Episodes

Daniel Edney, ASTHO's new president and Mississippi's state health officer, discusses topics that health officials raised during ASTHO’s recent Fall Leadership Forum. From flexible funding to measles and vaccine misinformation, he explores how states are diversifying resources and communicating with their communities.

Angela Cochran, division director of Health Promotion and Community Services at St. Mary’s County Health Department, explains why skills such as empathy, communication, and intellectual humility are essential to effective leadership. She also reflects on her time in the Developing Executive Leaders in Public Health (DELPH) program and shares how the experience helps public health leaders build psychological safety, anchor decisions in organizational values, and strengthen collaboration.

On today's installment of the PHIG Impact Report, Francyne Wase-Jacklick, ASTHO member and secretary of Health and Human Services for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, discusses how the agency incorporated key performance indicators into its strategic plan to strengthen how public health leaders measure progress, use data, and make decisions.

ASTHO's Brian Lentes discusses how performance management systems can help health departments with strategic plans and what health officials can learn from peers and technology vendors at ASTHO’s upcoming solutions showcase.

State and territorial health officials are navigating significant uncertainty while working to protect and improve the health of their communities. In this episode, Dr. Joseph Kanter, CEO of ASTHO, reflects on the 2026 Fall Leadership Forum and the importance of bringing public health leaders together to share information, discuss common challenges, and learn from one another. He highlights conversations with CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz about emergency preparedness, public trust, public heal...

Christina Severin, director of Public Health Law at ASTHO, discusses emerging policy trends to address youth technology use, including executive orders and school support resources.

ASTHO's new President and Mississippi State Health Officer Daniel Edney shares how state and territorial health officials can address persistent health challenges and learn from one another. He highlights lessons learned in Mississippi: support for maternal and infant health and rural communities, and developing solutions driven by local needs.

Manisha Juthani, outgoing ASTHO president and commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, reflects on her time as ASTHO president and the importance of communicating across political divides and helping state and territorial health officials learn from one another.

ASTHO's Greg Papillon, senior director, Public Health Partnerships and Innovation, discusses AI policies and action plans across various jurisdictions and what they reveal about the current state of AI governance, workforce readiness, equity, and oversight.

ASTHO's Lana McKinney outlines how states are taking a broader approach to healthy aging, with renewed focus on prevention, dementia awareness, and related legislation, including caregiver support, public education efforts, and dementia-capable training.

Shebra Hall, chief of the Bureau of Chronic Disease for the Delaware Division of Public Health and a 2026 DELPH graduate, highlights how a cardiovascular health learning collaborative helps partners share resources, strengthen communication, and address health from clinical and community perspectives.

Santiago González-Irizarry and Larissa Pardo from DC Health discuss how PHIG funding and data modernization efforts helped the agency move from reactive, disconnected systems toward a coordinated data governance structure.

With midterm elections approaching, uncertainty is building around the next phase of the congressional calendar. In this View from Washington D.C., Jeffrey Ekoma, vice president of Government Affairs, talks about the latest developments in Washington and what they could mean for health policy and federal funding. He discusses the status of key Health and Human Services nominations, including leadership positions at HHS, ASPR, FDA, the Surgeon General’s office, and SAMHSA. Jeffrey also breaks dow...

Andrew Kress, CEO of HealthVerity, and ASTHO's Tabatha Offutt-Powell discuss how the Public Health Data Consortium aims to expand public health access to real-world data, exploring its potential to strengthen disease surveillance and health equity efforts while addressing privacy, governance, and implementation challenges.

Elysia Gonzales from Public Health - Seattle & King County discusses how her team developed a prioritization framework and adapted an ASTHO framework into a five-tier system. She highlights the importance of clearly defining problems, getting leadership buy-in, and leveraging existing tools.

Rachel Sheehan of Premier, Inc. explores how data-driven strategies, quality improvement initiatives, and stronger community partnerships can reduce maternal mortality, expand maternity care access, and improve health outcomes for mothers and families.

For National Child Health Day, Meghan Maroney of Voices for Healthy Kids, an American Heart Association initiative, highlights how nutrition during a child's first years of life can have lasting effects on their health and development. Maroney also spotlights the importance of parent and caregiver engagement in shaping policies and programs across states and territories.

In this episode, Catherine Murphy, former senior analyst for Government Affairs at ASTHO and congressional aide, shares insights on how public health professionals can effectively engage with Congress and advocate for their priorities. She highlights the value of patience, finding common ground, and connecting public health policy and funding to real community impact.

Cameron Webb, ASTHO member and commissioner of the Virginia Department of Health, highlights the agency's approach to building trust, strengthening the public health workforce, and implementing a new electronic health record system.

In this episode, Alysia Mihalakos, chief of the Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Rhode Island Department of Health, shares how serving as a subject matter expert for Jodi Picoult's novel "Hollow Bones" helped bring the realities of public health preparedness to life, from emergency exercises and partnerships to resource constraints and post-pandemic workforce challenges.

Paul Cantey of CDC and U.S. Public Health Service discusses the current status of New World Screwworm in the United States and explains how federal, state, territorial, and local agencies are coordinating their response, early recognition and treatment, and what public health professionals should know.

Jessica Malaty Rivera from The Public Good Projects discusses the questions and concerns emerging around the new mRNA flu vaccine and why communicators should focus on providing clear information to encourage questions while keeping evidence-based information front and center.

In today's episode, Lawrence Greenblatt, an ASTHO member and state health director of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, discusses the state's approach to healthy aging. Later, hear from Jewel Mullen, an ASTHO alum and associate professor at Dell Medical School, about the importance of boundary-spanning leadership in addressing public health challenges.

Colin Gerber from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists discusses the Data Science Team Training program and how the initiative helps public health staff build data science skills through project-based training, professional development, subject matter expert coaching, and peer collaboration.