That vision included the mission of Public Health as fulfilling society’s interest in assuring the conditions in which people can be healthy. Why is this important? Why can we not focus just on an individual’s health? The water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat and even the messages we are exposed to via media influence our health. Just as an individual tree does not have much of a chance when the forest around it is burning, human health is very much dependent upon the environment . And why does “society” have an interest. Because many problems can not be solved by individuals alone and others can best be solved on a population or community basis. There is an expression “Can’t see the forest for the trees”. The truth is that individual and population or community medicine are both important perspectives. We must pay attention to the forest as well as the individual trees. The Mission of Public Health is that first perspective - the big picture.