Emergency Preparedness Episodes

July 14, 2023

460: Big City Gun Violence Data, Drug Shortage Letter to Congress

Chrissie Juliano, the Executive Director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, says that policy changes are needed to address rising rates of gun violence; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, explains recommendations from...
July 13, 2023

459: LGBTQ+ Youth Health Disparities, Syphilis Cases Jump in Minnesota

Robin Matthies, ASTHO’s Director of Social and Behavioral Health, discusses the disparities facing LGBTQ+ youth, which is the topic in an upcoming ASTHO webinar; Christine Jones, Assistant Manager of the STD and HIV Section at the Minnesota...
June 16, 2023

443: 2023 DELPH Cohort, House Hearing on Preparedness

Avia Mason, ASTHO Vice President of Leadership and Organizational Performance, explains the significance of the 2023 DELPH cohort; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO Senior Director of Government Affairs, says public health emergency preparedness, data...
June 14, 2023

441: Learning to Advocate, Responsible Data Use

Dr. Susan Polan, Associate Executive Director for Public Affairs and Advocacy with the American Public Health Association, says the Policy Action Institute meeting will help public health officials address challenges; Dr. Brannon Traxler, Director of...
May 31, 2023

431: Harmful Nicotine Formulas, Wildfire Smoke Bloggers

Neil Charvat, Director of the North Dakota Health And Human Services Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, explains the challenges of reducing the use of nicotine and tobacco products with so many options on the market; Kaitlyn Kelly, Air Quality...
April 26, 2023

407: Disaster Response Getting Better, Leadership Diversity

Maggie Nilz, ASTHO’s Senior Analyst of Preparedness and Disability Integration, says preparedness is important to public health; the annual Preparedness Summit is ongoing in Atlanta; Dr. Kandi Fredere, Upstate Regional Health Director for the South...
April 19, 2023

402: Equity Change Agents, Equity Success In Michigan

Dr. Somava Saha, Founder and CEO of WE in the World, shares a framework to help public health officials create health equity; Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan, explains how Michigan has reduced health...
March 17, 2023

379: Changes to Emergency Powers, Hill Gives ASTHO Recess Homework

Gregory Sunshine, Public Health Analyst with the Centers for Disease Control, explains how state and territorial emergency powers have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic; and Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and...
March 1, 2023

367: Leading on Long COVID, PH Authority Legislative Tracker

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, outlines the role of public health in addressing the challenges of long COVID; Katie Moran McCabe, Lead Law and Policy Analyst with the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University, says...
Feb. 24, 2023

364: Illinois’ COVID-19 Experience, Khaldun’s Equity Plan for CVS

Dr. Sameer Vorha, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, is taking note of the disparities laid bare by COVID-19 in a new guest column written for the Chicago Sun-Times; Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Vice President and Chief Health Equity...
Feb. 23, 2023

363: Live to the Beat Campaign, Pandemic Take-Away

Kinetra Joseph, Campaign Director for the CDC Foundation, says the Foundation’s Live to the Beat initiative has had a successful first year; Dr. Christopher King, Dean of the Georgetown University School of Health, spent much of his career studying...
Jan. 31, 2023

347: Educating Capitol Hill, Buffalo Preparedness

Devon Page, ASTHO Government Affairs Analyst, says ASTHO wants to work with both parties in Congress to find common ground for the good of public health; Arnold Bogis, ASTHO Senior Analyst and Research Associate, tells us why Buffalo, New York needs...
Jan. 20, 2023

340: Climate + Health Equity, ARPA Benefits

Dr. Umair Shah, Secretary of Health for the Washington State Department of Health, is establishing connections between climate change, environmental justice, and health equity; Dr. David Gifford, Chief Medical Officer at the American Health Care...
Jan. 19, 2023

339: Messonnier’s COVID Reflections, Equity Tops Pandemic Lessons

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Dean of the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic with her unique perspective as a top CDC official at the time; Dr. John Wiesman, former Washington State...
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...
Oct. 26, 2022

291: Vermont’s New “Facing Suicide” Campaign

Dr. Mark Levine, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health, discusses the state’s new Facing Suicide VT campaign, which focuses on encouraging people to discuss the issue of suicide; ASTHO is working with states and territories to highlight...
Oct. 20, 2022

287: New Disability Preparedness Toolkit

Dawn Skaggs, Emergency, Disaster, and Climate Resilience Specialist for the World Institute on Disability, promotes a new Public Health Emergency Planning Toolkit to help agencies better serve people living with disabilities during emergencies; Lillie...
Oct. 19, 2022

286: Creative Vaccine Strategies

Margaret Jaco Manecke, the Director of Practice Improvement at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, is looking for public health professionals to join the Council’s next annual learning community; an ASTHO work group recommends improvements to...
Oct. 7, 2022

279: Stretching to Improve Equity

Alicia Justice, ASTHO’s Senior Director for Programmatic Health Equity Initiatives and Strategy, talks about the Strategies to Repair Equity and Transform Community Health project, also known as STRETCH; Danny Staley, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President...
Sept. 30, 2022

274: Disaster Planning Tools

Annie Evans, ASTHO’s Director of Preparedness and Disability Integration, talks about two tools that examine the needs of people living with disabilities who suffer disproportionate impacts of disasters; Dr. Kristina Box, State Health Commissioner...
Sept. 29, 2022

273: Classroom Mental Health

Dr. Sharon Hoover, Co-Director of the National Center for School Mental Health, describes how students are wrestling with mental health challenges; Stephen Massey, Director of the Health Action Alliance, discusses a playbook to guide businesses...
Sept. 27, 2022

271: Minnesota Eyes Maternal Disparities

Dr. Brooke Cunningham, Assistant Commissioner for the Health Equity Bureau with the Minnesota Department of Health, details a report that examined maternal deaths from 2017 to 2018; an ASTHO blog article explains how states and the federal government...
Sept. 22, 2022

268: ACEs Legislative Scan

Dr. Jonathan Purtle, Associate Professor at New York University's School of Global Public Health, discusses an ASTHO report on preventing adverse childhood experiences; Lisa Peterson, ASTHO’s Senior Director for Preparedness, talks about ASTHO’s...
Aug. 25, 2022

249: New Flu Vaccine Polling

Dr. Gillian SteelFisher, Director of Global Polling for the Harvard Opinion Research Program, reflects on her latest survey gauging public reaction to seasonal flu vaccines; Paula Tran, State Health Officer for the Wisconsin Department of Health...