Elizabeth Gunsalus, K-12 education and outreach project manager at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, explains how the department’s Mobile Lab Experience has been beneficial; Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, spoke at a recent Trust for America’s Health media briefing...
Elizabeth Gunsalus, K-12 education and outreach project manager at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, explains how the department’s Mobile Lab Experience has been beneficial; Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, spoke at a recent Trust for America’s Health media briefing focused on the most recent Pain in the Nation report; the Connecticut Tumor Registry marks its 90th anniversary; and Elizabeth Hertel, ASTHO member and director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, recently gave the commencement address for Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine's graduation ceremony.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment Web Page: Mobile Lab Experience
NAACCR 2025 Annual Conference Web Page
Michigan State University Class of 2025 Commencement Web Page
JANSON SILVERS:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, June 4, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
ELIZABETH GUNSALUS:
We've served over 20,000 Kansans in under three years, and lots of smiles and student engagement and fun has been had all around immersive science lessons.
SILVERS:
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been running its Mobile Lab Experience for the last three years. Elizabeth Gunsalus with KDHE says it all began with a CDC workforce development grant in 2021 that funded three projects.
GUNSALUS:
The Mobile Laboratory Experience, which we like to call the MLE, was one of those projects, and the hope was to bring science field trips to schools across Kansas and introduce public health, deliver engaging, immersive One Health lessons that inspire students.
SILVERS:
The MLE incorporates career lessons, science experiments and even some age- appropriate games.
GUNSALUS:
They're given virus-shaped balls that they throw through the holes. And the goal is, is your virus strong enough to get through all those barriers? So, we really enjoy that game, and they enjoy that game. We also bring awareness about people and animals and the environment, how they interact together, and ways to stay healthy in all of those situations.
SILVERS:
Gunsalus says this project has made a real impact.
GUNSALUS:
I think one experience that happened that is really expressive of this whole effort. A third grader came onto the Mobile Laboratory and was there and doing the experiments and such, and she told us, "I might just be a scientist after today," and that is our hope, that students are inspired to the wonder of science.
SILVERS:
We have a link to KDHE's web page and more information on the Mobile Lab Experience in the show notes.
Trust for America's Health recently held a media briefing on their latest Pain in the Nation report. ASTHO's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Susan Kansagra was a panelist at the media briefing and discussed the leading cause of death for Americans in the first half of life: injuries.
SUSAN KANSAGRA:
This is not a small issue. It's not a distant issue. It's something that is a leading threat to our children, to our adolescents, to our hardworking families, and is ever- present in our communities.
SILVERS:
Kansagra also told reporters that public health data gives us hope.
KANSAGRA:
We can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic, and that vision is within reach, but only if we stay ahead of this evolving health threat.
SILVERS:
She reported that the latest overdose numbers, which show the largest single year drop in overdose deaths on record, aren't by accident.
KANSAGRA:
It was the relentless work of health care providers at community-based organizations, mental health providers of our state and local health departments, and, of course, the families impacted as well. So, thousands of people are alive today because these people worked tirelessly.
SILVERS:
The full report from Trust for America's Health is online now. You can use the link in the show notes to learn more.
Also, a big congratulations to the Connecticut public health community, which is marking the 90th anniversary of the Connecticut Tumor Registry. That makes it the oldest population-based cancer registry in the United States. This month, Connecticut is set to host the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries' annual meeting. We have a link to the conference in the show notes.
Finally, Elizabeth Hertel, ASTHO member and the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, gave the commencement address for the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine graduation ceremony. Learn more by clicking the link in the show notes.
That'll do it for today, we're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers, you're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
Elizabeth Gunsalus MA
K-12 Education and Outreach Project Manager, Kansas Department of Health and Environment