The Art of Public Health: The Power of Perspective
Despite being surrounded by a family of physicians, Dr. Jennifer Chevinsky, MD ’16, grew up dreaming of the arts, not medicine.
But a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art during her junior year of high school changed everything when she stumbled upon Thomas Eakins' 1875 painting, The Gross Clinic.
“I remember looking at all the different people on and around the operating table — the surgeon, the patient, the observers — and thinking about the different perspectives represented in one scene,” says Chevinsky.
In college, Chevinsky studied art in France, where she visited museums and examined paintings and sculptures, seeking to understand the human experience from various perspectives.
Through art, she had found another lens for understanding human suffering, dignity and the stories people carry.
“It wasn’t the procedure. It was the person. It was the human life,” says Chevinsky.Despite being surrounded by a family of physicians, Dr. Jennifer Chevinsky, MD ’16, grew up dreaming of the arts, not medicine.
But a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art during her junior year of high school changed everything when she stumbled upon Thomas Eakins' 1875 painting, The Gross Clinic.
“I remember looking at all the different people on and around the operating table — the surgeon, the patient, the observers — and thinking about the different perspectives represented in one scene,” says Chevinsky.
In college, Chevinsky studied art in France, where she visited museums and examined paintings and sculptures, seeking to understand the human experience from various perspectives.
Through art, she had found another lens for understanding human suffering, dignity and the stories people carry.
“It wasn’t the procedure. It was the person. It was the human life,” says Chevinsky.
Together, these experiences transformed her understanding of medicine, the power healthcare providers hold and the privilege of caring for another human being.
That became the foundation of a career in public health and preventive medicine. Just 10 years out of medical school, Chevinsky serves as the appointed county public health officer for Riverside County, overseeing public health services for more than 2.5 million residents in one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing counties. She is also a leader within Riverside University Health System (RUHS), an integrated network that includes California's No. 1-ranked hospital for social responsibility, Riverside County's sole public safety-net hospital, behavioral health services and 14 community health centers that serve hundreds of thousands of patients each year.
Chevinsky’s leadership, dedication to patient-centered care and courage to drive change have earned her this year’s 2026 USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Alumni Society Early Career Achievement Award in Academics.
From an early age, Chevinsky’s education and favorite subjects included complex reasoning. Students examined complex ethical dilemmas and debated various perspectives in search of the right course of action.
“What I loved was that every lesson involved difficult ethical questions,” says Chevinsky. “We had to think deeply about the reasoning behind different positions.”
Those exercises deepened Chevinsky’s interest in human rights and human dignity.
As a medical student, Chevinsky found herself looking beyond the immediate problem. She enjoyed clinical care but was frustrated and saddened to see patients return for the same reasons. She wanted to learn how to treat them while also addressing the challenges they face.
None of the traditional clinical career paths fully aligned with what she hoped to accomplish, so she began exploring her options. She discovered preventive medicine while searching a database detailing thousands of healthcare specialties.
“I knew about public health programs and community work, but I had never encountered a physician working in public health,” says Chevinsky. “I didn’t even know it was a possible career path.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! This is exactly what I want to do!’”
During her medical school rotations, Chevinsky traveled to India, where she studied social determinants of health. Later, she was deployed to Maricopa County, Arizona, during concurrent outbreaks of St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus. She spent a rotation at ABC News in New York reporting on public health issues.
After residency, Chevinsky served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, joining the agency's renowned "disease detective" program where she investigated public health threats and emergencies in communities. That experience reinforced her commitment to public health and epidemiology.
Today, her work at Riverside University Health System-Public Health in Riverside, California, reflects her commitment to a broader vision of medicine and health.
“There’s a saying in public health: ‘Nothing about us without us,’” says Chevinsky, a reminder that communities should have a voice in the decisions about policies and programs that affect them.
That philosophy guides Chevinsky’s work as Riverside County marks 100 years of public health. She prioritizes listening to and engaging with the community. In doing so, she has found a way to incorporate her love for the arts, which she once thought existed only outside her career. She has created time capsules, timelines and exhibits, planned events at local museums and organized town halls, always using creativity to foster engagement and build trust.
“That’s art. It’s storytelling. It’s creating connections with people,” she says.
Her work is also deeply personal. When Chevinsky saw a mother post in a local Facebook group that she didn't have access to infant formula, she connected her with the county’s Women, Infants and Children Program. Within a day, the mother had help.
Successes like that remind Chevinsky every day of the power of public health.
Her desire to advocate has taken her to Abu Dhabi, where she was invited to join an international gathering of women working to improve healthcare conditions around the world. There, she led the conversation about how women's health is inseparable from the opportunities they are given — a stark reminder of the inequity in healthcare.
“It was another moment that reaffirmed how interconnected health is with broader social issues,” she says.
Chevinsky hopes her work encourages healthcare and government leaders to recognize that much of what influences health happens outside the walls of the clinic or hospital and that solving our most complex health challenges requires partnering with and empowering the communities affected. At the core of Chevinsky’s work is human dignity and the belief that every person deserves to be seen. Years ago, standing before The Gross Clinic, a young woman’s love of the arts led her to see what others might have missed: the patient at the center. Show More Show Less
