The Hill

A few weeks ago I was able to attend the Advocacy Summit in Washington DC with many of the other MPH students in my class. We had an amazing time touring the city and learning about advocacy. We had the privilege of hearing from many public health professionals about various health issues. One of the speakers was introduced as a man who had worked extensively on obesity prevention, specifically in policy related changes. I decided to follow up with this speaker whose name is Dr. Richard S. Hamburg. He is the director of government relations for Trust for America’s Health. Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization focused on prevention, protection and community.

Dr. Hamburg received a BA in Political Science and a Masters in Public Administration from the SUNY Albany. He worked for a state assemblyman from Queens from 1979-86 as his staff director at the Capitol in Albany. He then joined the American Heart Association as their director of government relations in NYC from 1986-88, and then joined the AHA’s national government relations office in 1988, where he stayed through 2004, ultimately as their national director of government relations. He joined Trust for America’s Health in 2005 as their director of government relations, and became deputy director late last year.

Dr. Hamburg and his colleagues are very focused on childhood obesity and are advocates for better nutrition and physical activity in schools. He feels that policy is an important part of the answer for solving the obesity epidemic in the United States. His passion is policy, but it is also one of his frustrations. His biggest challenge is focusing the attention of policymakers on the issue of obesity and educating them that it is not simply an issue of personal responsibility. He believes there are barriers to sound nutrition and physical activity that need to be removed by the private sector and government.

One of his biggest successes is the passage of the federal stimulus funding package in early 2009, containing $650 million for wellness and prevention funding to reduce tobacco use, promote physical activity and healthy living. He thinks this is a major step for the public health community. Successes like this give him hope that more efforts will be spent to fight obesity in the future.

Dr. Hamburg encouraged me as a public health student to stay current on the health issues not only where I live, but throughout the country. He also of course put in a plug for policy work and how essential that element is to public health. His work in policy is impressive to me because I was better able to see the effectiveness behind health policies in improving health behaviors. I thought it was interesting how he didn’t start out working in policy, but was lead there after witnessing the vast array of health problems in our country. I had an enjoyable experience learning more about policy and advocacy at the Advocacy Summit and also through learning more about Dr. Hamburg.