Territories And Freely Associated States Episodes

893: Youth Behavioral Health, CHWs in Island Areas
April 25, 2025

893: Youth Behavioral Health, CHWs in Island Areas

Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health and an ASTHO member, explains how his state is taking action for youth behavioral health; Aurora GrantWingate, member and partner engagement manager at the National Association of...
Guests: Sameer Vohra MD JD MA FAAP , Aurora GrantWingate MPH
876: PH Workforce Lessons, Interagency Leadership Convening
April 2, 2025

876: PH Workforce Lessons, Interagency Leadership Convening

Ryan Jury, assistant division director for operational excellence with the Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina, tells us what he has learned from the ASTHO Leadership Institute and the ASTHO Spring Leadership Forum; Justa Encarnacion...
Guests: Justa Encarnacion RN MBA HCM , Ryan Jury MBA
610: Island Members Visit Capitol Hill, Campaign Recruits New Public Health Nurses
Feb. 28, 2024

610: Island Members Visit Capitol Hill, Campaign Recruits New Public Health Nurses

Gaafar Uherbelau, Minister of Health for the Palau Ministry of Health and Human Services, tells us his priorities in Washington D.C. for ASTHO’s Spring Meeting; this week, the third cohort of public health professionals in the Diverse Executives...
Guests: Gaafar Uherbelau , Puthiery Va DO
521: Territories Invisible in Many Databases, Strategies to Reduce Childhood Obesity
Oct. 11, 2023

521: Territories Invisible in Many Databases, Strategies to Reduce Childhood Obesity

Dr. Anna-Michelle McSorley, Postdoctoral Scholar at the NYU School of Global Public Health, reports territories are not represented in federal health data systems; ASTHO is looking for a contractor to build a toolkit for health equity performance...
Guests: Steven Gortmaker PhD , Anna-Michelle McSorley PhD MPH
485: Planning Post-Pandemic, Arizona’s Heat Map
Aug. 18, 2023

485: Planning Post-Pandemic, Arizona’s Heat Map

Warren Villagomez, Director of Public Health Hospital for the Emergency Preparedness Program at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, shares the public health planning lessons learned form COVID-19; Hsini Lin, Office Chief for Environmental...
Guests: Warren Villagomez , Hsini Lin ScD MSPH
477: PH-HERO Set to Grow, Dialysis Patient Voices
Aug. 8, 2023

477: PH-HERO Set to Grow, Dialysis Patient Voices

Omar Khalid, ASTHO’s Director of Workforce Development, explains the expansion of ASTHO’s Public Health – Hope, Equity, Resilience, and Opportunity (PH-HERO) initiative; Erin Laird, ASTHO’s Director of Emerging Infections, says preventing...
Guests: Omar Khalid , Erin Laird MPH
453: REPLAY: Dealing with Xylazine, Island Care for Veterans
July 5, 2023

453: REPLAY: Dealing with Xylazine, Island Care for Veterans

This special edition revisits Episode 386 of Public Health Review Morning Edition from March 28th.   Dr. Daniel Edney, State Health Officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, discusses the dangers of Xylazine, a strong tranquilizer,...
Guests: Daniel Edney MD , Moses Pretrick
405: Childhood Immunization Schedules, Island Area Health Equity Plans
April 24, 2023

405: Childhood Immunization Schedules, Island Area Health Equity Plans

On the first day of National Infant Immunization Week, Dr. José Romero, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, discusses the importance of vaccines and the COVID-19 schedule for children; Karl Ensign,...
Guests: Karl Ensign , Jose Romero MD
399: Trust Strategies, Congress Gets Back to Work
April 14, 2023

399: Trust Strategies, Congress Gets Back to Work

Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, Senior Associate Dean at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health, reflects on restoring trust in public health; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO Senior Director of Government Affairs, tells us what to expect when...
Guests: Jeffrey Ekoma , LaQuandra Nesbitt MD MPH
386: Dealing with Xylazine, Island Care for Veterans
March 28, 2023

386: Dealing with Xylazine, Island Care for Veterans

Dr. Daniel Edney, State Health Officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, discusses the dangers of Xylazine, a strong tranquilizer, and how to treat patients who have ingested it; Moses Pretrick, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)...
Guests: Daniel Edney MD , Moses Pretrick
383: Breastfeeding Partners, USVI Priorities
March 23, 2023

383: Breastfeeding Partners, USVI Priorities

Carl Route Jr., Program Director for Reaching our Brothers Everywhere, says his group is on a mission to educate, equip, and empower men to increase breastfeeding rates and decrease infant mortality rates in the African-American community; Justa...
Guests: Justa Encarnacion RN MBA HCM , Carl Route Jr.
380: Immunization Exemption Strategies, Island Area Funding Pitch
March 20, 2023

380: Immunization Exemption Strategies, Island Area Funding Pitch

Heather Tomlinson, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Immunizations, reminds us in an ASTHO blog article that there are strategies to reduce the impact of non-medical immunization exemptions; the CDC has added COVID-19 vaccinations to its immunization schedule...
Guests: Gaafar Uherbelau , Heather Tomlinson
378: PH Losing People, History Impacts Equity
March 16, 2023

378: PH Losing People, History Impacts Equity

Dr. Brian Castrucci, CEO and President of the de Beaumont Foundation, talks about data that shows public health is on track to lose 130,000 people by 2025; an ASTHO blog article discusses how colonialism, military presence, and political influence all...
Guest: Brian Castrucci DrPh MA
369: Island Officials Advocate, Congressional Mood Toward PH
March 3, 2023

369: Island Officials Advocate, Congressional Mood Toward PH

Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Relations, previews the work ahead in Congress and ASTHO’s public health policy agenda in the first installment of the View from Washington D.C. report; Alex Wheatley,...
Guests: Carolyn Mullen , Alex Wheatley MPA
368: Island Health Push, Ending the X Waiver
March 2, 2023

368: Island Health Push, Ending the X Waiver

Alex Wheatley, ASTHO Assistant Director of the Island Support Team, says there is an urgent need to approve agreements that continue funding for health programs in several island nations; Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President for Government...
Guests: Mark Levine MD , Alex Wheatley MPA
338: Medicaid Cliff, Global View for Public Health
Jan. 18, 2023

338: Medicaid Cliff, Global View for Public Health

Carolyn McCoy, ASTHO Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs, shares the good news that Congress has addressed Medicaid funding concerns that have plagued the U.S. territories for years; Dr. Jay Butler, former ASTHO President, is thinking about...
Guests: Carolyn McCoy MPH , Jay Butler MD
328: Opioids, Equity, and the Medicaid Cliff
Dec. 21, 2022

328: Opioids, Equity, and the Medicaid Cliff

Dr. Mark Levine, Vermont Department of Health's Commissioner of Health, discusses the opioid crisis in America and the policies his state has employed to save lives; Alicia Justice, ASTHO Senior Director of Programmatic Health Equity Initiatives and...
Guests: Mark Levine MD , Carolyn Mullen , Alicia Justice MPH , Arthur San Agustin MHR
295: Island Policy Working Group
Nov. 1, 2022

295: Island Policy Working Group

Karl Ensign, ASTHO’s Vice President for Territorial Support, discusses the idea behind the Island Areas Workgroup, which is celebrating one year of connecting territories, freely associated states, and federal partners; ASTHO is making the case to...
Guests: Karl Ensign , David Goodman PhD
285: COVID-19 Spending Oversight
Oct. 18, 2022

285: COVID-19 Spending Oversight

Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, says oversight of COVID-19 spending might increase if midterm elections lead to change in U.S. House leadership ; Heidi Westermann, ASTHO’s Director of Public Health Systems and...
Guests: Jeffrey Ekoma , Heidi Westermann MPH
219: New Opioid Use Disorder Infographics
July 14, 2022

219: New Opioid Use Disorder Infographics

Sanaa Akbarali, ASTHO’s Senior Director for Maternal and Infant Health, discusses strategies to improve care for pregnant and postpartum people with opioid use disorder; ASTHO produces a special supplement for the American Journal of Public Health...
Guests: Sanaa Akbarali MPH , Gaffar Uherbelau
183: COVID-19 Fast Track
May 20, 2022

183: COVID-19 Fast Track

Gaafar Uherbelau, the Minister of Health in Palau, discusses the COVID-19 pandemic making landfall last December; Angela Minicuci, former Communications Director for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, reflects on lessons learned...
Guests: Angela Minicuci APR , Gaafar Uherbelau
150: Workforce - Public Health Week
April 5, 2022

150: Workforce - Public Health Week

Dr. Laura Parajon, New Mexico’s Deputy Secretary of Health, reacts to the findings of the new PH WINS survey and tells us how we can begin to support and rebuild frontline teams; Dr. Jose Montero, Director of the Center for State, Tribal, Local, and...
Guests: Laura Chanchien Parajon MD MPH , Jose Montero MD MHCDS
145: New Youth Tobacco Use Survey
March 29, 2022

145: New Youth Tobacco Use Survey

Dr. Andrea Gentzke, a health scientist in the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, reviews the findings of the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey; Jack Niedenthal, Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Republic of the Marshall Islands,...
Guests: Andrea Gentzke PhD , Jack Niedenthal
127: Territories Deliver Hill Messages
Feb. 28, 2022

127: Territories Deliver Hill Messages

Dr. Esther Muña, Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation in the Northern Mariana Islands, and Dr. Carlos Mellado, Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Health, deliver key policy messages during Capitol Hill visits;...
Guests: Carlos Mellado López MD FACEP , Esther Muña PhD MHA FACHE