Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, outlines the recent recall of Bicillin; Marie Stratton, Overdose Data to Action program manager at the Maryland Department of Health, explains...
Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, outlines the recent recall of Bicillin; Marie Stratton, Overdose Data to Action program manager at the Maryland Department of Health, explains how ASTHO’s technical assistance helped with the department’s OD2A funds; applications are now open for ASTHO’s Developing Executive Leaders in Public Health program; and an ASTHO brief explains how you can sustain community engagement infrastructure through state public health programming.
ASTHO Web Page: Health Equity in Overdose Data to Action
ASTHO Web Page: Developing Executive Leaders in Public Health
ASTHO Brief: Sustaining Community Engagement Infrastructure Through State Public Health Programming
SUMMER JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, August 4, 2025. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
SUSAN KANSAGRA:
What recently happened was that Pfizer, the maker of this drug, has initiated a recall due to some particulates identified in the drug itself.
JOHNSON:
Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO's chief medical officer, outlines the recent recall of Bicillin. The recall could lead to drug shortages, but Kansagra says this is an instance of public health working as it should.
KANSAGRA:
This is an example of our, you know, pretty robust monitoring system, and identifying an issue, and now recalling that drug as a result. And then jurisdictions are looking at how they can continue to ensure appropriate treatment, conserve the doses that they have, make sure they're going to the patients that do need it the most in supporting, you know, continued treatment and, of course, identification of syphilis as well,
JOHNSON:
Kansagra says providers are going to need to prioritize those who are at the highest risk and in the most need of the medication, which includes pregnant women with syphilis.
KANSAGRA:
Prioritizing those doses with them, there are some alternative antibiotics that can be used for others that help- that have syphilis, so that you know, making sure that you're using Bicillin for pregnant women, helps prioritize those doses for those that don't have that other alternative.
JOHNSON:
As far as the overall state of syphilis, Kansagra points to tactics that have proved successful.
KANSAGRA:
One of the most important things is making sure that we are screening pregnant women for syphilis and making sure that is incorporated into prenatal care and done routinely. And that is where a lot of the work has happened across the country, and where state and health departments are working with healthcare providers to ensure that that happens.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO has a resource for syphilis. You can use the link in the show notes to learn more.
The Maryland Department of Health began its business process improvement work in 2023. Marie Stratton with the Maryland Department of Health says ASTHO helped the department improve procurement processes and its use of OD2A funds.
MARIE STRATTON:
Last winter, we had our first technical assistance engagement with them, where we had week-long mapping workshops. We had over 40 attendees, all different roles, all different offices and administrations, that completed current state process maps for our kind of three main procurement mechanisms: grants, contracts, and interagency agreements.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO provided recommendations, implementation guidance and best practices to the department.
STRATTON:
This work is really important for OD2A fund management, but also really across our organization, to really build that capacity and also making, kind of, quality improvement part of our daily work practice.
JOHNSON:
Stratton says this assistance helped the entire Maryland Department of Health.
STRATTON:
Through the support of ASTHO and HMA, we're able to build some shared agreement around what are priorities now, so, across roles, across administrations, how have our priorities changed? And kind of getting to that agreement together, and then from the presentation and the final report, we were able to learn a lot about best practices in other states.
JOHNSON:
More about ASTHO's OD2A work is online now. You can click the link in the show notes to read more.
Applications are now open for ASTHO's Developing Executive Leaders in Public Health program. Participants will get 10 months of intensive leadership development experiences, which include skill-building, workshops, coaching, networking opportunities, and access to national thought leaders. Sign up by using the link in the show notes.
Finally, an ASTHO brief explains how you can sustain community engagement infrastructure through state public health programming. The resource details community partnerships, how you can preserve them, and it also gives you real-world examples of sustainable engagement. We have a link to that brief in the show notes.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Summer Johnson, you're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
