2026 AJPH Annual State of the Public Health Union

Join us 3:00-4:30 PM ET

Making Public Health Work for Everyone: Conversations with Former Federal Public Health Leaders in Republican and Democratic Administrations

Join us for the American Journal of Public Health Annual “State of the Public Health Union” webinar, which coincides with the Journal’s 115th Anniversary Celebration. We will discuss building bridges, re-imaging public health, promoting public trust, ensuring equity, and saving lives for everyone. Distinguished panelists will include former federal public health leaders who served under Republican and Democratic administrations.

Register Here

Cost

• Free for APHA members
• $10 for non-members 

This event will be livestreamed on YouTube and you will receive a link in the confirmation email.

Speakers

Tom Frieden, Resolve to Save Lives
Former CDC Director (2009-2017); President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives; Author of The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives--Including Your Own
Dr. Frieden is the founder and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global health organization that accelerates action against the world's deadliest health threats. Resolve to Save Lives has worked with governments and other partners in more than 60 countries to save millions of lives. Dr. Tom Frieden previously served as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and New York City Health Commissioner, where he led efforts that increased life expectancy by 3 years and helped end major health crises including the largest US outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, and responses to H1N1, Zika, and other threats. He also helped start Mayor Michael Bloomberg's global health philanthropy, particularly the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, his work has appeared in medical journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The Lancet as well as media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. His book, The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own, distills four decades of public health leadership into a clear, actionable framework to prevent unnecessary deaths. The book bridges the gap between what we know and what we do, showing how to save lives at scale. Proceeds from the book will go to projects Resolve to Save Lives supports in the fight for health progress around the world.

Jerome Adams, Purdue University
Former U.S. Surgeon General (2017-2021); Executive Director of Health Equity Initiatives at Purdue University
Dr. Adams is a former Indiana State Health Commissioner and the 20th US Surgeon General, and currently serves as Executive Director of Health Empowerment Initiatives and the Center for Community Health Enhancement and Learning (HEAL) at Purdue University.  In these roles he has promoted public policies to promote mental health and wellness, and address substance misuse. As the 20th U.S. Surgeon General and a prior member of the President’s Coronavirus task force, Dr. Adams has been at the forefront of America’s most pressing health challenges. A regular communicator via tv, radio, and print, Dr. Adams is an expert not just in the science, but also in communicating the science to the lay public and making it relevant to various audiences.

Robert Redfield
Former CDC Director (2018- 2021), Senior Visiting Fellow for Biosecurity and Public Health Policy at the Heritage Foundation
Dr. Redfield is a virologist and former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2018 to 2021 and the senior public health advisor to Governor Hogan and the State of Maryland 2021-2023. He is currently a senior visiting fellow for biosecurity and public health policy at the Heritage Foundation. He also served as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and member of the board of Operation Warp Spread. He was a member of the US President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from 2005 to 2009, and was appointed as chair of the International Subcommittee from 2006 to 2009. He is a past member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, the Fogarty International Center Advisory Board at the National Institutes of Health, and the Advisory Anti-Infective Agent Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Redfield is a co-founder of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. He has more than 35 years in experience in antiviral drug and vaccine development and is known for his contributions in clinical research into the virology and therapeutic treatments of HIV infection and other viruses. He also has extensive experience in Global Health both in his time in the US Army and his time at the University of Maryland.  He also served as the Chief of Infectious Disease, Vice Chair of Medicine and Emeritus Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Maryland. Recently he was also appointed as a distinguished Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He served in the US Army from 1977-1996 as a physician and medical researcher and retired as a Colonel in 1996.

Mandy Cohen
Former CDC Director (2023- 2025), National Advisor at Manatt Health and Advisor for the Governors Public Health Alliance
Dr. Mandy Cohen was the 20th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is currently a national advisor at Manatt Health.  Dr. Cohen is lauded for her masterful leadership in times of crisis, her skillful executive management of large, complex health organizations and her strategic and authentic communication with the public.  Prior to leading the CDC, Dr. Cohen was Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services where she led the state through the COVID crisis and transformation of the North Carolina Medicaid program. She was also Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama Administration. Dr. Cohen was included on the TIMES 100 Health list as a Titan in Health, awarded Tar Heel of the Year by the News and Observer and named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare.  Dr. Cohen received her medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine; master’s in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. She resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, Sam and two daughters, ages 11 and 13.

Moderaters

Dr. Denys T. Lau, AJPH Editor-in-Chief

Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, AJPH Associate Editor and Commissioner of Public Health for Boston

Dr. KD Frick, AJPH Associate Editor and Professor at Johns Hopkins University