Denys Lau, the new editor-in-chief of APHA’s AJPH, has been involved with the journal for more than a decade.
Photo by Michele Late
Denys Lau, PhD, remembers walking into his advisor’s office as a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and seeing it filled with copies of APHA’s American Journal of Public Health.
For his advisor, the journal was a teaching tool. But for Lau, who is now AJPH’s first new editor-in-chief in a decade, its presence reinforced that the journal is the “gold standard for what’s being published in the field.”
“I want to uphold the journal as the leading voice of public health science, providing a platform for amplifying rigorous public health research and promoting thoughtful, evidence-based discussions,” Lau told The Nation’s Health.
Lau was appointed as editor-in-chief of AJPH in July, taking over from Alfredo Morabia, MD, PhD, MPH, who spent 10 years at the helm of the esteemed journal before ending his term this summer. Lau has been involved with the journal for more than a decade, serving as an editorial board member and associate editor.
“For me personally, I know Alfredo kind of planted the seed when he hired me as the inaugural associate editor to launch the special section on public health surveillance and survey methods,” Lau said.
The section was rooted in Lau’s career of data-driven research, which includes more than a decade at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. There, he was director of the Division of Health Care Statistics and a senior science advisor for its National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
“His experience within the CDC — which was extensive, including his leadership experience — that brings a new and different perspective to our editor-in-chief of the journal,” APHA President Deanna Wathington, MD, MPH, told The Nation’s Health. “And I also love that he has fidelity to data and presenting research.”
Lau said he wants to apply NCHS principles of collecting data that is credible, relevant to policy issues and free of political or outside influences to the journal’s editorial decisions. He also wants to expand the journal’s reach when it comes to diversifying topics on different populations.
“We do a great job at looking at those populations that have historically been understudied and underrepresented and discriminated (against), but are we also studying those who feel they’ve been forgotten by their country, by their elected officials or public health science institution?” Lau said. “That’s kind of telling in terms of how the latest election has really reflected the temperature of our nation.”
A mission to dive into unexplored topics is part of AJPH’s 115-year legacy. Published by APHA, the journal has historically tackled issues that other peer-reviewed journals may have shied away from in the past, such as LGBTQ+ health, according to Brian Selzer, APHA’s director of publication services.
“We’re not scared to say what needs to be said,” Selzer told The Nation’s Health. “We’re not scared to publish the science. The journal itself has been very much interested in influencing the policy of health and ensuring that lawmakers and policymakers have the best science and data available to them.”
Lau also hopes to build on the journal’s existing content, such as the AJPH Podcast and its video research abstracts. He said his next step is to dig deep and find out how the tools help increase the journal’s reach and prestige.
Beyond his work at CDC, Lau has served as a faculty member at several academic institutions, including Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, with research interests spanning healthy aging and health care system quality. Jonathan Levy, ScD, who served with Lau as an AJPH associate editor, said Lau, like Morabia, understands the importance of releasing timely editorials and research across different platforms to reach people beyond academia.
“I think he sees how the journal could continue to evolve to sort of meet the moment and again be really relevant to as wide an audience in public health as possible,” Levy told The Nation’s Health.
As an APHA member, Lau has held leadership positions within the Aging and Public Health Section and LGBTQ Health Caucus. He said the journal could take more advantage of APHA members and gain their input on how to improve AJPH, adding that Association events such as APHA’s Annual Meeting and Expo and the Policy Action Institute can broaden AJPH’s reach to non-scientific audiences and translate research to the public.
APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, said Lau brings a wealth of energy and a bird’s-eye view of U.S. public health from a statistical perspective. In the midst of dangerous public health policy, funding losses and recent job cuts across health-related federal agencies, Benjamin said he is confident Lau’s experience can guide the journal through the storm.
“When you’re in a very turbulent environment, having someone who can see clearly and doesn’t get flustered by a lot of the noise around them I think will be important,” Benjamin told The Nation’s Health. “And I believe he’s a guy who can do that.”
For more on AJPH, visit www.ajph.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
