“The presence of guns in any environment is the single biggest risk for harm due to guns, including intentional harm, accidental harm, or self-inflicted harm. The notion that the armed teacher can fend off evil doers is fictional, borne out only by idiosyncratic anecdote that has little bearing in fact. In short, there is no reasonable argument in favor of allowing guns in educational spaces. Doing so runs directly counter to the goals of a good education, and endangers the lives of teachers and students alike.”

The 2016 election surfaced profound divides in American society. These divides manifested along a number of fault lines — particularly around race, ethnicity and gender. At core, however, this election hinged on national divides stemming from deep frustration, even despair, over the growing socioeconomic inequality in the United States, and its tangible consequences.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, I struggled with how to address my school community. As Dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, I am part of a school that cares deeply about the social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape the health of populations; conditions that are closely tied to the state of our politics. As an immigrant to this country, the election took on an even more personal relevance. Informed by both perspectives, the following is a version of a note I sent to our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Like me, it is sad, but hopeful.

The 2016 election is over and we enter an era led by President-elect Donald Trump. The election, long and rancorous, revealed deep divides in America. The rise of Trump was clearly fueled by the anger of a long-marginalized segment of our society. The misogyny on display throughout the campaign demonstrated how far we still have to go in the area of gender equity, and the bitterness directed at Muslims, immigrants and people of color generally, sprang from a strain of ugly nativism that is inconsistent with American values, though, sadly, not American history. While a Donald Trump victory has been a sad endorsement of these values, it is worth remembering that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, which serves in some measure as a repudiation of the divisiveness and demagogy of the last year and a half.

America’s poor health helped elect Donald Trump.

The United States has the worst health indicators among its peer nations, even though it spends far more money on health than any of those countries. Much of this health burden is borne by the same marginalized groupsthat found hope in the message of the president-elect.

The new administration should seize the opportunity to be bold and inventive and to take steps that can actually make a difference in the lives and the health of the people who elevated Trump to power. My own work, and that of others, suggests 10 key ways to accomplish such change.

With little action from the federal government on gun control, states have stepped into this void, passing legislation including laws that attempt to fill the background check loopholes in federal law.

On Nov. 8, California, Nevada and Washington passed ballot initiatives that restrict the sale of firearms in some way. We’ll take a look at what do these new laws do, and whether they might lower the toll of firearms violence.

To control soaring health care costs, many U.S. corporations have rolled out wellness programs on the idea that encouraging employees to adopt a healthy lifestyle would lead to fewer trips to the doctor and fewer missed work days. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, about three-quarters of HR professionals said their organizations offered some sort of a wellness program in 2014. While more than two-thirds of these respondents reported that such programs were “somewhat effective” or “very effective” in reducing health care costs, a closer look at other studies finds that the outcomes for these programs are not so clear. This suggests corporations should rethink wellness programs, bearing in mind that several other critical factors besides lifestyle predict a healthy life.