Lifelines

A Rhodes Scholar turned physician offers an insider's account of public health and its critical role in our lives, from treating gun violence as a contagious disease to fighting COVID-19 disinformation.

"Public health saved your life today—you just don't know it," is a phrase that Dr. Leana Wen likes to use. You don't know it because good public health is invisible. It becomes visible only in its absence, when it is underfunded and ignored, a bitter truth laid bare as never before by the devastation of COVID-19.

In Lifelines, Leana Wen—emergency physician, former Baltimore health commissioner, CNN medical analyst, and Washington Post contributing columnist—lays bare the lifesaving work of public health and its innovative approach to social ills. With gripping detail, she recounts her experiences on the front lines, leading the fight against the opioid epidemic, outbreaks of infectious disease, maternal and infant mortality, and COVID-19 disinformation.

Wen also tells her own uniquely American story: an immigrant from China, she and her family received food stamps and were at times homeless despite her parents working multiple jobs. That child went on to attend college at thirteen, become a Rhodes Scholar, and turn to public health as the way to make a difference in the country that had offered her such possibilities.

Ultimately, she insists, it is public health that ensures citizens are not robbed of decades of life, and that where children live does not determine whether they live. Lifelines offers an inspiring look at the crucial role of public health—from opioid addiction to global pandemic—and is a must-read for anyone passionate about healthcare, public policy, and health equity.