Health Equity Episodes

April 8, 2022

153: Equity Gap – Public Health Week

Joan Adam, South Dakota’s Secretary of Health, discusses the health equity gap as part of our recognition of National Public Health Week; Dr. Jose Montero, Director of the Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Sup…
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 direct…
April 5, 2022

150: Workforce - Public Health Week

Dr. Laura Parajon, New Mexico’s Deputy Secretary of Health, reacts to the findings of the new PH WINS survey and tells us how we can begin to support and rebuild frontline teams; Dr. Jose Montero, Director of the Center for …
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 A…
March 11, 2022

136: Grassroots Vaccine Outreach

Dr. Anne Marie Murphy, Executive Director of Equal Hope in Chicago, explains the work her team does to reach unvaccinated populations with COVID-19 information and vaccines; Jessica Baggett, ASTHO’s COVID-19 Response Directo…
March 7, 2022

132: New Vaccine Equity Program

Geetika Nadkarni, ASTHO’s Director of Infectious Diseases, outlines a new initiative aimed at reducing disparities in vaccination rates among adult racial and ethnic minority groups and rural communities; the Community COVID…
March 4, 2022

131: ASTHO Reacts to New COVID-19 Plan

Mike Fraser, ASTHO’s CEO, issues a statement offering early reaction to the Biden Administration’s new National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan; Dr. Elisha Hall, Clinical Guidelines Lead for the CDC’s Vaccine Task Force, explains…
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…
Feb. 8, 2022

114: How Federal Agencies Can Work Together

Dr. Josh Sharfstein, a former public health official in Maryland and principal deputy commissioner at the FDA from 2009 until 2011, says continued public confusion over testing, booster doses, and medications could be improv…
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,…
Jan. 31, 2022

108: Tackling E-Cigarettes and Flavored Tobacco Products

Jan Malcolm, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health, outlines policy steps available to limit youth access to E-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products; ASTHO CEO Mike Fraser reflects on the start of Black Histo…
Jan. 25, 2022

104: Advancing Health Equity

Paula Tran, Wisconsin’s State Health Officer, says it’s possible to maintain health equity priorities even as the pandemic continues to strain resources. Health equity is among the issues considered in a set of 10 ASTHO poli…
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 wha…
Jan. 20, 2022

101: Recalling COVID-19's First Case Part 1

Dr. John Wiesman, the former Secretary of Health in Washington state, reflects on the moment the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in his state and thus the U.S.; Dr. Alexis Travis, Michigan’s State Health Officer, says i…
Jan. 19, 2022

100: Rethinking School Discipline Part 2

Robin Matthies, Director of Public and Behavioral Health Integration at ASTHO, explains why it’s important to consider restorative justice approaches to discipline in schools; Andy Baker-White, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Sta…