Dr. Lindsay Weaver, ASTHO member and the state health commissioner for the Indiana Department of Health, discusses how her state is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant in today's PHIG Impact Report.
Dr. Lindsay Weaver, ASTHO member and the state health commissioner for the Indiana Department of Health, discusses how her state is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant in today's PHIG Impact Report.
This work is supported by funds made available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Center for STLT Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce, through OE22-2203: Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems grant. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
JANSON SILVERS:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, August 19, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
This morning, another installment of the PHIG Impact Report, a segment that showcases the Public Health Infrastructure Grant, otherwise known as PHIG, and how your colleagues across the nation are using it. Today, we're talking to Dr. Lindsay Weaver, ASTHO member and state health commissioner of Indiana, about the impact PHIG funding has on her state health department.
Dr. Weaver, how has your state utilized PHIG funding?
LINDSAY WEAVER:
PHIG has been an incredible blessing to the Department of Health, and, I would say, the State of Indiana. We have utilized this funding in order to grow the infrastructure around data, and that is how we have been able to give this very localized data to our communities so that they can really see what is driving health outcomes, including infant mortality outcomes at the very, very local level. We would not have been able to do that without the PHIG funding. I would also say our PHIG funding has provided a workforce to us that is able to provide support to those local health departments so that they can better understand their data, and also, so that they're aware of what are the evidence-based programs that'll help drive to improvements.
SILVERS:
And through that work, was there anything that stood out to you about how the funding differed from traditional grants?
WEAVER:
I really appreciate the fact that it is flexible, because just like, I know, all the counties in Indiana are different, and there's different things that they need to focus on, all of the states are different too. I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all that's going to improve health outcomes for the entire United States. I think it's every state looking at what their needs are, and then being able to utilize these federal dollars to address it.
SILVERS:
How would you say this funding has impacted the way your state is able to really serve its communities?
WEAVER:
It has changed the way that we're able to think and talk about improving health in a different way with other funding that's coming from other federal resources and even even state resources, sometimes they're very specific to disease state, but we know that people who are suffering from one disease state are often suffering from multiple other ones. So, it is this funding has allowed us to zoom out and say, let's treat Hoosiers as the whole people that they are, and making sure that we're meeting them where it is that they need us the most.
SILVERS:
Are there any specific outcomes that the Indiana Department of Health can attribute directly to PHIG funding?
WEAVER:
Growth of our data infrastructure, our ability to analyze and get data out more succinctly. We now have a data navigator page where any policymaker, constituent can go and look at all the data that the Department Health has, and they're able to really dig into the data to look at it in multiple different ways. We would not be there and have that at this time without the Public Health Infrastructure Grant. And then, I would also say the build out of our local health department support, and also filling out the- and rounding the edges across our agency, where we knew that we just needed a little bit more in each of these areas to really drive forward, and we're able to utilize the funding and make sure that we're putting forward the best programs that we can to get the biggest return on investment.
SILVERS:
And lastly, why are programs that offer sustainable funding so important?
WEAVER:
Public health metrics do not move in a day or week years, sometimes not even a decade, and those plans often take a lot of time to get there to see those metrics move. And so, it is imperative that we have sustainable funding so that we can continue to invest in whatever it is, whatever area that a state or a local health department needs, and then see that change over time. But if you kind of come and go with the funding, it disrupts those programming that we know is making a difference before we'll ever see the big needle move on our metrics.
SILVERS:
Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us. Dr. Weaver.
You can learn more about the Public Health Infrastructure Grant and how it supports vital public health programs across the country by visiting the PHIG website. We have a 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.
