Food And Water Safety Episodes

Aug. 8, 2025

965: Leadership in Emergencies, PFAS Activity

Sam Jarvis, community health division manager at Johnson County Public Health in Iowa, explains how his DELPH experience helps him prepare others to be leaders in emergencies; applications for ASTHO’s DELPH program are now open; Heather Tomlinson, ASTHO senior analyst for environmental health, upda…
Aug. 7, 2025

964: MAHA Report, Subrecipient Monitoring

Dr. Susan Kansagra, chief medical officer for ASTHO, discusses the recent Make America Healthy Again report, and the work done by state and territorial health departments that intersects with the report’s themes; Ryan Daly, deputy director of finance and operations for the Nebraska Department of He…
July 30, 2025

958: Public Health & Politics, Community Connections Through Storytelling

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist and CEO of Your Local Epidemiologist, addresses the intersection between health and politics and provides words of encouragement to her fellow colleagues in public health; Grace Lee, senior analyst for infectious disease infrastructure and policy at ASTHO...
July 21, 2025

951: Food Safety Efforts, Long COVID Awareness

Dr. Vanessa Coffman, Director of the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, shares how the organization’s new Food Safety Culture Toolkit can help public health officials strengthen food safety efforts; Dr. Michelle Morse, Acting Commissioner for the New York City Health Department, explains how their…
July 18, 2025

950: Food Code Adoption, Public Health Impacts on Overdose

Aileen Benavente-Pangelinan, environmental health program manager at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, describes how the new food code adopted by the Northern Mariana Islands will improve public health safety; Jessica Hulsey, founder and CEO of the Addiction Policy Forum, explains...
April 18, 2025

888: Historic Strides For Overdose Prevention, SLF Advocacy Roundup

Dr. Allison Arwady, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC, tells us about historic progress in the field of overdose prevention; Catherine Murphy, ASTHO government affairs analyst, discusses the advocacy effort...
Jan. 27, 2025

830: Safe States Alliance New Leadership, STRETCH 2.0 National Convening

Sharon Gilmartin, the new executive director of Safe States Alliance, discusses her new position and her goals for the organization; John Auerbach, senior vice president for public health at ICF and a speaker at the upcoming STRETCH 2.0 national convening,...
Jan. 22, 2025

827: Alpha-Gal Syndrome Interest, New Congress Priorities

Courtney Anderson, a director with ASTHO’s Environmental Health Team, discusses a blog article on alpha-gal syndrome that was one of ASTHO’s most popular resources of 2024; Catherine Murphy, government affairs analyst for ASTHO, uses past...
Dec. 17, 2024

812: SAPHE 2.0 Promotes Equity, ASTHO President Weighs In On Bird Flu

Dr. Robert Goldstein, commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and an ASTHO Member, describes how SAPHE 2.0 will promote health equity throughout the state; Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama state health officer and ASTHO president, is...
Nov. 18, 2024

793: Braiding & Layering Funds, EPA PFAS Limits

Karl Ensign, ASTHO vice president for Territorial Support, tells us why braiding and layering funding can be beneficial as ASTHO launches a learning module on the subject; Beth Giambrone, ASTHO senior analyst for State Health Policy, discusses the EPA...
Nov. 15, 2024

792: States Assist McDonald’s E. coli Outbreak, Latest National Youth Tobacco Survey

Rachel Jervis, Foodborne, Enteric, Waterborne, and Wastewater Diseases program manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, discusses how Colorado played a key role in the response to the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak; Joshua...
Nov. 1, 2024

CMO Plescia Steps Away; Harris Sees Large Role for Public Health

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO chief medical officer, is stepping away from ASTHO after seven years in the position; Dr. Scott Harris, state health officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health and ASTHO president, says the next few years are...
Oct. 7, 2024

765: Wastewater Testing, PHIG Data Modernization Funding

Dr. Zack Moore, state epidemiologist with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, explains how his state effectively uses wastewater testing; Truc Taylor, director of public health informatics at Guidehouse, discusses Guidehouse...
Sept. 18, 2024

752: EPA Wastewater Gap Initiative, New PH Warehouse Expansion

Zach Lowenstein, program manager with the EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management, discusses the Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap initiative; Jon Lujan, public health emergency preparedness program manager for the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services, details the...
Sept. 5, 2024

743: CDC Foodborne Illness Report, National Recovery Month Observances

Rachel Jervis, Foodborne, Enteric, Waterborne, and Wastewater Diseases program manager with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, discusses a recent CDC report on foodborne illnesses; Paolo Del Vecchio, director of SAMHSA’s...
June 11, 2024

683: RSV Season Preps Underway, Tips to Build PH Trust

Dr. Michelle Fiscus, chief medical officer at the Association of Immunization Managers, discusses numbers released in March that show the RSV immunization for infants is 90 percent effective; Dr. Tom Frieden, president and chief executive officer of...
May 10, 2024

662: Doula Care Gains Support, Helping Mothers Heal

Alex Kearly, ASTHO director of Medicaid and Public Health Partnerships, says doula care is one of the most promising strategies to address maternal health disparities; Kay Matthews, executive director and founder of the Shades of Blue Project, tells...
May 8, 2024

660: Retail Food Safety Barriers, Guam Launches Public Health AmeriCorps

Amber Gibbar, health promotion coordinator for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, says they have been working for years to dismantle communication barriers in retail food safety; Julia Rivera, program director for the Public Health AmeriCorps...
April 3, 2024

635: Climate Change Awareness, Island Nations Celebrate PH Win

Dr. Karen Smith, former director of the California Department of Public Health, says day three of National Public Health Week focuses on climate change and the impact of environmental concerns on communities; Karl Ensign, vice president of...
April 2, 2024

634: Lead Initiatives Benefit Colorado Kids, PH Infrastructure Gets Boost

Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and an ASTHO member, tells us healthy neighborhoods are the focus on day two of National Public Health Week; Dr. Nizar Wehbi, North Dakota State Health...
March 29, 2024

632: National Public Health Week Goes Local, ASTHO Launches Healthy Brain Resources

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director at the American Public Health Association, tells us about this year’s National Public Health Week which kicks off on Monday; Kellie Waugh, ASTHO analyst for health improvement and healthy aging, describes a...
March 13, 2024

620: Prepping for a Wave of Seniors, Listeria Response Relies on Communication

Dr. Lisa Iezzoni, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, worries the U.S. isn’t ready to accommodate the coming wave of seniors with disabilities; Jennifer Botsford, bureau chief for the Bureau of Environmental Health Services at the...
Feb. 8, 2024

597: Childcare Stress Impacts Maternal Health, Palau Tackles Heart Disease and Stroke

Dr. Molly Dickens, Founder and Director of the Maternal Stress Project, discusses the ways maternal health is impacted by stress linked to childcare; Edolem Ikerdeu, Chief for the Division of Primary and Preventive Health Services at the Palau...
Feb. 2, 2024

593: Authority Streamlines FDA Food Code Changes, Congress Works to Meet Spending Deadlines

Dr. Daniel Edney, ASTHO Member and State Health Officer of the Mississippi State Department of Health, says his state’s legal ability to review and implement FDA food code changes is better for everyone involved; Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice...