A professor in the Yale School of Public Health has achieved another milestone in a career marked by leadership.
Linda Degutis, Dr. P.H., M.S.N., associate professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, a newly chartered organization based in the United Kingdom that will undertake advisory and advocacy roles to promote global health.
Degutis accepted the title at the Royal Society’s launch meeting on Sept. 23 in London.
“This honor highlights the importance of the linkages between the United States and the United Kingdom’s shared public health issues such as access to health care, injury and obesity,” said Degutis. “A key goal of the Royal Society is to increase cross–continental collaboration, which is paramount in our era of globalization.”
As one of three Honorary Fellows, Degutis was recognized for her leadership in the field as president of the American Public Health Association, which will draw 14,000 members for its annual meeting this month in San Diego, Calif..
Degutis serves as director of the Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness, which helps prepare front–line public health workers for emergencies including natural disasters, terrorism, and disease outbreaks. She is also an associate professor of surgery in the Yale School of Medicine, focusing on emergency medicine.
“Emergency medicine and public health have strong connections,” she said. “When the public health system fails, you see the impact in the emergency room.” In studying the substance abuse, asthma, domestic violence and injury that besiege ER patients, Degutis hopes to fully grasp the scope of public health priorities, from cause to consequence.
Degutis has spent 27 years at Yale, arriving as a student in the School of Nursing. Her research focuses on strategies for disaster preparedness, as well as injury and violence prevention.