The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/College Board’ Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) scholarship competition was terminated recently (see related article this issue). To help tally up some of the accomplishments of the program, a special magazine was published entitled “The YES Experience: Past, Present, Future”. This publication includes a variety of observations made by students, judges, and other professionals involved with the program or the people in it. According to epidemiologists in attendance, several of these remarks are inspiring and noteworthy for the insights they provide about epidemiology and public health. A selection of these comments is provided below.

“If you truly want to make a difference with your life, epidemiology can give you the key.”

-Jennifer Schindler, Student at Columbia University

“The greatest reward you will find in epidemiology and public health is the incredible satisfaction and influence you can derive from the ability to think systematically about a range of societal problems. This will open many, many doors to making important contributions to society.”

-Shiriki Kumanyika, University of Pennsylvania 

“One of the big challenges to our country is that many people do not understand the principles of probability, uncertainty, risk, assessment of the evidence…all of these principles, they are life skills, not just professional skills…it’s part of what it takes to be a good citizen, to understand the role of citizens in shaping choice in our communities, in our states, in our nation, and even for our world.”

-Harvey Fineberg, Institute of Medicine
 

“Probably the most important education program in public health and epidemiology I have come across in the last 25 years.”

-Lee Riley, University of California, Berkeley

“I believe health is a matter of agency; it is health that provides the conditions that enable humankind to thrive.”

-Kevin Xu, Student at Columbia University

“This YES experience gave me the confidence and skills to do research. But YES also showed me that what we do in science matters to people in a deeply personal way—from a mom who is ill with breast cancer to a teenager with depression.”

-Aman Prasad, Student, University of Wisconsin, Madison

“ I never really liked science classes in high school. But after getting involved with the YES competition, I discovered my passion for epidemiology. The YES competition provided me with the real world applications of science.”

-Maya Wolpert, Program Manager, Stanford University

“The YES competition can have a huge impact in changing people’s lives. It’s one of the most exhilarating and inspiring events of my professional career.”
-Leonard Syme, University of California, Berkeley

“They will always think like an epidemiologist.”

-Diane Tsukamaki, College Board

“When I confirmed with a nurse that there was not some sort of error, she grimaced and said, ‘we see these every once in a while.Remember, these are the people we have to help.’ This will resonate within me for the rest of my life, no matter what career I eventually pursue.”

-Jeffrey Wang, Student at Harvard University commenting on an experience he had while working at a local Planned Parenthood clinic at his county health department.

“Instead of being presented with facts to understand and retain as in school, research develops one’s capacity to think backwards, to question the world around you, and to create methods by which one can solve or answer questions.”

-Sarah Wong, Student in the 2009-10 competition

“Epidemiology is about critical thinking—taking a healthy skepticism about the easy conclusions and thinking outside the box to find the solutions and causes. At its heart, epidemiology involves building solid argurments about causation from observations of patterns. All disciplines require analysis of patterns, probing of causation and building of sound arguments. So the study of epidemiology is relevant to a wide spectrum of disciplines, either directly or as good practice in clear thinking.”

-David Fraser, University of Pennsylvania

A special commemorative magazine on the YES program was published in connection with the event in early June. Readers can access this magazine at http://tinyurl.com/79buqdu