Opioid Epidemic Episodes

Melissa Magstadt, secretary of health for South Dakota and an ASTHO member, explains the state’s first-in-the-nation anonymous naloxone kit distribution program; Colton Anderson, ASTHO senior analyst for public health systems and improvement, tells us about ASTHO’s Quality Advisory Group...

Elizabeth Gunsalus, K-12 education and outreach project manager at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, explains how the department’s Mobile Lab Experience has been beneficial; Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO chief medical officer, spoke at a recent Trust for America’s Health media briefing...

Christy Jones, president and CEO of the Monday Solutions Group, details how leaders can benefit from skill development in preparation for several upcoming ASTHO Ignite Leadership Series webinars; Dr. Allison Arwady, director of the National Center for...

Dr. Susan Kansagra, former ASTHO member and most recently the assistant secretary and state health officer for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, has been named ASTHO’s new chief medical officer; Jennifer Schmidt, PHIG fund manager...

Dr. James McDonald, commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, discusses substance misuse and overdose prevention as part of ASTHO’s Legislative Prospectus Series; Dr. Lindsey Kato, director for the Division of Public Health with the...

Ellen Cartmell, Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program manager at the Kentucky Department for Public Health, updates us on her state’s tobacco situation for World No Tobacco Day; an ASTHO blog article outlines how your jurisdiction might leverage...

Dr. Tomás Aragón, ASTHO Member and Director and State Public Health Officer of the California Department of Public Health discusses a new website to give people the information they need to understand and deal with the opioid crisis; Dr. Elizabeth...

Dr. Jerome Adams, former United States Surgeon General, says businesses learned from the pandemic that public health is a worthy investment; Destani Bizune, an epidemiologist in the Office of Antibiotic Stewardship at the CDC, discusses the CDC’s...

Christina Severin, ASTHO’s Director of Public Health Law, outlines upcoming Supreme Court cases that will impact public health; Susan Donnelly, Workforce Director at the Oklahoma State Department of Health, shares the work her team is doing to...

JoAnne McClure, ASTHO Senior Analyst for State Policy, explains an ASTHO webpage that tracks legislation to authorize overdose centers in some states; Dr. Laura Chisholm, Section Manager for Injury and Violence Prevention with the Oregon Health...

Kris Ehresmann, former Director of Infectious Disease at the Minnesota Department of Health, describes ASTHO’s revised policy statement; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, discusses predictions for Congressional action...

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...

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)...

Dr. Umair Shah, Secretary of Health for the State of Washington, discusses a settlement with three companies the state says played a key role in driving the opioid epidemic; Donna Levin, Director of Act for Public Health, discusses the legal landscape...

Joanne Pearsol, ASTHO’s Director of Workforce Development discusses the debut of ASTHO’s new public health jobs website, ; an ASTHO blog article assesses Tennessee’s progress on Opioid Use Disorder throughout its maternal and child health...

Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, discusses a White House summit he attended in recognition of National Recovery Month; Mike Fraser, ASTHO’s CEO is heading to the White House for the bipartisan Conference on Hunger,...

Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, Innovation Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, discusses a new way to get more generic Naloxone to people who need it; Colorado works with six counties to respond to...

Bruno Pigott, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water at the Environmental Protection Agency, calls attention to new drinking water guidance that considers exposure to PFAS chemicals from all sources of exposure; Margret Cooke,...

Margret Cooke, Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, reflects on new preliminary data showing possible improvement this year for opioid-related overdose deaths; Dr. Amy Ladley, the State Perinatal Quality Program Manager for...

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...