I last spoke to Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH, on Monday, August 18^th, as we discussed the journal, cars, and his planned visit with his wife Carole to our new home for brunch in late September. This conversation was different than most because it focused on the legacy he left behind, following a 60+ year career in public health. We discussed plans by the editorial board and friends of the journal to celebrate his legacy and share his many contributions with colleagues in the field so that they might see themselves leading change like Lloyd did his entire career. We also talked about cars, one of our shared passions, and just like that the call ended. He passed away a week later, leaving behind a legacy of a giant in the field of public health, whose contributions are almost too challenging to innumerate. It is his career that serves as the inspiration for a new column in the journal and series on JPHMP Direct focusing on the trailblazers in public health. In this new series, we will focus on those we have lost, moving eventually to recognizing those trailblazers still among us who we will encourage to share their stories, wisdom, and advice with those who build upon their amazing work. The series will launch in the coming months.

My relationship with Lloyd began in June 2006 with a 30-minute phone call, after I applied for a faculty position in the Department of Family Medicine at East Carolina University (ECU). He had recently been hired to found what would become the Department of Public Health at ECU and was searching for faculty to build it with him and the team he had assembled. He and Chris Mansfield, PhD, interviewed me, and I’ll never forget how nervous I was during the call. I felt a bit more reassured when the call concluded and the microphone caught Lloyd telling Chris that I was “very good” before we were disconnected. This led to an interview and a job offer, leading to me joining the small faculty in a doublewide trailer outside the Brody School of Medicine. We built the program as a team, despite me lacking any idea how to construct a department and a Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Fortunately, Lloyd had a vision and the leadership skills to execute his vision, despite lacking the resources of bigger programs and schools.

We relocated to a non-manufactured office building shortly after I joined the team, and we got to work. I knew of Lloyd’s journal, the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, as he kept a copious number of copies spread around the building. He was very proud of what he had built over the preceding 12 years, despite no staff and limited time to work on the journal. One day, he stormed into my office, visibly frustrated. I was immediately concerned, as Lloyd was an imposing figure, and I wasn’t entirely sure that he wasn’t frustrated with me. Instead, he asked me if I’d like to become the first associate editor for the journal. Evidently, the workload (which was completely email- and paper-based at that time) was becoming too much. I immediately said yes, and we got to work migrating the journal to the online portal we use today and began dividing the labor (he still did the lion’s share of the editorial work until his retirement in January 2025). In hindsight, I realize that I became the inaugural associate editor of the journal for two very important reasons: 1) my office was the first one he came to, and 2) I was in the office that day.

Over the following five years, I learned something from Lloyd every day. He was instrumental to assembling my mentorship team for the K-series grant award that launched my research career, he taught me almost everything I know about governmental public health, he taught me leadership, and he taught me the ropes of the academic publishing industry. He even taught me to sail (another passion of his), although my greatest utility was serving as ballast.

Over the years, our relationship became more collegial, accelerating after I left ECU for a position at the University of South Carolina (where I would eventually begin to call him “Lloyd” rather than “Dr. Novick”). We shared regular strategy conversations about the journal, wrote together, and shared conversations about our love of sporty cars for more than 18 years. He was a constant influence in my life, a trusted source of wisdom and advice, and a relentless sponsor of my career. I would learn over this time that I was not the only person he had this type of relationship with, as he was a tireless mentor for countless others in the field. It could have just been a passing conversation, an email exchange, or a multi-decade relationship, but Lloyd positively impacted countless people and their careers. It’s an understatement to say that his passing is an enormous loss to public health, but his legacy will reverberate through the ages as public health builds on his body of work.

In summary, I hope you will follow the journal on LinkedIn, BlueSky, and here on JPHMP Direct to learn more about the man who impacted so many through his work and his dedication to the health of his fellow human beings, especially those less fortunate than him. He was truly a trailblazer in public health, and a one-of-a-kind individual who will be missed by all he impacted.

About the Author

Justin B. Moore

Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS, FACSM, is a Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Implementation Science in the Division of Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

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