On the difference between novelty and insight • And why that matters for the world of ideas

“Grace is not weakness but resolve.” • The power of embracing grace in this moment.

The moment • Our role in an unsettled, tumultuous time.

Introducing the Purple Public Health Project

The art of being ourselves • Balancing pragmatic engagement with maintaining our identity and values.

The politics of recognition • Which ideas get heard? Why?

The time to build is always • Meeting the moment in the new year.

Looking back on 2025 • Reflections on the challenging year that was.

On connecting too many dots • Ensuring the integrity of the associations that support our conclusions.

Thinking outside the algorithm • On creating a better climate of ideas

Toward a more inclusive public health rhetoric • On embracing language that unifies in pursuit of health

Idea Factories • How understanding where “our” ideas come from can help us have better ideas

Who speaks for health? • When communities do not agree with us in the age of MAHA

We should talk • On doing the difficult work of engaging in conversation

On changing when we should change • Part 1 of 2. The importance of reimagining public health in an uneasy time

How data can support a values-based argument for health • On the consequential, rigorous, and inquisitive science that should support a vision of a healthier world.

The Social Life of Ideas • Ideas about ideas, at a time when ideas feel endangered

On the complexity of moral argument • Understanding that good people, for good reasons, hold on to ideas we strongly disagree with

Building health on shared values • Why a focus on enduring principles should underlie all efforts in health

Clarifying misunderstandings about population health • A science refresher to help move us past the health mistakes of the moment

On keeping the faith • Leaning into hope at the start of a new school year

What happens then? • The practical consequences of losing a country’s commitment to science

It bears conversation • On the value of engaging with difficult ideas from disagreeable sources

In praise of diligence • On showing up when there is much to be done

The drawing the line problem • How can science reach consensus and take action in a time of doubt?

What we really lose if we do not fund discovery • Science funding and the national imagination

Equanimity in a fraught moment • Is staying calm in challenging times complicity?

The underrated value of sincerity • Reflections on a quiet revolutionary value