Emergency Preparedness Episodes

239: Infectious Disease Planning
Aug. 11, 2022

239: Infectious Disease Planning

Winfred Rawls, ASTHO’s Director for Preparedness and Evaluation, explains a project that will lead to the development of a clearinghouse with information to help public health agencies get ready for the next crisis; Andrea Flinchum, State HAI...
236: Optimistic About the PH Workforce
Aug. 8, 2022

236: Optimistic About the PH Workforce

Joanne Pearsol, ASTHO’s Director of Workforce Development, says the PH WINS survey shows many public health workers remain committed to their work despite the way they’ve been treated during the pandemic; Dr. Brian Castrucci, President and CEO of...
230: Filling the Workforce Pipeline
July 29, 2022

230: Filling the Workforce Pipeline

Dr. Laura Parajon, Deputy Cabinet Secretary of Health at the New Mexico Department of Health, discusses a new internship program that helps students understand why they might have an interest in a public health career; Eric Cote, an ASTHO Consultant,...
224: Children’s Mental Health
July 21, 2022

224: Children’s Mental Health

Annie Evans, ASTHO’s Director of Preparedness and Disability Integration, discusses the results of an 18-month project that placed disability and preparedness specialists in jurisdictions across the states and territories; John Clymer with the...
197: Preparing for Monkeypox
June 10, 2022

197: Preparing for Monkeypox

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO’s Chief Medical Officer, discusses the three-step approach to combat Monkeypox in the U.S.; Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland’s Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services, outlines her department’s response to Monkeypox; and...
159: Do People Trust Public Health?
April 18, 2022

159: Do People Trust Public Health?

Dr. Gillian SteelFisher, Deputy Director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program, says a recent poll finds most U.S. adults think public health agencies are important to their communities; Richard Quartarone, a health communicator in the CDC’s...
158: Best of ME– Epidemiologists Needed
April 15, 2022

158: Best of ME– 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...
156: STD Awareness
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...
154: Climate Health – Public Health Week
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...
152: Health as a Human Right – Public Health Week
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...
149: Health Equity - Public Health Week
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...
143: NIH Study on Masking in Schools
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...
139: New Report on Public Health Readiness
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...
137: Opioids Get Presidential Attention
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...
129: Messaging New COVID-19 Metrics
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...
128: Epidemiologists Needed
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...
126: Personal Stories Fight Vaccine Misinformation
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...
121: A Focus on Mental Health
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...
120: Supporting Public Health Authority
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...
119: Is COVID-19 in Retreat?
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...
117: ASTHO’s New Strategic Plan
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...
109: Reflections on Black History Month
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...
102: Recalling COVID-19’s First Case Part 2
Jan. 21, 2022

102: Recalling COVID-19’s First Case Part 2

Dr. John Wiesman, the former Secretary of Health in Washington state, gives his assessment of the nation's pandemic response since the first COVID-19 case was discovered in his state two years ago this week. He discusses what has worked, what remains...
86: Power Outage Preparedness
Dec. 16, 2021

86: Power Outage Preparedness

Eric Cote, an expert in emergency power preparedness, tells us why it’s important to know who relies on electricity for their medical devices when power is lost in a community; Stephen Heck, an ASTHO Disability and Preparedness Specialist working in...