More Than Medicine: Meet Whitman’s New Professor of Public Health

Public health touches nearly every moment of our daily experience, yet most of us take it for granted. But without clean water, food safety, well-lit sidewalks and seatbelt laws, how much shorter and less safe would our lives be?

“When people think about public health, they think about medicine,” says Jennifer Kue, Whitman College’s first Professor of Public Health, who will help launch a new Public Health concentration this fall. And medicine is part of it. “But the field really encompasses the strategies and policies we put into practice to prevent illness and improve and protect the health of all communities.”

In the United States, such interventions have lengthened lifespans by more than 30 years. More recently, the rapid development and distribution of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the field’s crucial role. 

“That’s public health at its finest: putting the interests and safety of the population first,” Kue says.

A Holistic View of Health

To her new role at Whitman, Kue brings decades of experience in advancing health equity, promoting community health, and planning and evaluating programs. But she didn’t set out to research and teach public health.

Majoring in Anthropology and Visual Communication at the University of Idaho, Kue dreamed of writing for National Geographic. But when working in television news convinced her that media wasn’t the right fit, she pursued a master’s degree in Anthropology from San Diego State University, with the goal of working with refugees and immigrants.

“My family and I are refugees,” Kue explains, “and I really wanted to help others like us because that experience taught me the barriers people face—and the sacrifices they make—just to access everyday needs.”

Kue went on to earn her doctorate from Oregon State University, focusing on health disparities among underserved populations, and she has since taught at Ohio State University and University of South Florida. 

Beyond her education, it’s her life experiences that inform and influence her teaching and research. To design effective health interventions, “you really have to look at the person as a whole,” Kue says. 

That means considering people’s circumstances and how individuals are influenced by their community’s thinking about health and sickness—including who they trust and how past experiences shape their responses.

Building Equity, Trust & Awareness

For Kue, one of public health’s most pressing challenges is shifting focus from responding to disease to preventing it. “So we have to address those social determinants of health: affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, access to healthy food and income,” she says.

Another urgent need is rebuilding confidence. Recent skepticism about vaccines, for instance, has revealed an erosion of public trust in science. “As practitioners and policy­makers, we need to better communicate how safe these measures are and why they’re needed,” Kue says.

The spread of health myths online poses yet another hurdle. “So many people are getting misinformation from the internet, from TikTok,” Kue observes. “We need to use those same influencer strategies to combat that.”

Bright Prospects

Despite these pressures, Kue remains optimistic for the field. She especially loves mentoring students.

“This next generation of public health leaders gives me hope,” she says.

“They’re bringing their diverse life experiences and an interdisciplinary lens. We just have to give them tools and guidance so they can go make a difference.”

She believes the liberal arts and Whitman’s broad and global-minded approach to learning create a great setting for these future professionals. The most important competency they’ll need, she says, is the ability to understand communities and individuals holistically.

“People don’t make health decisions in a vacuum,” she adds. “They make them based on their families’ needs, financial situations and belief systems.”

Learning how to communicate clearly, collaborate across sectors and think critically about programs will also prepare Public Health graduates for careers ranging from workplace wellness and urban planning to nonprofit work and civil service. 

Looking ahead, Kue hopes to grow the new Public Health program and make Whitman a top destination for students interested in public health careers. 

“Building a long-lasting program with a reputation for excellence from the ground up with a great team of inter­disciplinary faculty—that’s really exciting to me,” she says.