Public Health Technology

Public health must evolve to meet the urgent challenges of our time. Dr. Blumenthal founded a new field of public health technology to strengthen public health infrastructure and services in the 21st century.

The goal of this new field is to engage and train professionals who are bilingual in public health and technology to design a 21st century integrated, responsive public health system that delivers interventions in novel ways at scale. This emerging field of education, research and entrepreneurship is accelerating tech innovation to improve health in America and globally.

University Initiatives

Dr. Blumenthal is currently organizing a National Summit on Public Health and AI to explore its applications to strengthen infrastructure, education, research, and service delivery. Dr. Blumenthal contributed to the organization and co-chaired a National Summit on Public Health Technology held at New America in collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU). Dr. Blumenthal then served as the Senior Health Advisor to the President and as Co-Chair of the Advisory Council that helped design the new school at ASU. By teaching students to be “technofluent,” the school serves as a catalyst to build and deploy the products, programs and systems needed to help create the future of public health in the 21st century. In response to the op-ed she wrote on “Reimagining Public Health in the 21st Century” published in the Boston Globe, Dr. Blumenthal organized and co-chaired a National Summit on Public Health Technology held at New America in collaboration with ASU. Dr. Blumenthal then served as the Senior Health Advisor to the President and as Co-Chair of the Advisory Council that helped design the new school.

Dr. Blumenthal serves as a Provost Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University. She Co-Chairs the University’s Task Force on Public Health Technology. She was an organizer, co-chaired, and served as a keynote speaker at the Northeastern University Conferences on Catalyzing Innovation in Public Health Technology.

Watch Keynote Speech

Dr. Blumenthal is organizing a National Summit on Public Health and AI to explore its applications to strengthen infrastructure, education, research and service delivery.

Federal Government Leadership Initiatives on Health Technology

Dr. Blumenthal was at the forefront within the Federal government of applying technology to improve health. She envisioned and directed the development and implementation of several award-winning national resources that provide a centralized point of access to a wealth of health information in the Federal government and private sector through easy to use, toll-free telephone numbers and internet sites. Long before most government agencies had their information online, she conceptualized and established the National Women’s Health Information Resource Center located at 800-994-WOMAN and www.womenshealth.gov. She envisioned and directed the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (launched in a Presidential radio address) located at 866-SAFEYOUTH and www.safeyouth.org in collaboration with the CDC and other Federal departments that provides a single point of access to information, fact sheets, research opportunities and other resources on this public health issue.

Dr. Blumenthal established and directed www.nutrition.gov, an award-winning internet portal to information about nutrition, physical activity, food safety, nutrition assistance programs, and biotechnology.

As a pioneer in health information technology, Dr. Blumenthal was appointed by the Assistant Secretary for Health to serve as the Chair of the Consumer Information Technology Integration Initiative for the Office of Public Health and Science in the US Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate the current state of information technology and develop a coordinated approach to these resources in HHS.

She evaluated and enriched globalhealth.gov, strengthening it to become a major portal for comprehensive information resources on global health.

Dr. Blumenthal envisioned and spearheaded the unique “Missiles to Mammograms” initiative involving the Director of the CIA, the Administrator of NASA and the Director of the Army’s Medical Research Command, in an innovative program that transferred CIA, NASA, and DOD imaging technology used for missile and target recognition and space exploration to improve the early detection of breast cancer. This initiative spearheaded the use of digital mammography and resulted in software that provides computer-assisted diagnosis of breast cancer detection, increasing the accuracy of mammography. It is currently being used in medical centers across the country to the benefit of millions of American women.

She established and chaired a Federal government coordinating committee and convened many national conferences to identify and transfer technologies from government agencies and other fields to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease including fostering telemedicine and distance learning, pioneering the use of these technologies to improve health.

Education and Communication

Rear Admiral Blumenthal served as a national spokesperson on health issues briefing Heads of States, Health Ministers, and testifying before Congress as well as appearing as a medical expert on national television and radio news programs. She served as the Medical Director of a Discovery Channel/American Film Institute Global Health Documentary Film Festival, as a Medical Advisor to PBS, and as the Host and Medical Director for an award-winning television series on women's health.

Dr. Blumenthal established several public and health care provider education campaigns on public health technology, depression, panic disorder, and women’s health issues.

She is a committed and effective educator and valued mentor for undergraduate, public health and medical students. Rear Admiral Blumenthal serves as a Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab, as a Provost Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University, and as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown and Tufts University Schools of Medicine. Additionally, she has served as the Lila Wallis Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies at Cornell School of Medicine, as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies at Brandeis University, as the Bundy Visiting Professor and Elizabeth Blackwell Lecturer at the Mayo Clinic, as Visiting Professor at Stanford University in Washington and as a Fellow at Harvard University School of Government.

Dr. Blumenthal has authored numerous publications and edited several books including Suicide over the Life Cycle. She served as the Scientific Editor of the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Suicide, contributed to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Obesity Prevention, and as a member of the editorial boards of scientific journals including the Journal of Women’s Health.