1075: From Pipeline to Public Trust: Strengthening the Next Generation of Public Health

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This is Public Health Review
MORNING Edition for Tuesday,

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February 24th, 2026.
I'm John Sheehan with news from

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the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials.

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Today, we explore how the field
can build a stronger future by

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investing in the next generation
of professionals and improving

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how it communicates its value to
the public.

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Doctor Kimberly Wedge Etheridge,
Senior Vice President of Health

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Initiatives at ASTO, discusses
why workforce pathway programs,

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mentorship, and hands on
partnerships between

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universities and health
departments are critical as

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experienced leaders retire and
workforce gaps grow.

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Then Brian Castrucci, president
and CEO of the de Beaumont

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Foundation, explains why.
In a recent article, he argued

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public health must do a better
job communicating its impact.

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He explores how partnerships
across sectors from business and

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education to faith communities
can strengthen support and why

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consistency, speed, and
alignment and messaging are more

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important than ever.
But first, here's Doctor

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Kimberly White Etheridge on the
next generation's pathways

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toward public health careers.
Well, I think it's always

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important to remember that there
are there are going to be people

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after us.
And you know, we always say that

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it is a comfort level knowing
that you can hand the baton to

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well trained individuals that
can keep the keep the work

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going.
So making sure that we're

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focusing on and training the
next generation of public health

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leaders is really essential for
for public health to continue.

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Yeah.
And what would be an outcome

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that you're hoping to achieve
with this?

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Well, we know that that a lot of
our public health, more senior

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public health officials are
retiring or leaving, especially

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governmental public health and
replacing them is extremely

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difficult because there aren't
the people that have that same

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level of experience.
So by identifying students who

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are interested and then helping
to train them and give them the

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practical experiences they need
to fill in some of those

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positions or to work towards
some of those positions is

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really going to help state and
local health departments as we

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move forward.
Yeah.

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You note that there are more
people pursuing degrees in

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public health than than ever
before.

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That's heartening.
And before we get into sort of

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like the opportunity that
presents, why do you think now

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young people are are pursuing
these degrees?

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We think there's been a lot in
the news around around public

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health and the importance of
what it has done in the lives of

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especially some of the young
people.

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They've grown up being
immunized.

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They have lived through COVID
and the response and seeing what

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happens when public health
responds appropriately to things

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like pandemics or emerging
illnesses and things like that.

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And it's a really an exciting
feel.

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The idea that there are things
that you can do that can affect

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the entire population's health
is a very powerful career.

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And if you're someone who is
really, really interested in the

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health and maximizing the health
of the population or of all the

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communities, then public health
is it's a great career.

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For those of us who went into
medicine, we know that we have

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the the opportunity to really
help one person at a time.

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Public health is able to help
communities at a time.

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And so the two working together
is just imperative.

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So we're going to always need
our public health officials.

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And one of the one of the
partnerships you call out

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specifically is local
universities and their health

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departments.
Can you talk more about that and

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why why those relationships are
so important?

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Yes, so like in most academic
institutions, it's a lot of our

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our important kind of core book
knowledge.

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But when you actually partner
with health departments and real

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life experience, then you get
more into the I call it the art.

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So schools provide the the
science, but practice provides

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the art of being able to do
public health.

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And so marrying those two
together put students in a

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wonderful really position to be
able to start their careers.

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They know the science.
They understand the basics of

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public health, but they also
have seen how it translates into

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action at the state health
department.

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In addition and sort of hand in
hand, I think with that is this

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notion of of mentorships in
addition to sort of

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opportunities.
Having a course load or having a

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way into an organization is one
thing, but having a mentor who's

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there that can actually show you
the ropes and paint a picture of

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a of a long career is another
one of those sort of like really

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necessary elements.
Definitely, you know, you, you

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grow up believing that you, you,
you pull, pull somebody up

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behind you and you share those
experiences with them so that

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they may not have to learn the
lesson the hard way.

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We'll say.
So if you think of kind of like

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a, a pyramid or so we take what
someone has experienced and

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learned, pass it on to the next
generation.

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They're able to start one step
up and so on and so on and so

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on.
So mentorship not only gives a

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practical experience of what
would you do in this situation,

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but also just the opportunity to
observe the unspoken rules of,

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we'll say, of public health is
important for success also.

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So you can't put a price on on
mentorship.

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It's important in public health.
It's really important in any

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career to have that mentorship.
But as we said, as people start

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retiring and some of the most
seasons people start leaving the

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field of public health, making
sure that their knowledge and

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their experience is passed on to
that next generation is most

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effective through kind of
organized mentorship.

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Yeah, for sure.
Speaking of more seasoned career

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officials sort of moving on, you
call out in your article a

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pretty significant deficit of
employees to the tune of 80,000

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career officials who are not in
the workforce anymore.

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And you say that this is, this
presents a problem not just of

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hiring, but you've got to retain
people as well.

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Talk about that tension.
Yes, people are always going to

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retire.
We've been in a, we'll say in a,

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in a public health world right
now where those numbers tend to

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be a little bit higher than they
have been in the past.

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And so when that group leaves,
then of course, we we have that

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that deficit.
But as people who are joining in

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are finding the careers that are
meaningful, that they feel like

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they are making a difference and
it's an environment that is

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conducive to really kind of the
kind of the kind of job that you

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want, then they're willing to
stay a little bit longer.

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We have a, a generation coming
up that's got a little bit less

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of a tolerance, we'll say for,
for workplace unhappiness.

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So looking to see what is it
that needs to be done to make

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sure that younger employees are
continuing to learn that they

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got that mentorship and that
they're, you know, that they're

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respected really.
And a lot of the work that's

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being done in workforce
development helps that.

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But making sure that we're able
to retain those that we train,

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those that we put the energy in
to make sure that they're,

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they're ready to do their job is
essential.

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Because every time when you lose
that, then that's that much more

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experience and really that much
more training and, and funds

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that have been put and not
utilized.

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So workforce development, but
also workplace development is,

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is key.
And as we know the US, we'll

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call ourselves the either the,
the late boomers or the early,

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whatever comes after that grew
up in a different time.

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So we have a different, a
different truth as far as what

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it means to to work than the
current generation.

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And there's so much that each
can learn from each other.

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But we have to be willing to
listen and to build on the

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strengths that may be a little
bit different than those who

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have been in the field for a
long period of time.

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I think you may be a very
compelling case for these kinds

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of pathway programs and of
course, unfortunately there is

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always that counter argument
which is how are you going to

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pay for it?
Yes, and, and funding is always

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going to be kind of one of the
the Roger some of the rate

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limiting steps.
But we have to remember that

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you, you, you really have to
invest in things that are

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important or, you know,
paramount for survival or for

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the, that the good of the, we'll
say either the organization or

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the field.
So figuring out how to be

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creative with funding in order
to be able to make sure that

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pipelining programs or programs
that fill the gaps are able to

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be sustained is important.
And those pathway programs can

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be done relatively inexpensively
if there is creativity that's

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that is done.
And even in many cases is the

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experience of being able to
internship or work in a public

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health department is sometimes
the the best value, meaning that

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it can be done sometimes with
very little or very small

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budgets.
Again, it takes some creativity

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and maybe some braiding and
layering of funds to be able to

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get it done.
Doctor Kimberly White Etheridge

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is senior vice president of
health initiatives at ASTO.

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Now let's hear from Brian
Castrucci, president and CEO of

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the de Beaumont Foundation.
In a recent article in Forbes,

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he argued public health must do
a better job communicating its

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impact.
Public health is embedded in the

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systems people encounter
everyday in our schools, our

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workplaces, transportation, our
food systems, even the media.

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Whether or not people realize
it, these systems help shape who

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stays healthy and who bears the
most risk of negative outcomes.

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So part of our responsibility as
public health leaders is to help

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people make those connections.
Using examples to make them

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tangible is a really important
strategy.

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Covid's the most salient example
for a lot of our audiences that

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that experience drove home for
many people the way that health

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outcomes are interconnected, how
they're dependent on systems and

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often subject to forces beyond
individual control.

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But it's not the only example,
and we all know that we have to

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look at this unpleasant memory
and find other ways to

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contextualize public health.
And one of the one of the

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systems, one of the pillars that
sort of supports public health,

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especially these days is
partnerships, whether that's

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cross sector, Interstate across
the system.

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Can you talk about the
importance of partnerships and

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how agencies have and should be
utilizing them?

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Public health partnerships are
incredibly important.

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This has to be a team sport.
It has to be an US, not an I.

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No matter what we think we can
do in public health, we're going

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to need someone to help us.
Public health is the, you know,

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perpetual turtle on a fence
post.

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You, you don't quite know how it
got there, but you know, it

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needed some help.
And so we need partners.

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We need the business community,
we need the schools, we need

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education, we need faith.
We don't have the resources or

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the political will or any of the
things that we need to be for us

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to actually achieve our goals.
I think it seems like you're

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saying the case hadn't been
made.

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The case was made, it wasn't
communicated.

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And if I can, if, if a listener
of this podcast leaves with

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anything, we don't need more
research.

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We don't need more examples.
We got to communicate the

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research we have.
We have to share the example so

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that people understand that
public health is there.

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I'll, I'll give you a great
example.

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A friend of my daughter once
asked her what is the difference

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between your dad and a
paediatrician?

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I'm not clinical, I have a DRPH
and my daughter looked at her

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and said, well, a paediatrician
helps one person at a time.

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My dad helps everybody all the
time.

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That's what we need people
saying about public health,

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because you wouldn't cut
something that's helping

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everybody all the time.
But it's easy to cut public

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health given how those
detractors would communicate

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about public health.
So the case is there.

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It's the communication that
needs to be better.

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And perhaps related to your
daughter's explanation, you

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point to sort of this new
generation of digital or maybe

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grassroots communicators who are
who are making who are

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communicating effectively.
What can public health

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professionals learn from these
kind of from these kinds of next

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generation communicators?
So I heard a really interesting

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presentation just yesterday at a
conference that the Yale School

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of Public Health put on that
it's not that doctors and and

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scientists have lost trust.
It's just that other people,

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other lay people are now as
trusted as those scientists.

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So it's, it's almost like the
monopoly on trust has been

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broken.
And so I don't know if there's

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as much to learn from them as it
is we need to partner with them.

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It's not the death of expertise.
It's an evolution of expertise.

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I am 51 years old.
And for me, expertise is a

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degree on the wall or a white
coat.

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But for my kids who are 14 and
16, for them, it's the number of

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followers that that person might
have, right?

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They can tell me everything that
Doctor Mike has said on on

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YouTube.
And that's how we have to learn

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and partner better.
We have to think about

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information differently.
I've spent my whole career

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trying to bring people to my
website.

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Go to the CDC website to learn
about, go to the state health

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department's website to learn
about.

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No one wants to go to those
websites, right?

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They're they're not
entertaining, they're not

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interesting.
So how do I work with

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influencers?
Because I actually go to the

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influencers websites already.
I go to their TikTok because I

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like that banana bread recipe or
I want to know how to bedazzle

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my briefcase and that's what
they show me.

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And then how do we work in
messages, health messages where

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people already are so that
we're, we're not trying to pull

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you to us, we're trying to push
us to you?

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Right.
And as you say, the conditions

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aren't new to the the next
generation, things like food

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safety and and drug oversight,
environmental concerns, these

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are all things that are on their
minds as well.

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It's just not being public
health role is not being

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communicated to them in the
places where they are.

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Are there ways that that
officials could tap into that

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those those very important
concerns?

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When I've talked to influencers,
they just say, send us Adm.

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They're looking for
collaboration.

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And so we have to get
uncomfortable and we have to

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start working with people who
aren't from Harvard and Yale and

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have MD's and PHD's.
And that's something we're going

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to have to get used to that our,
our degrees mean that we have

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knowledge, but we might not be
the best to communicate that

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knowledge to a broad audience.
And ultimately for public

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health, one of our biggest
challenges is that we aren't

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aligned.
Alignment is where we lose.

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And so we can treat a lot of the
symptoms of that problem.

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The, the problem is we aren't
aligned.

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And, and I'll just give you a
quick example.

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If I went to APHA, right, I will
go to the annual conference and

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I set up a booth and I asked
1000 people what public health

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is.
I think there's a fair bet that

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I would get 1000 different
definitions.

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Some of them would be 1020
minutes long.

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But what are the like?
Here's the key.

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Public health is this right?
McDonald's is always golden

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arches.
What is our equivalent of golden

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arches in public health?
I don't think we have it and we

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aren't aligned.
So you work with the HIV folk

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and they're like, well, you
know, we care about public

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health.
If we send our HIV, you try to

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leave for mortality folks.
Well, we care about public

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health.
If you send in for mortality, we

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have to center public health and
let the public know this is what

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we do for you.
This is our value proposition

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00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,079
and we need to communicate it
consistently and correctly for

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many different audiences.
You also write that the public

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health communicators can't wait
for ideal or calm conditions.

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That's not the world we live in
anymore.

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Do you have advice for
communicating in uncertain times

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00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:42,640
and sort of in uncertain terms?
I think that's something that

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our public Health Communications
collaborative, which you can

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00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,880
find it, public health
collaborative.org is really

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trying to wrestle with getting
us the, the fast messaging.

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I mean, that's one of the places
that we are lagging is speed.

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So we have to right now, as
public health leaders start to

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stand up and give people
alternatives that go beyond

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strongly worded letters, we need
the action that follows.

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And that's one of the reasons I
love the Public Health

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Communication Collaborative and
I get to work with amazing

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00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:19,080
partners at Trust America's
Health, CDC Foundation, Kresge

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00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,440
Robert Johnson Foundation and
the Beaumont because it's really

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00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,320
try to get us to a point where
we have some solutions, waited

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ways to talk to people, how to
use plain language.

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But this is going to take us you
really getting disciplined with

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our messaging and we all, all
3000 local health departments

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can't have their own messaging
campaign.

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That doesn't breed trust either,
right?

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We need consistency and that
gets back to the idea of

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alignment.
Brian Castrucci, President and

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CEO of the De Beaumont
Foundation.

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00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,640
Earlier, we heard from Doctor
Kimberly White Etheridge, Senior

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Vice president of Health
Initiatives at ASTO.

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00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,640
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This has been Public Health

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00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:17,520
Review Morning edition.
I'm John Sheehan for the

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00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,440
Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials.