Public Health Review Morning Edition

Mentorship plays a critical role in supporting professionals at every stage of their careers, from early-career employees finding their footing to experienced leaders thinking about succession planning and long-term impact. Candice Simon, program manager of workforce development and capacity building for the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, tells us about the Maternal Health Inno...

How can public health leaders make meaningful progress when priorities, funding pressures, and public expectations are constantly shifting? Lindsey Myers, ASTHO vice president for public health workforce and infrastructure, talks about a new installment of the Insight and Inspiration webinar series featuring New York Times bestselling author Dan Heath. Myers shares why Heath’s work, including his...

What does it take to strengthen the public health workforce in geographically isolated island jurisdictions? Melissa Sever, a senior advisor for public health systems and services at the Public Health Accreditation Board, tells us about the Strengthening Public Health Workforce Capacity in Island Jurisdictions Project, a collaborative effort supporting Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar...

What happens when a massive sewage spill threatens one of the nation’s busiest waterways?  ASTHO member Ayanna Bennett, director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, joins the show to discuss the massive Potomac River sewage spill that unfolded during a brutal winter storm, the public health risks it created, and the extraordinary coordination required between local, state, and federa...

What does it take to lead effectively across agencies, jurisdictions, and communities in overdose prevention work? Today, ASTHO’s Alice Schenall, director of cross-sector leadership and facilitation, and Alyssa Merski, a senior analyst for social and behavioral health, talk about the role of boundary-spanning leadership in strengthening Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) efforts. They’ll unpack the fi...

What does it take to rebuild the foundation of public health in the United States, and why did it take 30 years to get here? Director of the Division of Jurisdictional Support, CDC's Public Health Infrastructure Center, Stacey Mattison Jenkins breaks down the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG), a $4.6 billion investment reaching more than 100 health departments nationwide. Designed to s...

After nine years at ASTHO, Carolyn Mullen, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations, reflects on the defining moments, leadership lessons, and policy battles that shaped her tenure in public health advocacy. Mullen discusses navigating crises ranging from the opioid epidemic to the COVID-19 pandemic and major federal funding challenges and shares how advocacy strategies ha...

This episode explores two rapidly developing global health situations and the critical role public health agencies play in keeping communities informed and protected. ASTHO Vice President of Health Security, Meredith Allen, tells us about the ongoing monitoring response tied to an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius. Meredith explains why health official...

Today: building and keeping a strong public health workforce through innovative tools and strategies.  Brianna Gorman, a senior analyst for workforce at ASTHO, discusses ASTHO’s new Workforce Employee Experience Implementation Tool, an interactive resource built to help agencies address workforce challenges across the employee lifecycle: from recruitment and onboarding to retention, succession pla...

Today: the growing health and economic consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases.  Ben Lopman, professor of epidemiology, global health, and environmental health at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, discusses the new Vaccine Impact Map, an interactive tool designed to help public health officials visualize how declining vaccination coverage could affect their states over t...

How do you strengthen public health for the future? Start with better communication.  Amanda Kwong, director of Public Health Communications Collaborative at the de Beaumont Foundation, discusses why effective public health communications go far beyond social media posts and public awareness campaigns. She explains how communications should function as a core part of public health infrastructure r...

What happens when artificial intelligence, clinical care, and public health finally start working together?  Dr. Umair Shah, chief medical officer at Jaan Health and the AI-powered care management platform, PHAMILY, discusses the future of proactive healthcare and the role AI can play in connecting patients, providers, and public health systems. Drawing on decades of experience as a physician, for...

From leadership shakeups at the federal level to one of the largest investments in rural health in decades, public health is navigating a moment of uncertainty and opportunity.  In this episode, ASTHO senior analyst for Government Affairs, Catherine Murphy, unpacks the ripple effects of ongoing changes at the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC. Workforce reductions, leadership tur...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this episode explores how Colorado is rethinking suicide prevention and shifting from crisis response to upstream intervention. Conlin Bass, Health Systems Suicide Prevention manager for the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention, explains Colorado’s comprehensive, data-driven strategy focused on reaching people before they hit a breaking point.  He’ll expl...

What happens when public health stops treating patients in isolation and starts addressing the realities of their daily lives?  In this episode, leaders from the Tennessee Department of Health share how they’re using PHIG funding to transform care at both the clinical and community level. Sanjana Stamm, director of Regional and Local Health, Tennessee Department of Health, explains how the state i...

What happens when more than half of rural hospitals stop delivering babies? Senior Advisor for Public Health at MaineHealth, former state health official, and ASTHO Alumni Society Representative Dr. Dora Anne Mills, tells us about the rapidly escalating rural maternity crisis and why it’s more than just hospital closures.  Dr. Mills explains how Maine has lost nearly half of its maternity units, c...

Mississippi is facing a stark reality: its infant mortality rate has climbed to the highest level in more than a decade, according to the latest 2025 Mississippi public health report card. ASTHO member and State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney explains what’s driving the crisis and what it will take to improve infant outcomes, including focusing on the role of maternal health and obesity, as well...

In a crowded funding environment, telling your story clearly isn’t extra work, it’s essential infrastructure. ASTHO Senior Analyst Elise Moore explores a growing trend in grant funding: community impact statements, and why they’re becoming essential.  At their core, these statements are simple: a clear, concise way to explain not just what public health agencies are doing, but why it matters. But...

For U.S. territories and freely associated states in the Pacific, climate change is a daily reality. Today, ASTHO Senior Analyst for Environmental Health Shelbi Davis talks about how these island communities are navigating some of the most severe climate-related health risks in the world.  From intensifying typhoons in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to devastating flooding from little-known...

Much of the data public health leaders need already exists, but it just isn’t accessible as it could be.  Today, we’ll hear about a new platform aiming to unlock the full potential of population health data.  Dr. Anne Zink, ASTHO past president and a senior fellow at the Yale School of Public Health tells us about PopHIVE, or the Population Health Information Visualization Exchange.  Born out of f...

Rural communities face some of the most complex and often overlooked public health challenges. Today, Melanie Ramsey, deputy director of CDC’s Office of Rural Health, discusses how a new national effort is working to close those gaps.  The Rural Health Academy is a growing initiative designed to strengthen the capacity of state and local health leaders. Ramsey will share how the Academy is fosteri...

Cyberattacks aren’t just an IT problem, they’re a potential public health emergency. ASTHO Senior Analyst for Preparedness, Maggie Nilz, explains how cyber disruptions are reshaping the foundation of public health systems. She explains how increasingly interconnected digital infrastructure has made core health functions more vulnerable, which raises the risk of things like delayed outbreak detecti...

When overdose cases suddenly spike, every second counts. In this episode, Jessica Pough, director of overdose preparedness and response at ASTHO, talks about a new tool designed to help communities prepare before crisis hits.  The “Overdose Spike Preparedness Exercise: Tabletop in a Box” gives state and local agencies a structured, customizable way to simulate real-world overdose surge scenarios....

Strong leaders don’t just appear, they’re developed. In this episode, Joshua Allen, leadership training Director for the South Carolina Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Organizational Development, talks about how targeted supervisor training and mentorship programs are reshaping workforce culture in public health. Born out of a clear need to better prepare new supervisors, Allen’s team buil...

What does it take to build and sustain a strong public health workforce in uncertain times? In this episode Kirsten Aird, public health director for Oregon’s Multnomah County, explores how strategic investments are strengthening workforce capacity, stability, and community impact.  Aird breaks down how PHIG funding is being used to support professional development, create staff-led communities of...