(Book) party time, excellent: Authors enjoy Expo event

One of the coolest parts of APHA’s Public Health Expo is the chance attendees have to meet with leaders in the field. On Sunday afternoon, that potential was quadrupled, as the authors and editors of four books from APHA Press got together for a book signing party.

The APHA Press event highlighted:

— Linda Young Landesman, DrPH, MSW, and Rita Burke, PhD, MPH, editors of “Landesman’s Public Health Management of Disasters, Fourth Edition”;

— Norman Giesbrecht, PhD, and Linda Bosma, PhD, editors of “Preventing Alcohol-Related Problems: Evidence and Community Based Initiatives”;

— Michael Greenberg, PhD, co-author of “Urban Planning and Public Health: A Critical Partnership”; and

— Patrick Remington, MD, MPH, co-editor of “Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control, Fourth Edition.”

These books highlight a wide range of public health topics, but in a way, they’re all connected: They outline the way public health overlaps and can work with other sectors to improve community and individual health.

Michael Greenberg, who wrote “Urban Planning and Public Health: A Critical Partnership” with Dona Schneider, PhD, MPH, said he was excited to be at the book signing party, and was having fun sharing stories from the book and his work.

“It’s a topic I’ve been interested in for 50 years,” he said. “The two fields were once in the same places, then split. Now they’re returning to the same place.”

Greenberg spoke with party attendees about how public health and urban planning advocates are often tapped to work on the same projects, such as rehabilitating contamination sites and providing homes for low-income families. Working together, he said, they can do even better for their communities.

Around the corner, Landesman, a longtime APHA member and Annual Meeting attendee (29 years!) fielded a long line of folks who wanted to talk to her about the fourth edition of her book. Now 16 years after its first printing, Landesman said she was glad the text was useful in both professional and academic settings. And while it’s satisfying to know the book is useful in the field, she said the increasing devastation of recent disasters, both natural and human-caused, made the book all the more relevant to public health practitioners.

“Unfortunately, disasters are getting more catastrophic for public health,” she said. “It’s only going to be more important in the future.”

After the signing, you can keep the party going by visiting the APHA Press booth in the Public Health Expo hall. It’ll be open Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. While there, why not check out the first book from APHA’s newspaper, The Nation’s Health? “Healthy You: Tear and Share” might not have been part of the signing party, but if you pick up a copy, any staff member at The Nation’s Health (blogging here and covering sessions for the newspaper) will be happy to sign a copy for you.

Photos from top: Michael Greenberg, author of “Urban Planning and Public Health: A Critical Partnership,” signs copies of his book at the Public Health Expo. Photo by Lindsey Wahowiak, courtesy The Nation’s Health
The Nation’s Health Senior Editor Lindsey Wahowiak holds up the newspaper’s first book, “Healthy You: Tear and Share.” Pick it up at the Public Health Expo.