Public Health Workforce Episodes

Nov. 19, 2025

1030: Rural Health in Focus: State Strategies for Transformation

In this episode, health leaders from Iowa, Maine and Mississippi share their strategies for revitalizing rural healthcare. We hear excerpts from an ASTHO media briefing featuring ASTHO members as they address the urgent challenges facing millions of rural Americans, including healthcare provider sh…
Nov. 18, 2025

1029: PHIG Impact Report: How Utah Builds a Modern Public Health Data System

In today's installment of the PHIG Impact Report, Nicole Yerkes, data modernization director with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, shares how the state is using PHIG funding to advance a unified, future-ready public health data system. She discusses innovations like AI-assisted ana…
Nov. 4, 2025

1025: From The Ground Up: PHIG In Action In Kansas

In today's installment of the PHIG Impact Report, Jade Ramsdell, performance improvement director with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), shares how KDHE is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG)...
Nov. 3, 2025

1024: Best of PHRME: Rural Health Priorities, Nursing Workforce Focus

On today’s ‘Best Of PHRME’ episode, ASTHO revisits an interview with Dan Edney, ASTHO member and state health officer with the Mississippi Department of Health, who explains what the state is doing to meet the public health needs of rural communities across the state. This episode also features a s…
Oct. 30, 2025

1022: AI Assists Data Infrastructure, AmeriCorps Program Helps Rural Population Needs

Lisa Bari, vice president of policy and partnerships at Innovaccer, shares how public health departments can become better prepared to use AI by addressing their underlying data infrastructure; Angela Davis, project coordinator with the Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education Cente…
Oct. 27, 2025

1019: PH Lessons From Wildfires, End-Of-Year Legislative Priorities

Michelle Hale, preparedness program director with the Office of Preparedness and Response at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, shares what her state learned about responding to critical public health challenges amid a surge of wildfires in the state; Catherine Murphy, senior analyst…
Oct. 23, 2025

1017: Juthani Takes Over ASTHO Presidency, Public Health’s Way Forward

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...
Oct. 22, 2025

1016: Harris Reflects on Presidential Term, TFAH Obesity Report

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 H…
Oct. 21, 2025

1015: PHIG Grant Management Improvements

In today's installment of the PHIG Impact Report, Amy Ferris, chief financial officer at the Washington State Department of Health, shares how her department is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant to centralize its grant management system.
Guest: Amy Ferris
Oct. 20, 2025

1014: PHF Technical Assistance, Island Area Relationships

Helen Linda, public health workforce development coordinator at the Vermont Department of Health, explains the value of academic health departments and shares how she worked with the Public Health Foundation to assess the current state of her agency’s experiential learning environment; Emman Parian…
Oct. 17, 2025

1013: Preparedness Peer Network, State Health Scorecards

Francesca Provenzano, public health section chief of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response with the Connecticut Department of Public Health, discusses themes and insights from her term as chair of ASTHO’s Director of Public Health Preparedness Peer Network; Dr. Sara Collins, senior …
Oct. 14, 2025

1010: PHIG For Workforce & Procurement

Scott Murakami, PHIG workforce director and principal investigator with the Hawaii State Department of Health, shares how his department is utilizing Public Health Infrastructure Grant funds to support the state’s public health workforce; Melissa Touma, director of the public health infrastructure …
Oct. 9, 2025

1008: Infant Mortality PH Emergency, Chagas Disease

Dr. Daniel Edney, state health officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health and ASTHO member, shares how his state declared infant mortality a public health emergency to offer services across the state more rapidly; Bonny Mayes, epidemiologist with the Texas Department of State Health Ser…
Oct. 8, 2025

1007: Public Health Strategic Skills Guide, PHIG Procurement Upgrades

Dr. Gen Meredith, associate professor with the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University, associate director of the Master of Public Health program, and director of Cornell’s Health Impact Score, explains how their new Public Health Strategic Skills Guide can help professional…
Oct. 7, 2025

1006: PHIG Funding The Future Workforce

In today's installment of the PHIG Impact Report, Celeste Jorge, epidemiologist and evaluator with the Connecticut Department of Public Health, discusses how her department is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant.
Oct. 6, 2025

1005: Scalable Data Surveillance For PH

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.
Oct. 1, 2025

1002: Upgraded Contract Tracking, Supporting Brain Health

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 ASTH…
Sept. 30, 2025

1001: Public Health + Medicaid

In this special episode of Public Health Review Morning Edition, Julie Sullivan, principal at BerryDunn, discusses how public health agencies can partner with Medicaid to share data and obtain needed resources while saving funds.
Sept. 26, 2025

999: Islands Population Health Summit, View From Washington

Halina Palacios, chief operations officer for population health at the Commonwealth Health Care Corporation in the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, discusses a recent population health summit specifically for Pacific public health teams; Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO’s senior vice president of go…
Sept. 24, 2025

997: CHW Funding Models, Public Health Job Applications

Maria Courogen, executive director for the Center for Access to Whole Person Care at the Washington State Department of Health, explains how her state worked to enable the continued support of community health workers (CHWs) by developing a sustainable funding model; Dr. Heather Krasna, associate d…
Sept. 22, 2025

995: CDC Funding Impact Report, Falls Prevention, EVD

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…
Sept. 19, 2025

994: Healthy Aging Tactics, PH Funding on the Hill

JW Randolph, deputy commissioner at the Tennessee Department of Health, shares how his state’s new Office for Healthy Aging has been successful in coordinating statewide efforts to care for Tennessee’s aging communities; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s senior director for government affairs, provides an upd…
Sept. 17, 2025

992: Respiratory Vaccines Update, Succession Planning How-To

Dr. Susan Kansagra, chief medical officer at ASTHO, discusses updates to federal health initiatives that continue to impact public health agencies, including the latest report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission and recent activity regarding vaccines; Tiffany Day, public health specialis…
Sept. 16, 2025

991: PHIG Funding + Interoperable Systems

In today's installment of the PHIG Impact Report, Dr. Edward Simmer, ASTHO member and the interim director of the South Carolina Department of Public Health, discusses how his department is using the Public Health Infrastructure Grant.