ASTHO President-Elect Episodes

State and territorial health officials are navigating significant uncertainty while working to protect and improve the health of their communities. In this episode, Dr. Joseph Kanter, CEO of ASTHO, reflects on the 2026 Fall Leadership Forum and the importance of bringing public health leaders together to share information, discuss common challenges, and learn from one another. He highlights conversations with CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz about emergency preparedness, public trust, public heal...

In this bonus, long-form episode, Daniel Edney, ASTHO president-elect and state health officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, explains how Mississippi is using Rural Health Transformation Program grant funding to strengthen maternal health systems, Then, Ramya Flores, director of Maternal and Infant Health at ASTHO, puts Mississippi's work into a national context, highlighting how states are adopting levels of maternal care to improve access to risk-appropriate services.

Maria Courogen, executive director for the Center for Access to Whole Person Care at the Washington State Department of Health, explains how her state worked to enable the continued support of community health workers (CHWs) by developing a sustainable funding model; Dr. Heather Krasna, associate dean of career and professional development at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health...

Dr. Joseph Kanter, ASTHO CEO, and Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, discuss a new partnership between the two organizations; Dr. Joseph Kanter, ASTHO CEO,...

Dr. Joseph Kanter, ASTHO CEO, Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, Dr. Scott Harris, ASTHO president and state health Officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health, Dr. Ayanna Bennett, director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, and Dr. Manisha Juthani, ASTHO president-elect and commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, held a deskside briefing on the preparations for the upcoming respiratory virus season; Ericka McGowan, senior director of emerging infectious disease at ASTHO...

Dr. Scott Harris, ASTHO president and state health officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health, discusses takeaways from the most recent ASTHO Board of Directors meeting; Alex Kurutz, dialysis epidemiologist for the Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program at the Tennessee Department of Health...

Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the ASTHO president-elect, tells us how the Public Health Infrastructure Grant has allowed her team to invest in her workforce’s well-being.