Dr. William Powderly, Director of the Institute for Public Health, launched ICHAD and SMART Africa’s joint speaker series for a new academic year with his presentation entitled, “Linking Discovery Science and Public Health.” On September 4, Dr. Powderly spoke to a crowd of students, faculty, and staff at Washington University in St. Louis about how to enhance public health in the precision medicine era. He specifically spoke to some of the challenges, particularly in low resource communities, of focusing on individualized treatment vs. addressing the social determinants of health. Ultimately, our health system should combine population-based and individualized interventions to improve population health and narrow health disparities. Our sincerest thanks to Dr. Powderly for sharing his research and insight and for starting the series on such an inspiring note!