Leana S. Wen discusses her activities during the years of the Obama presidency, with particular emphasis on her service as commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department. Wen recounts her upbringing and the origins of her interests in public health and emergency medicine, and shares stories of experiences that clarified the importance of social and economic determinants of health outcomes. Sh e focuses on her work as health commissioner to address the heroin and opioid epidemic in Baltimore, and describes the importance of treating addiction as a public health issue, rather than a criminal justice issue; efforts to expand access to, and training in the use of, naloxone (Narcan); the work of the city's Heroin Treatment and Prevention Task Force; the importance of real-time public health data; and collaborations and meetings with notable Obama administration officials. Wen also tells the story of her participation in a panel discussion with President Obama at the 2016 National Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta. She provides details about the public health dimensions of the protests that followed the death of Freddie Gray in the spring of 2015, recounts the Baltimore City Health Department's efforts to maintain citizens' access to prescription medications during the unrest, and considers the Obama administration's communications and programmatic engagement with the city during the protests. Also discussed are racial disparities in health outcomes and Wen's involvement in the response to the Zika virus epidemic in 2015 and 2016
Presidents--United States; Public health--United States; Opioid abuse--Treatment--United States; Heroin abuse--Treatment--United States; Naloxone--Therapeutic use--United States; Baltimore Riots, Baltimore, Md., 2015; Health and race--United States; Wen, Leana, 1983-; Obama, Barack; Baltimore (Md.). Health Department
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
26 pages
Note (Biographical)
Leana S. Wen is an emergency physician and professor in emergency medicine and health policy. After completing her residency, Wen moved to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she worked in the emergency room and was the director of patient-centered care research. In 2014, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake appointed Wen to serve as commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department, and in that role, Wen led the city's response to the heroin and opioid epidemic. In November 2018, Wen resigned as Baltimore health commissioner and became president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She is also a contributing columnist at the Washington Post and a CNN medical analyst
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on June 23, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Leana S. Wen, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023