public health and violence

Most of the tributes to former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who died yesterday at age 96, are quick to remind us that he became a household name.  As the New York Times' story notes that "is a rare distinction for a public health administrator."  Dr. Koop's notoriety could be attributed to his "long silver beard and white braided uniform," as TIME magazine noted, to his pronouncements in 1986 about the health effects of second-hand tobacco smoke, and for his eventual warnings about the risk factors associated with contracting HIV.  The USA Today's obituary about the Reagan-era Surgeon…