Public Health Funding Episodes

On today's episode, ASTHO's Joseph Kanter and Andy Baker-White highlight takeaways from the Executive Leadership Forum and the legislative actions advancing public health in island jurisdictions.

On today's episode, ASTHO's Maggie Nilz shares how states are rethinking public health preparedness and adapting to a changing emergency management landscape.

On today's episode, Carolyn Mullen, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations, reflects on the defining moments, leadership lessons, and policy battles that shaped her nine years at ASTHO and her tenure in public health advocacy.

In this episode, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Government Affairs, Catherine Murphy, unpacks the ripple effects of ongoing changes at the Department of Health and Human Services and CDC. Later, ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, Susan Kansagra, zooms out to the state level, where leaders are racing to deploy Rural Health Transformation Program funds.

On today's episode, ASTHO Director of Infrastructure Communications Elise Moore explores a growing trend in grant funding: community impact statements, and how they explain not just what public health agencies are doing, but why it matters.

In this episode, Kirsten Aird, from Oregon’s Multnomah County, explores how strategic investments are strengthening workforce capacity, stability, and community impact.

On today's episode, ASTHO's Corinne Gillenwater, unpacks the limitations of traditional, siloed funding models and explores a more adaptive approach: flexible funding.

In this episode, ASTHO's Colton Anderson explains how agencies across the country are rethinking and improving their grants management processes.

On today's PHIG Impact Report, Veronika Hanna and Mondi Mason from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment share how creative workforce strategies powered by the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) are opening new pathways into the field.

In this National Public Health Week conversation about community leadership and tobacco control, Josh Berry, director, chronic disease risk factors, at ASTHO, breaks down how state and territorial programs partner with trusted, on-the-ground community organizations to reach at-risk populations and drive real impact. These long-standing relationships aren’t just helpful, they’re essential to building credibility and delivering results where they matter most. But the landscape is shifting. With the elimination of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and growing uncertainty around funding, programs across the country are being forced to adapt and do more with less while trying to maintain core services like quitlines, surveillance, and policy engagement.

On today's episode, Victor Ramos Otero, secretary of health for Puerto Rico, joins the show to discuss the urgent challenges facing the island’s health care system.

On today's PHIG Impact Report Ron Bialek from the Public Health Foundation talks about the biggest opportunities ahead for state and local agencies including the use of AI within operations work and performance management systems improvement.

In this episode, ASTHO's JoAnne Deehr highlights ASTHO’s Policy Institute for STI and Infectious Disease Prevention and its offerings to state health agencies and public health professionals.

What happens when health coverage becomes unaffordable, and who’s stepping up to lead in moments like this? This episode connects two powerful public health stories. First, we break down the ACA enhanced premium tax credits: what they were, who they helped, and what’s at stake now that they’ve expired. Catherine Jones, senior analyst for government affairs at ASTHO, will explain how these pandemic-era subsidies dramatically expanded access to marketplace coverage, helping middle-income families...

On today's episode, Breanca Merritt from Trust for America’s Health discusses a new report that tracks how states are adopting evidence-based policies to improve health and reduce costs, amid a constantly changing political and fiscal environment.

What does it take for states to expand access to substance use disorder treatment and build stronger, more sustainable partnerships between Medicaid and public health?  In Massachusetts, leaders changed policies around provider models to increase access to care for opioid use disorder: Frances McGaffey, manager of the Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts, explains how pairing providers with dedicated nursing support has helped remove barriers to prescribing buprenorphine, expand the addiction workforce, and dramatically increase access to care. Then, Cory Caldwell, senior policy analyst at the National Association of Medicaid Directors, discusses the new 'Medicaid Leaders Playbook for Building Public Health Partnerships,' developed in collaboration with ASTHO.

As behavioral health and overdose crises continue to strain health systems, states are rethinking how and where care is delivered. In this episode, Dr. Jerome Larkin, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and an ASTHO member, explains how youth-focused mobile response and stabilization services provide rapid, in-home crisis care and keep children out of emergency departments and reduce the need for hospitalization. The conversation explores why Rhode Island moved to require insurance coverage for these services and how states can sustain them amid funding uncertainty. Later, ASTHO Senior Director of Overdose Prevention, Richa Ranade, discusses the evolving policy landscape around naloxone, including efforts to expand access in schools, libraries, and other public spaces to prevent overdose deaths.

As part of our state health policy portfolio, ASTHO releases an annual Legislative Prospectus Series: policy briefs summarizing state and territorial legislation that impacts public health. Today, Dr. Joseph Kanter, ASTHO’s CEO, will summarize the 2026 series, identify trends in public health law for the next year, and provide a high-level overview for public health professionals and policymakers in time for upcoming legislative sessions.

ASTHO's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Susan Kansagra, joins us for a candid conversation about the state of public health today. She reflects on her unexpected path into the field, the urgent need to rebuild public trust, and why communicating the everyday value of public health is more critical than ever. Dr. Kansagra also explores how social media, new messengers, and emerging tools like AI can help reshape engagement, boost impact, and energize a workforce facing growing pressure. A motivating reminder that public health is a marathon, not a sprint, and that meaningful progress takes time, partnership, and persistence.

Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, joins the show for the first time as ASTHO’s president to discuss her plans for the new term; Dr. Karen Hacker, health policy fellow at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, co-authored an article...

ASTHO immediate past president Dr. Scott Harris, state health officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health, reflects on his time as president as he closes out his term; Dr. Susan Kansagra, chief medical officer at ASTHO, served as a panelist during a press briefing for Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on chronic disease prevention and obesity,...

In this special episode of Public Health Review Morning Edition, Eric Whitworth, CEO of InductiveHealth, discusses the importance of scalable data surveillance systems and how taking a broader approach to modernization can benefit health departments.

Alfredo Ramirez, director of the Operation Analysis Office at the Tennessee Department of Health, explains how his department expanded its contract tracking system to enhance efficiency and manage grants across their life cycle; Kellie Waugh, analyst for health improvement and healthy aging at ASTHO,...

Dr. Joseph Kanter, CEO of ASTHO, joined Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), Rhea Farberman, director of strategic communications and policy at TFAH, and Lori Freeman, CEO of NACCHO, during a recent briefing about TFAH’s report that details the impact of CDC funding on public health; Madelyn Maxwell, healthy aging and falls prevention project coordinator for the Oklahoma State Department of Health Injury Prevention Service,...