Season 2
389: Seeking School Lunch Comments, Debt Ceiling Discussions
March 31, 2023
Shannon Vance, ASTHO’s Senior Analyst, Family and Child Health, encourages ASTHO members to comment on the USDA's proposed standards for school lunch and breakfast programs; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Director of Governme…
388: Tribal Vaccine Messaging, Celebrating a Family of 163 Doctors
March 30, 2023
Gary Lankford, Advances in Indian Health Care Program Director at the Association of American Indian Physicians, explains vaccine messaging that appeals to American Indian and Alaskan Native populations; Dr. Laura Chanchien …
387: Women Leading ASTHO, Attending TechXpo
March 29, 2023
Dr. Kimberlee Wyche Etheridge, ASTHO's Senior Vice President of Health Equity and Diversity Initiatives, celebrates women who've held ASTHO leadership positions over the last several decades; Jamie Pina, ASTHO's Vice Preside…
386: Dealing with Xylazine, Island Care for Veterans
March 28, 2023
Dr. Daniel Edney, State Health Officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, discusses the dangers of Xylazine, a strong tranquilizer, and how to treat patients who have ingested it; Moses Pretrick, Federated State…
385: ASTHO Budget Pitch, Workforce Policy Approaches
March 27, 2023
Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President and Alaska Chief Medical Officer, testifies before a House appropriations subcommittee in Washington D.C. seeking sustainable and flexible public health funding; Maggie Davis, ASTHO’s Director …
384: New School Lunch Guidelines, ASTHO Testifies Before Congress
March 24, 2023
Cindy Long, Administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, says a new set of proposed school lunch guidelines are an important step to putting kids on a path to healthy lifestyles; Jeffrey Ekoma, ASTHO’s Senior Direct…
383: Breastfeeding Partners, USVI Priorities
March 23, 2023
Carl Route Jr., Program Director for Reaching our Brothers Everywhere, says his group is on a mission to educate, equip, and empower men to increase breastfeeding rates and decrease infant mortality rates in the African-Amer…
382: Suicide Rates Climbing, Mental Health Funding Opportunities
March 22, 2023
Deborah Stone, Behavioral Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explains that after two consecutive years of declines, U.S. suicide rates increased in 2021, nearly returning to their 2018 peak; Hanna…
381: Pandemic Polling, Ending the PH Emergency
March 21, 2023
Alyssa Boyea, ASTHO Director for Infectious Disease Preparedness, highlights resources to help public health agencies improve their COVID-19 communication and messaging approaches; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President and Chief Me…
380: Immunization Exemption Strategies, Island Area Funding Pitch
March 20, 2023
Heather Tomlinson, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Immunizations, reminds us in an ASTHO blog article that there are strategies to reduce the impact of non-medical immunization exemptions; the CDC has added COVID-19 vaccinations to…
379: Changes to Emergency Powers, Hill Gives ASTHO Recess Homework
March 17, 2023
Gregory Sunshine, Public Health Analyst with the Centers for Disease Control, explains how state and territorial emergency powers have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic; and Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President of …
378: PH Losing People, History Impacts Equity
March 16, 2023
Dr. Brian Castrucci, CEO and President of the de Beaumont Foundation, talks about data that shows public health is on track to lose 130,000 people by 2025; an ASTHO blog article discusses how colonialism, military presence, …
377: Lingering Pandemic Impacts, Screening for Syphilis
March 15, 2023
Dr. Scott Harris, State Health Officer for Alabama Public Health, addresses the startling statistic that there have been more deaths in Alabama than births for two straight years; Nada Hassanein, Health Inequities Reporter f…
376: Dire Workforce Prediction, PH Tech Talk
March 14, 2023
Dr. Brian Castrucci, President and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, says workforce data indicates public health agencies could lose nearly 130,000 employees by 2025; J.T. Lane, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President for Population…
375: PH Communications Poll, Cultivating Gen Z Advocates
March 13, 2023
Alec Tyson, Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Center, explains the results of a recent poll that confirms the challenges public health agencies had communicating pandemic decisions; Emily Dore, Director of Polic…
374: New COVID-19 Dashboard, Biden’s Proposed Budget
March 10, 2023
Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Relations, works through the numbers of President Biden’s proposed budget to evaluate the impact on public health funding and programs in this wee…
373: PH Funding Barriers, Planning an Equity Movement
March 9, 2023
Dr. Thomas Dobbs, former State Health Officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health and now dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, urges agencies that …
372: Pew Polls PH Officials, ASTHO Meets the Administration
March 8, 2023
Alec Tyson, Associate Director of Research at the PEW Research Center, previews a survey of Americans’ views of public health officials and their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President and Chief Me…
371: Tracking COVID Deaths, Building a Justice Movement
March 7, 2023
Dr. Jonathan Levy, Chair of the Department of Environmental Health with the Boston University School of Public Health, has new research that says white people in Massachusetts now are more likely to die from COVID than black…
370: ASTHO Leaders Convene, Flavored Tobacco Legislation
March 6, 2023
Amber Williams, ASTHO Senior Vice President for Leadership & Organizational Performance, says ASTHO members have a busy schedule of meetings with Biden Administration and Congressional officials in Washington, D.C. this week…
369: Island Officials Advocate, Congressional Mood Toward PH
March 3, 2023
Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Relations, previews the work ahead in Congress and ASTHO’s public health policy agenda in the first installment of the View from Washington D.C. re…
368: Island Health Push, Ending the X Waiver
March 2, 2023
Alex Wheatley, ASTHO Assistant Director of the Island Support Team, says there is an urgent need to approve agreements that continue funding for health programs in several island nations; Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice Pr…
367: Leading on Long COVID, PH Authority Legislative Tracker
March 1, 2023
Dr. Marcus Plescia, ASTHO Chief Medical Officer, outlines the role of public health in addressing the challenges of long COVID; Katie Moran McCabe, Lead Law and Policy Analyst with the Center for Public Health Law Research a…
366: Public Health Roadblocks, New Workforce Resource
Feb. 28, 2023
Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, writes about problems impacting public health, such as underfunding, bureaucracy, and inadequate admini…
365: “Unacceptable” Maternal Mortality Rates, Mounting a Vaccination Defense
Feb. 27, 2023
Dr. Daniel Edney, State Health Officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, has studied the data in Mississippi’s latest Maternal Mortality Report and says the rates are unacceptable; Heather Tomlinson, ASTHO Seni…
364: Illinois’ COVID-19 Experience, Khaldun’s Equity Plan for CVS
Feb. 24, 2023
Dr. Sameer Vorha, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, is taking note of the disparities laid bare by COVID-19 in a new guest column written for the Chicago Sun-Times; Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Vice President and…
363: Live to the Beat Campaign, Pandemic Take-Away
Feb. 23, 2023
Kinetra Joseph, Campaign Director for the CDC Foundation, says the Foundation’s Live to the Beat initiative has had a successful first year; Dr. Christopher King, Dean of the Georgetown University School of Health, spent muc…
362: Teen Girls in Crisis, Looking for Diverse Executives
Feb. 22, 2023
Robin Matthies, ASTHO’s Director for Public and Behavioral Health Integration, encourages ASTHO members to review a CDC report that says teen girls in the U.S. are in crisis; Harold Gil, a graduate of ASTHO’s Diverse Executi…
361: RSV Immunization Considered, Making CPR and AEDs More Common
Feb. 21, 2023
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…
360: Public Health Deniers, Pacific Islands Equity Summit Begins
Feb. 17, 2023
Dr. Scott Rivkees, Professor of Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice at the Brown School of Public Health, writes about the impact of denialism on public health in a guest column published in Washington D.C.’s Hi…
359: Vermont’s Pandemic Communications, Gun Violence Grant
Feb. 16, 2023
Dr. Mark Levine, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health, offers his colleagues some advice in a new ASTHO video about improving public health through data and communication; Dr. David Grossman, Vice President for S…
358: FDA Blood Supply Proposal, Improving Perinatal Outcomes
Feb. 15, 2023
Dr. Elizabeth Tilson, State Health Director and the Chief Medical Officer for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, is optimistic about the FDA’s proposal to use an individual risk assessment when decid…
357: Testing School Vaccination Requirements, Retail Food Safety Focus
Feb. 14, 2023
Claire Hannan, Executive Director of the Association of Immunization Managers, is worried some who previously supported bills to prevent mandatory COVID vaccinations now might try to also weaken school vaccination requiremen…
356: New York’s Opioid Partnerships, Arizona’s Mobile Vaccination Clinics
Feb. 13, 2023
Dr. Jim McDonald, New York State Acting Health Commissioner, says partnerships with people in local communities are key to the state's response to the opioid crisis; Siman Qaasim, Health Equity Administrator for the Arizona …
355: Healthy Aging Strategies, Helping Make Sense of Public Health
Feb. 10, 2023
Claire Pendergrast, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Health Improvement and Healthy Aging, has new research outlining five key strategies ASTHO members can use to promote healthy aging in their jurisdictions; Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, a…
354: Biden’s Opioid Message, Georgetown’s New Health Dean
Feb. 9, 2023
Richa Ranade, ASTHO's Senior Director for Overdose Prevention, says it's encouraging to hear President Joe Biden prioritize solutions to the opioid epidemic in his State of the Union address; Dr. Christopher King, the first …
353: Community Vaccination Push, Campaign for Safer Communities
Feb. 8, 2023
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…
352: Redefining Community Safety, New Capitol Hill Leadership
Feb. 7, 2023
Chrissie Juliano, Executive Director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, says the Community Safety Campaign is about making sure people who live in communities have livable wages, and affordable and safe housing; Carolyn McC…
351: A Reporter’s Drug Strategy, Childcare is Public Health
Feb. 6, 2023
Julie Wernau, Health and Science Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, has spent the last year reporting on the opioid crisis and offers some advice for public health; Shannon Vance, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Family & Child He…
350: Disability Etiquette, Self-Care Tips for Staff
Feb. 3, 2023
Dawn Skaggs, the Emergency, Disaster and Climate Resilience Specialist at World Institute on Disability, will help lead an ASTHO training event on Monday that will ask attendees to develop more equitable approaches in their …
349: Safe Drug Use Sites, Toxic Pandemic Stress
Feb. 2, 2023
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…
348: WSJ on Fentanyl Dangers, COVID Emergency Ending
Feb. 1, 2023
Julie Wernau, Health and Science Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, has been reporting on the opioid crisis for more than a year but says it’s still a difficult story to write; Andy Baker-White, ASTHO Senior Director of St…
347: Educating Capitol Hill, Buffalo Preparedness
Jan. 31, 2023
Devon Page, ASTHO Government Affairs Analyst, says ASTHO wants to work with both parties in Congress to find common ground for the good of public health; Arnold Bogis, ASTHO Senior Analyst and Research Associate, tells us wh…
346: Federal Budget Partners, Rural Telehealth Strategies
Jan. 30, 2023
Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Relations, is keeping an eye on the budget wrangling taking place on Capitol Hill; Ashley Cram, with ASTHO, explains how ASTHO members are working …
345: Promoting PH Lab Positions, Annual COVID Shots
Jan. 27, 2023
Dr. Christine Bean, Chief Learning Officer at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, talks about recruiting candidates into laboratory positions on ASTHO’s new jobs website, ; Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO Immediate Past Pre…
344: Maine Loves Dr. Shah, Territories Moving Forward
Jan. 26, 2023
Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO Immediate Past President and Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, reflects on his work in the state of Maine as he readies for his next job as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
343: Vaccination Disparities, Retail Food Mentorships
Jan. 25, 2023
Dr. Shannon Stokley, an Epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talks about another drop in childhood vaccination rates; Tiara Smith, a Program Analyst for Environmental Health with the National A…
341: Investing in PH, Protecting Children
Jan. 23, 2023
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Dean of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, says there's still a need for sustained investment in public health three years after the pandemic; Beth Giambrone, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Stat…
340: Climate + Health Equity, ARPA Benefits
Jan. 20, 2023
Dr. Umair Shah, Secretary of Health for the Washington State Department of Health, is establishing connections between climate change, environmental justice, and health equity; Dr. David Gifford, Chief Medical Officer at the…
339: Messonnier’s COVID Reflections, Equity Tops Pandemic Lessons
Jan. 19, 2023
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Dean of the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic with her unique perspective as a top CDC official at the time; Dr. John Wiesman, forme…