Infectious Diseases Episodes

June 30, 2023

452: Making Federal Connections, Malaria in the U.S.

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President and Chief Medical Officer for Alaska Department of Health, explains best practices for building connections with the federal government; Dr. Benjamin Beard, Deputy Director of the CDC's Divisio…
April 24, 2023

405: Childhood Immunization Schedules, Island Area Health Equity Plans

On the first day of National Infant Immunization Week, Dr. José Romero, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, discusses the importance of vaccines and the COVID-19 schedule for…
April 19, 2023

402: Equity Change Agents, Equity Success In Michigan

Dr. Somava Saha, Founder and CEO of WE in the World, shares a framework to help public health officials create health equity; Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan, explains how Michigan …
April 18, 2023

401: New HAI/AR Resources, STI Hurdles and Opportunities

Elizabeth Mothershed, Deputy Associate Director of State Strategy for the CDC, says it’s important for leaders to work together on Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (HAI/AR) programs; a new ASTHO …
Feb. 21, 2023

361: RSV Immunization Considered, Making CPR and AEDs More Common

Dr. Christopher Rizzo, Senior U.S. Medical Director for Sanofi, is working on a passive immunization for RSV that could help protect young infants from the virus; Lana McKinney, ASTHO Senior Policy Analyst for State Health P…
Feb. 8, 2023

353: Community Vaccination Push, Campaign for Safer Communities

Ernia Hughes, Director of the Office of Health Center Investment Oversight with the Health Resources and Services Administration, says her organization hopes to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates with grants to more than 1,400…
Feb. 2, 2023

349: Safe Drug Use Sites, Toxic Pandemic Stress

Julie Wernau, Health and Science Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, says drug use sites face many hurdles even if they have local permission to operate; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President, tells the Associated Press that her m…
Jan. 18, 2023

338: Medicaid Cliff, Global View for Public Health

Carolyn McCoy, ASTHO Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs, shares the good news that Congress has addressed Medicaid funding concerns that have plagued the U.S. territories for years; Dr. Jay Butler, former ASTHO Pr…
Jan. 11, 2023

334: Flu Messaging, Pandemic Partner

Dr. Umair Shah, Washington Secretary of Health, says Congress needs to be continually updated about the winter flu season; Elke Shaw-Tulloch, Idaho State Health Officer with the Department of Health and Welfare, reflects on …
Jan. 10, 2023

333: COVID-19 Booster Strategy, Medicaid Policies

Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, says public health agencies are increasing the focus on COVID-19 boosters for those living in nursing homes and other care settings; Alex Kearly, ASTHO's Director of Medicaid …
Jan. 9, 2023

332: Public Health Polling, Flu Vaccine Strategies

Dr. Meredith Li-Vollmer, Risk Communication Manager for the Seattle and King County Public Health Department, says polling data helped agencies better understand community attitudes and opinions during the pandemic; Shalini …
Dec. 15, 2022

324: Vaccine Anniversary

Brent Ewig, Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer for the Association of Immunization Managers, marks the second anniversary of COVID-19 vaccines this week; Jamie Pina, ASTHO Vice President of Public Health Data Mode…
Nov. 9, 2022

301: Health in All Policies Primer

Kerry Wyss, ASTHO’s Director of Environmental Health, outlines a new report about the value of a Health in All Policies approach to public health; Ali Aslam, ASTHO’s Senior Analyst for Environmental Health, discusses how gra…
Nov. 7, 2022

299: Pediatric Respiratory Cases Cause Concern

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President, releases a statement addressing the response to a spike in respiratory infections; Dr. Jose Romero, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, addres…
Nov. 3, 2022

297: Virus Triple Threat

Dr. Kimberlee Wyche-Etheridge, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President of Health Equity and Diversity Initiatives, discusses concerns with RSV infections and the triple threat that comes with treating those cases at the same time peop…