and effect” mindset. After years of observation, he was convinced that having cowpox protected people from contracting smallpox.

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Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills, Policy Development and Program Planning Skills, Community Partnership Skills Brian Tolleson Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills, Policy Development and Program Planning Skills, Community Partnership Skills Brian Tolleson

PART 1.2

In the early days of HIV/AIDS, AIDS was a mysterious disease. The cause of AIDS was unknown, and many blamed it on the most marginalized groups. But, without knowing that the disease was caused by a virus, it was easy to stigmatize, isolate and blame affected groups. The early approach towards understanding AIDS focused on who was getting infected, rather than the cause and effect of the disease. Epidemiologists saw that AIDS was affecting hemophiliacs, heroin addicts, homosexuals, and Haitians (the 4Hs of HIV) which biased the way people viewed the disease and the populations it first impacted. Infection did not seem to follow logic.

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