Public health systems across the United States face mounting strain. Shrinking funding, workforce shortages, political polarization and health misinformation are testing the nation’s ability to protect population health. At the same time, rising chronic disease, emerging infectious threats and widening health inequities are placing new demands on an already stretched infrastructure.
Leaders of four of the nation’s major public health associations will convene at Washington University in St. Louis to discuss the future of public health. Together, the panelists lead organizations representing the nation’s public health professionals, state and local health departments and schools of public health.
The panel discussion, “Public Health in Challenging Times: Finding a Way Forward,” will take place March 31 as part of the university’s Assembly Series.
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, the Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the university’s new School of Public Health, will moderate the panel.
Panelists include:
- Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association
- Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials
- Scott Harris, MD, immediate past president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and state health officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health
- Laura Magaña, PhD, president and CEO of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health
The discussion will examine the erosion of public health infrastructure funding and its consequences for preparedness, workforce stability and population health. Panelists also will situate those challenges within a broader political and economic context — including shrinking federal, state and local budgets — while exploring strategies to safeguard core public health functions and strengthen long-term investment.
“Public health infrastructure is not an abstraction; it is the system that stands between communities and preventable harm,” said Galea, also the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health and vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives. “At a moment when that infrastructure is under extraordinary strain, we have an opportunity to bring together the leaders of the organizations that represent the breadth of public health practice in this country — from state and local health departments to schools of public health — for an honest conversation about what is at stake and what a sustainable path forward looks like.
“This is exactly the kind of conversation our school was built to convene.”
The event will take place from 4 to 5:15 p.m. March 31 in the Clark-Fox Forum in Hillman Hall on Washington University’s Danforth Campus, followed by a reception from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. A virtual option also is being offered.
The event is free, but those wishing to attend in person or online must register.
Some information provided by Elizabethe Holland Durando, director of communications and change management at the School of Public Health.
