Public Health Legacy of Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH (1941-2025)

Lloyd F. Novick (1941-2025), MD, MPH, lived his last years in Cary, North Carolina. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Colgate University (1957-1961) in Hamilton, New York, his Doctor of Medicine at New York-University School of Medicine (1961-1965) in New York City, and his Master of Public Health degree at Yale University School of Public Health (1971) in New Haven, Connecticut. He completed his medicine internship (1965-1966) at Bellevue Hospital and residency training in preventive medicine (1969-1972) at the New York City Depart-ment of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOH). When Dr. Novick passed away on August 26, 2025, at age 84 years, communities of public health educators, practitioners, and grateful beneficiaries of his public health legacy lost a visionary. With his passing, we inherited an endowment of timely detection, prevention, and control of serious diseases and injuries within communities throughout the United States and globally. Here I tell the story of Dr. Novick’s public health legacy as a tribute to a role model of selfless public service and a teacher of practical skills for mitigating public health threats through essential public health actions at institutions operating within, between, and among cities, counties, states, schools of public health, government agencies, and private businesses in the United States and other countries. During 1966-1986, Dr. Novick served with distinction as a public health official with increasing leadership responsibilities at the US Public Health Service (assigned to the Coast Guard); District Health Officer for Central Harlem and Washington Heights, NYCDOH; Deputy Commissioner, NYCDOH; Commissioner of Health, Vermont State Department of Health; Secretary, Agency of Human Services, State of Vermont; and Director, Department of Health Services, State of Arizona. Dr. Novick documented in peer-reviewed journal articles the effects of his public health service in local and statewide communities in the states of New York, Vermont, and Arizona.2 He wrote scientific research reports and policy guides for applying new knowledge in public health programs for solving a diverse range of major public health problems. Those problems included complication rates after first trimester abortions performed by physician assistants, compared with physicians; lead poisoning; alcoholism; outpatient pediatric treatment centers; community pharmacy practice; prison health care; decentralization of the New York City Health Department; community-based hepatitis B virus prevention and control among persons with intellectual disabilities; asbestos abatement in Vermont schools; Legionnaires disease and Pontiac fever prevention; troubled relationships between government and private medical education and practice in Arizona; and teaching medical students epidemiology in a state health department. Throughout 1986-1995, Dr. Novick served as the Director, Center for Community Health; Director, Office of Public Health; First Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH); and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, New York.3 In 1986, I met Dr. Novick at the NYSDOH in my role as the Director of the NYSDOH’s HIV/AIDS Surveillance and Epidemiology Program. Since then, I have worked with Dr. Novick as an eyewitness and participant–observer of his work and professional relationships, and as his friend, colleague, coauthor, consulting editor for infectious diseases, and editorial board member for the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (JPHMP).4 I have witnessed, participated in, and analyzed the influence of some of his most valuable contributions to public health management and practice in communities throughout the United States and globally.2 During 1986-1993, Dr. Novick led the NYSDOH’s activities in measuring and publicizing the epidemiology of HIV infection and the impact of AIDS and in mitigating their health consequences in New York State.3,5,6 During 1995-2002, Dr. Novick led the effort to demonstrate the feasibility and public health benefits of an independent US Taskforce on Community Preventive Services (USTCPS) to complement the work of the US Taskforce on Clinical Preventive Services.7,8 Dr. Novick served on the USTFCPS, was one of the original authors of the Guide to Community Preventive Services, and coauthored the journal article that explained its rationale.9 From 1996 until his death in 2025,10 Dr. Novick’s public health legacy included his contributions to public health successes and explanations of ongoing challenges as Commissioner of Health for Onondaga County (Syracuse) New York and Professor and Chairman, Department of Public Health at Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He provided educational leadership, research scholarship, and public health management and practice in preventing and controlling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, syphilis, measles, influenza, COVID-19, and other infectious diseases; research linkages between academia and practitioners working in public health agencies; essential public health services; bicycle injury prevention and control; adolescent suicide prevention; gun violence prevention; accreditation of state and local health departments developing their own guides to community preventive services; and protecting public health institutions from impairment for partisan political gain at local, state, and federal government levels. Dr. Novick’s extensive list as a coauthor is a testament to his collaborative skills, generous spirit, and desire to share his knowledge and wisdom through scientific writing and editing with younger generations of public health professionals.11 His 6 books12 and 110 journal articles indexed in PubMed list 46 coauthors. In 1995, as the founding editor-in-chief of JPHMP, Dr. Novick set the journal’s scope, priorities, editorial and ethics standards, and expectations for effectiveness in public health management and practice.13,14 To advance community health and respond to emergent public health needs, he recruited and deployed a distinguished editorial board and competent peer-reviewers to ensure scientific accuracy, practical relevance, and usefulness of original applied research reports and the objective persuasiveness of editorial opinions. Throughout the first 20 years of the journal’s publication, Dr. Novick positioned JPHMP as a forum where public health management discoveries and their applications in practice are described and assessed to guide intervention policies and programs in disease, injury, and environmental hazard surveillance and outbreak prevention as core functions of public health.15 Dr. Novick’s editorial leadership and discerning acceptance of submitted articles reflected his values of excellent science, principled management, effective practice, and self-sacrificing dedication to the public good. Original reports on syndromic surveillance, interjurisdictional collaboration, and the role of public health informatics in outbreak response exemplified translation of research to practice in state and local health departments. Brief investigative reports amplified voices from the field, ensuring that local practice-based evidence guided academic discourse and national policy decisions. Under Dr. Novick’s leadership, JPHMP’s publications encouraged local, state, and national health departments to adopt more integrated surveillance systems, improve laboratory performance, and increase workforce competencies.16 They encouraged schools of medicine and public health to educate and train practitioners in acquiring the new skills and competencies that form the foundations of modern public health management and practice. They championed cross-training between disciplines in schools of medicine and public health, so that future practitioners know how to work within operating systems and engage community residents in local public health management and practice. Dr. Novick laid down his burden and transitioned to eternal rest in peace during ongoing public health emergency responses to US epidemics of opioid overdose deaths,17 COVID-19 deaths,18 adolescent and middle-age suicides,19 and mass shootings in schools and other public places.20 His legacy leaves us all a rich blueprint for responding effectively to the ongoing crisis of political disruption of US public health institutions by presidential executive orders and impromptu reductions of the federal public health workforce.21 Nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA) have recommended the following actions: (a) all Americans must rally to support public health actions; (b) the US Congress must exercise closer oversight of the US Department of Health and Human Services; (c) state and local governments must fill funding gaps created by the loss of federal funds; (d) private businesses and charities must give more funds to public health institutions; and (e) medical and public health professional associations must more effectively defend science, ethics, and truth in the conduct of public affairs.22 I intuit from Dr. Novick’s legacy the following essential actions by public health managers and practitioners: (1) lead by example; (2) if we foresee a need that is not being met, we should roll up our sleeves and start doing something to meet that need ourselves; and (3) in addition to diagnosing a problem, we should work collaboratively with others to solve that problem. Dr. Novick’s influence continues in the research protocols we plan and execute, the teamwork we pursue, and the lives we protect from preventable suffering and death. As a colleague and fellow public health practitioner in county, state, and national health departments, I mourn his passing, honor his memory, reflect on the importance of his legacy, and pay tribute to his surviving family, friends, and colleagues with gratitude, admiration, and recognition.