Emergency Preparedness Episodes

April 13, 2022

156: STD Awareness

Jessica Baggett, ASTHO’s Director of COVID-19 Response, explains the strategies included in ASTHO’s new COVID-19 management plan; Dr. John Hellerstedt, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, says COVID-19 has led to an...
April 11, 2022

154: Climate Health – Public Health Week

Dr. John Balbus, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains the connection between weather and population health as part of our celebration of National Public Health Week; ASTHO’s Caroline Brazeel says work starts today on the...
April 7, 2022

152: Health as a Human Right – Public Health Week

Dr. Denise Johnson, Pennsylvania’s Physician General, tells us why health is a human right, as we continue our examination of the themes for this year’s National Public Health Week; Kay Matthews, founder and executive director of the non-profit...
April 4, 2022

149: Health Equity - Public Health Week

Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, says health equity impacts every public health consideration; the 2022 Preparedness Summit begins in Atlanta; data collection for the 2022 ASTHO Profile of State and...
March 22, 2022

143: NIH Study on Masking in Schools

Dr. Sonia Lee, Acting Branch Chief of the NICHD Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch at the National Institutes of Health, explains the findings of a new study measuring the impact of mask wearing in schools; Dr. Haley Cash, an...
March 16, 2022

139: New Report on Public Health Readiness

Dara Lieberman, Director of Government Relations for the Trust for America’s Health, explains the organization’s “Ready or Not 2022” report assessing states’ readiness to protect public health during emergencies; Brian Lentes, ASTHO’s...
March 14, 2022

137: Opioids Get Presidential Attention

Dr. Cathy Slemp, West Virginia’s former state health officer, reflects on President Biden’s comments about America’s opioid epidemic in his recent State of the Union address; Paul Petersen, Director of Emergency Preparedness at the Tennessee...
March 2, 2022

129: Messaging New COVID-19 Metrics

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, says public health jurisdictions must have clear messaging when explaining the CDC’s new community-level COVID-19 metrics; Elizabeth Head, Deputy Director for Injury Prevention at the Georgia...
March 1, 2022

128: Epidemiologists Needed

Chrissie Juliano, Executive Director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, explains the critical need to hire hundreds of epidemiologists in public health departments nationwide; Richard Hamburg, Executive Director of the Safe States Alliance, outlines...
Feb. 25, 2022

126: Personal Stories Fight Vaccine Misinformation

Molly Howell, Immunization Director at the North Dakota Department of Health, says testimonials from people impacted by COVID-19 have helped make the virus real for people with doubts about the vaccines; Chrissie Juliano, Executive Director of the Big...
Feb. 17, 2022

121: A Focus on Mental Health

Elke Shaw-Tulloch, Idaho’s State Health Officer, shares her state’s approach to addressing mental health concerns; ASTHO’s Maggie Davis authors a blog article on legislative efforts impacting mental health; Carolyn McCoy, ASTHO’s Senior...
Feb. 16, 2022

120: Supporting Public Health Authority

Margret Cooke, Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, examines the value of public health authority when responding to a public health emergency; Alison Beam, Pennsylvania’s former acting Secretary of Health, says the response forced by...
Feb. 15, 2022

119: Is COVID-19 in Retreat?

Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says the COVID-19 virus may be in a welcomed retreat; Dr. Joe Gaugler tells us why organizers of a new conference on dementia caregiving planned for June in Minneapolis want public...
Feb. 11, 2022

117: ASTHO’s New Strategic Plan

Zarnaaz Bashir, ASTHO’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, says the organization’s new strategic plan was created during and influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic; Dr. Robert Bourgeois, an occupational and environmental health expert working along the...
Feb. 1, 2022

109: Reflections on Black History Month

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, reflects on current events in the context of Black History Month, on the first day of the month-long recognition; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO’s President-elect, considers the...