APHA 2020 Opening General Session speakers announced!

One of the most popular and well-attended events of the APHA Annual Meeting and Expo, the Opening General Session officially kicks off the meeting and features a warm welcome from APHA’s executive director and president.

This year, the Oct. 25 Opening General Session audience will also hear from:

Shankar Vedantam, NPR social sciences correspondent and host of the award-wining “Hidden Brain” podcast.

Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama.  

Vedantam reports on human behavior and the social sciences and examines how research in those fields can get listeners to think about the news in unusual and interesting ways. “Hidden Brain” is among the most popular podcasts in the world, with over 2 million downloads per week. 

Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer, has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. Under his leadership, the Equal Justice Initiative has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults. His bestselling book “Just Mercy” has been adapted into a feature film.

The Opening General Session’s timely, moderated discussion will explore:

• the role of implicit bias in police shootings; 
• the politicization of America’s COVID-19 response; 
• how we respond to mass suffering and our psychological blinders; and
• how we can keep public health front and center for the future.

Don’t miss Vedantam and Stevenson’s fascinating public health perspectives at this year’s Annual Meeting! Register by the extended early bird deadline of Sept. 10 to save money on the full meeting and begin scheduling your sessions.

Photo of Shankar Vedantam courtesy NPR. Photo of Bryan Stevenson courtesy EJI.