In the press of daily business, it's easy to lose sight of the larger issues facing public health. To bring those issues into view, we asked public health professionals and academics what big questions they have on their mind.

How do we best let the public know what public health is?
Bud Nicola, Member
King County Board of Health
Seattle, Washington

Why can't we talk about public health?
Lawrence Wallack, Dean
College of Urban and Public Affairs
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
Talking About Public Health: Developing America's "Second Language" Lawrence Wallack, DrPH, and Regina Lawrence, PhD. American Journal of Public Health April 2005;5(4).

My top question (and corollaries):
What should be the role of public health agencies in addressing the public health issues of the 21st century? Should these agencies focus on characterizing the health of populations? Should interventions include influencing public policy? Should interventions include direct services? How should public health agencies be funded to assure adequate resources?
Gary Goldbaum
PH Seattle & King County
Seattle, Washington

There is growing understanding about the impact of social determinants of health - such as income inequity - have on the health of populations. The big question is how to use this growing knowledge base to influence public health policy and develop interventions that will improve the health of the public
Jack Thompson, Director
Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, UW School of Public Health & Community Medicine
Seattle, Washington

My big question is: What is Public Health?—no seriously, my question would be—If the main function of public health is to create systems that intentionally promote and assure the conditions so all people can be healthy, how do we transform and change systems to achieve results for the health of the public? What transformation is needed to align community assets and official public health agencies to achieve this main function? What do our policy leaders need to know and do to make this happen?
Paul J Wiesner, M.D.
Seattle, Washington

Public health must continue to struggle with how to best take advantage of the priority placed on "preparedness" to develop long-term funding streams to address public health infrastructure needs.
Jack Thompson, Director
Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, UW School of Public Health & Community Medicine
Seattle, Washington