Dr. Leonard Syme

Dr. Syme had no reason to meet with me on that summer day in 2004. My partner and I had only just arrived in Berkeley days earlier, with less than $1,000 in our bank account. He was starting a graduate program at Cal, and I was desperately in need of a full-time job with benefits. We had both recently graduated with master’s degrees in applied anthropology, a degree neither of us was convinced would get us very far (and perhaps why he had decided to apply for additional education at UC Berkeley).

But I tried to stay optimistic – determined to avoid pursuing what I felt was an ‘elitist’ doctoral degree (which I ultimately ended up doing) where I would invariably write about abstract ideas disconnected from people’s everyday lives (which I hope I nevertheless continue to avoid). So, I cold-called Dr. Syme, or emailed as was the case (I’m not *that* old).

I was trained in anthropology, not especially familiar with the heavy hitters in public health and epidemiology, so I had no idea I had just reached out to one of the most important trailblazers in the field. This was someone who set himself apart from the mainstream in public health by emphasizing that social and structural conditions of our communities are crucial determinants of people’s health. I had learned this perspective in my applied anthropology training, but I had no idea how controversial (even at that time) this approach could be nor how pioneering his work was.

The fact that Dr. Syme responded to me at all – and not after multiple follow up emails on my part—still astounds me. He responded to my FIRST email and immediately set up a time for us to meet in his office. I was nervous—imposter syndrome is real (still is) – but had I been intimately familiar with *who* I was meeting, I would have been petrified.

In my memory, our meeting was almost like an interview for a job that I didn’t know was being offered until I arrived. He quizzed me about my resume, which was light on content given my age and experience but did drive home my passion related to the structural determinants of health. After only thirty minutes, Dr. Syme picked up the phone and called an anthropologist colleague working in public health who he knew might be able to find me a job. And she did. One. Week. Later.

I will never forget the generosity and encouragement that Dr. Syme gifted me that day. I have been lucky to spend my career—which hasn’t been long enough just yet—working on critical public health issues. These topics are intended to challenge mainstream public health thinking, highlight voices of communities whose perspectives are often neglected in public health decision-making processes, and direct attention to disadvantageous and sometimes stigmatizing conditions that structure and constrain the lives of people who experience inequities in health. And I would like more than anything to continue on this path.

The days following the inauguration have been a (purposeful) whirlwind of chaos. Tuesday was a chaotic mess. I spent the day speaking with colleagues to be sure they understood that any freeze on our federal grants meant that our agency would be forced to lay off all staff and immediately close. I investigated health care options for my family, should I be laid off effective February 1. There is a bitter irony in realizing that the day I learned of the passing of the person who set me on my career path may also be the day that path comes to an end.