In his nearly two decades as Arlington’s public-health director, Dr. Reuben Varghese has never been short of new challenges to tackle.
Among them: Ebola. West Nile Disease. H1N1 influenza. Monkeypox. The fallout — literally and figuratively — from a potential nuclear strike. And of course, COVID-19.
Addressing them all has been part of Varghese’s role as the public face of public health in the community since 2005.
But soon, retirement looms.
“I want to express my thanks to the county and its residents, and most especially, to my staff colleagues in the division and throughout the department and county,” Varghese told ARLnow.
He noted that the work of the department during his tenure built upon on efforts by his eight public-health predecessors over the past century, and he was happy to have served as the ninth.
“There has been no higher calling for me than working with the community I call home to control and prevent disease spread,” he said. “I am proud how the community and staff have faced the many public-health challenges of the past 20 years.”
For his efforts, Varghese will be honored next Tuesday (Dec. 17) by County Board members. But praise from others already has been forthcoming.
“Under Dr. Varghese’s skillful and caring leadership, Arlington has addressed public-health challenges … in an informed and effective fashion,” said Anita Friedman, director of the county government’s Department of Human Services. “He has been a tremendous colleague, and his contributions to our community will be felt for decades to come.”
In addition, Friedman told ARLnow, “Dr. Varghese has been a driving force behind the county’s efforts to promote health equity, notably through publication of the groundbreaking 2018 report ‘A Decade of Difference: Destination 2027 Steering Committee Report,’ which was a launchpad for the county’s race-equity work.”
Long before the first case of Covid was reported in Arlington — March 9, 2020 — Varghese and his staff were focused on addressing infectious disease outbreaks.
“There is sometimes chaos,” Varghese said of the early response to new public-health threats. But, he said, “we’re as prepared as we can be … I have confidence in the system.”
Those comments did not come in March 2020, but in October 2014, when there were fears a case of Ebola virus had been uncovered near the Pentagon. A woman who fell ill told individuals around her she recently had traveled to an Ebola-stricken area of West Africa.
The aggressive response to the incident struck some as an overreaction — Varghese acknowledged that “we learned some lessons” through the experience — but county officials said it was appropriate to the situation and gave the public information it could use in the future.
“The better informed we are, the better we can protect ourselves,” the public-health director said then.
Nearly a decade before the Ebola incident, county staff had dealt with the arrival of West Nile virus in the community. Two years after that, there were community concerns about a virulent strain of flu making the rounds.
And then, after sweeping from Asia to Europe to North America, the coronavirus pandemic arrived at Arlington’s doorstep in early 2020.
Its appearance, Varghese said at the outset, “does not come as a surprise,” given the amount of international travel done by local residents.
Within a week, much of the county — and the nation — went into a prolonged lockdown. Over the months and years that followed, Varghese frequently served as a calming influence for a population rattled by the impact of the pandemic on their health and daily lives.
Covid was almost certainly the most challenging real-world episode the public-health department contended with over the past two decades. But at least one scenario would have been even worse.
In 2012, county leaders, including Varghese, delivered recommendations on how local residents should respond to a nuclear strike on the county.
Such an event could be “absolutely survivable” for those who were not in the immediate blast zone, said Jack Brown, then the county government’s emergency-management director. Varghese added that residents caught in such an event should shelter in place to best avoid radiation exposure.
“Convincing people [to stay where they are] is very hard, because it may not seem intuitive,” Varghese said then.
Varghese, who holds both a bachelor’s degree and doctor of medicine degree from Brown University, told ARLnow he is confident Arlingtonians will be well-served in the health arena going forward.
“I know that the community will be in good hands with the public-health staff and leaders at all levels as they tackle whatever public-health challenges lie ahead,” he said.
