Whitney Pennington Rodgers: Before we really dive in
to talking specifically about Google's work
in the contact tracing space,
let's first set up, sort of,
the relationship between public health and tech.
You know, I think a lot of people,
they hear Google and they think of this big tech company.
The think of a search engine.
And there may be questions about why does Google
have a chief health officer?
So could you talk a little bit about your work
and the work your team does?
Karen DeSalvo: Yeah. Well, maybe I am the embodiment
of public health in tech.
Coming together, my background is I practiced medicine for 20 years,
though a part of my work has always been in public health.
In fact, my first job, putting myself through college,
was working at the state laboratory
in Massachusetts.
As the story will go, with joy, wherever you connect it again,
a Massachusetts theme.
And I, across the journey of the work that I was doing
for my patients
to provide them information
and the right care and meet them where they were medically,
translated into the work
that I did when I was the Health Commissioner in New Orleans
and later when I had other roles in public health practice,
that really is about thinking of people and community
in the context in which they live and how we provide the best information,
the best resources,
the best services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate,
meet them where they are.
And when the opportunity arose to join the team at Google,
I was really thrilled,
because one of the things that I have learned across my journey
is that having the right information at the right time
can make all the difference in the world. It can literally save lives.
And billions of people come to Google every day
asking for information,
and so it is a tremendous opportunity to have that right information
and those resources to people
so that they can make good choices,
so that they can have the right information,
so that they can participate in their own health,
but also, in the context of this historic pandemic,
be a part of the broader health of the community,
whether it's to flatten the curve or keep the curve flat as we go forward.
WPR: And so it sounds like that there is this connection, then,
between public health and what Google's work is
in thinking about public education and providing information.
And so could you talk a little bit about that link
between public health and public education, and Google.
KD: Definitely.