Anne Zink MD FACEPProfile Photo

Anne Zink MD FACEP

Chief Medical Officer, Alaska Department of Health

ASTHO Past President

April 16, 2024

644: Stigma Slows STI Response, Training Climate Ambassadors

Dr. Anne Zink, chief medical officer for the Alaska Department of Health and ASTHO immediate past president, tells us stigma is to blame for slowing progress on sexually transmitted infections; Dr. Scott Harris, state health…
April 10, 2024

640: NY Study Compares Naloxone Doses, New Tools to Improve Behavioral Health

Dr. Sharon Stancliff, associate medical director for Harm Reduction in Healthcare at the AIDS Institute with the New York State Department of Health, discusses a study the state performed to test the pros and cons of differe…
April 9, 2024

639: Workforce Pipeline Progress, Strategies to Reduce Congenital Syphilis

AJ Pearlman, director of Public Health AmeriCorps, says more than 4-thousand people are learning about public health as part of the program; Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, and Dr. Debra Boge…
Jan. 3, 2024

572: How Data Impacts Birth Defects, Parents and Teachers Can Help Prevent STIs

Dr. Karen Remley, ASTHO alum and director for the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC, says early detection of birth defects is a focus in January; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO immediate past p…
Dec. 18, 2023

566: Policies to Curb Sexually Transmitted Infections, Xylazine Regulation and Testing

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO immediate past president and chief medical officer for the Alaska Department of Health, says policies can help address the fact that the number of babies born with syphilis is ten times higher than in 20…
Nov. 13, 2023

543: Rural Health Equity, Covey’s Advice for Building Trust

Dr. Somava Saha, President and CEO of Well-being and Equity in the World, discusses the importance of National Rural Health Day; Stephen Covey, a well-known author, had a message for ASTHO when he joined members at a meeting…
Nov. 8, 2023

541: Syphilis Needs a Campaign, Expand Your Community Health Worker Force

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO past president and Alaska chief medical officer, raises the alarm on the need for new attention to the rising number of syphilis cases in the U.S.; Stephanie Doyle, deputy director for the Bureau of Fami…
Nov. 2, 2023

537: Presidential Reflections, Medicaid Successes

Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska Chief Medical Officer and ASTHO Immediate Past President, reflects on her time at the head of the organization; Dr. Susan Kansagra (SHO-NC), North Carolina Assistant Public Health Secretary, says her ag…
Aug. 11, 2023

480: RSV Messaging, Emergency Contraception

Hear from the experts who participated in an ASTHO online briefing on the coming RSV season; Sophia Durant, ASTHO’s Analyst of Family and Child Health, says access to emergency contraception is a health equity issue; and an …
Aug. 4, 2023

475: Health Data Modernization, Senate Appropriations Bill

ASTHO President Dr. Anne Zink, Chief Medical Officer for the State of Alaska, says policy is the biggest challenge facing public health data modernization; Carolyn Mullen, ASTHO’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs …
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 6, 2023

393: Mental Health is Public Health, Washington Post Opinion

On Day Four of National Public Health Week, Dr. Mark Levine, Commissioner of Health at the Vermont Department of Health, says mental health must be considered if we want to advance public health; Kate Woodsome with the Washi…
March 27, 2023

385: ASTHO Budget Pitch, Workforce Policy Approaches

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 …
March 21, 2023

381: Pandemic Polling, Ending the PH Emergency

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…
March 8, 2023

372: Pew Polls PH Officials, ASTHO Meets the Administration

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…
Nov. 21, 2022

308: Thankful for People in Public Health

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President and Chief Medical Officer of the Alaska Department of Health, shares some encouraging words to celebrate Public Health Thank You Day; Mike Fraser, ASTHO CEO, appreciates the significance of Pub…
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…
Sept. 14, 2022

262: Meet ASTHO’s New President

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO’s New Board President and Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, looks at the year ahead and the work she hopes to continue; Mike Fraser, ASTHO CEO, discusses the White House request for emergency monkeypox fun…
Sept. 7, 2022

257: Life Expectancy Data Sounds Alarm

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President-Elect and Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, says new CDC life expectancy data sounds an alarm for public health and the nation; ASTHO shares how public health leaders can help their teams recover…
Sept. 6, 2022

256: Helping Youth in Crisis

Heather Sebero, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Social and Behavioral Health, discusses the alarming mental health crisis impacting young people across the country; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President-Elect and the Chief Medical Officer…
June 27, 2022

207: How to Address Burnout

Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President-Elect, reflects on the problem of burnout among health care providers; Amelia Poulin, Senior Analyst for Infectious Disease Outbreak Response and Recovery at ASTHO, discusses the importance of …
Feb. 14, 2022

118: Selling Vaccines to Younger Adults

Julie Scofield, Project Director for the Community COVID Coalition, a project of the CDC Foundation, reports on the results of a months-long social media campaign to convince younger adults to get the COVID-19 vaccine; and D…
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. 27, 2022

106: Contact Tracing’s Role Today

ASTHO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia explains the latest thinking about how best to use case investigation and contact tracing to fight the Omicron variant; ASTHO joins several other national public health groups t…
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…
Nov. 30, 2021

74: The White House Celebrates Public Health

Several ASTHO members attend a White House event in appreciation of public health workers across the states and territories. ASTHO President Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO President-Elect Dr. Anne Zink, California’s Dr. Tomas Aragon,…
Nov. 12, 2021

66: New Health Misinformation Toolkit

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy unveils a new health misinformation toolkit; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President-Elect, gives parents five reasons to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19; Sami Jo Freeman, Deputy Communicat…
Nov. 5, 2021

62: Vaccine Hesitant Parents

A panel of ASTHO members met with journalists for a virtual news conference Thursday to discuss the new pediatric COVID-19 vaccine and the challenges involved with convincing hesitant parents to vaccinate their kids against …
Oct. 20, 2021

50: Social Media Health Concerns

Stephanie Smiley, former state health officer for Wisconsin, examines the impact of social media on young people; Community COVID Coalition members release new social media animations to educate people ages 18 to 24 about va…
Oct. 14, 2021

46: New FDA Booster Shot Debate

ASTHO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia forecasts this week’s FDA discussions about the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 booster shots; ASTHO President Elect Dr. Anne Zink explains the importance of recognizing …
Oct. 6, 2021

41: EUA Messaging

In a special edition of the newscast, ASTHO President Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO President Elect Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO CEO Mike Fraser, and Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, discuss the FDA’s Emer…
Sept. 22, 2021

31: Booster Shot Debate

Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer and ASTHO President-elect, considers the potential for COVID-19 booster shots for some populations; Nick Porter, ASTHO’s Director for Environmental Health, explains how members c…
Sept. 3, 2021

19: COVID-19 News Conference

State health officials held a virtual news conference with journalists Thursday to address the latest in the public health response to COVID-19. Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO President and Director of the Maine Center for Disease Co…
Aug. 19, 2021

8: COVID-19 Booster Shots

ASTHO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marcus Plescia considers what states and territories need to do to deliver COVID-19 booster shots starting next month; Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO President-Elect and Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, …