APHA meeting draws more than 12,500 health professionals: Meeting spotlights lifelong health
============================================================================================

* Michele Late

Embracing health at all stages of life through prevention and wellness was an undercurrent during events at APHA’s 140th Annual Meeting in San Francisco in October.

Held Oct. 27–31, the meeting offered breaking public health research, discussions with national public health leaders and insights into what is in store for the field. Encompassing everything from scientific and poster sessions to career events and business meetings, the Annual Meeting brought together more than 12,500 attendees around the theme of “Prevention and Wellness Across the Life Span.”

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F1)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi thanks the crowd for their support of health reform at the Annual Meeting opening session.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

![Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F2.medium.gif)

[Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F2)

Photo by Michele Late

The meeting served as an opportunity for public health professionals to reenergize their commitment to the field as well as celebrate recent successes. At the top of that list for many attendees has been the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, an accomplishment that opening session speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., attributed in part to APHA members.

![Figure3](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F3.medium.gif)

[Figure3](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F3)

An artist performs during the Annual Meeting on Oct. 28. Entertainers from Gregangelo & Velocity Circus led attendees from the site of the opening session to the public health expo.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

Calling health reform the opportunity of a generation, Pelosi said “We were successful because we were not alone. All of you were there with us” during the fight to pass the law.

![Figure4](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F4.medium.gif)

[Figure4](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F4)

The crowd reacts at the meeting opening session on Oct. 28.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

“We felt your strength, your urgency, your dedication, and I hope you take some sense of satisfaction in your own participation in passing the bill,” said Pelosi, who serves as House minority leader. “As I said to President (Barack) Obama, I say to you: We simply could not have done it without you. Thank you, American Public Health Association.”

In recognition of his accomplishments on the Affordable Care Act and public health issues such as tobacco control and clean air protections, APHA awarded its Presidential Citation to Obama during the meeting. Accepting the award on behalf of Obama at the opening session was U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, MD, MPH, who highlighted the ways that the health reform law is improving the lives of Americans.

“Already, tens of millions of Americans are benefiting from the Affordable Care Act, from children up to age 26 who can now get coverage on their parents’ policies, to individuals previously locked out of the insurance market because they had preexisting conditions, to women who can now get mammograms and other important screenings and benefits with no out-of-pocket costs, and, of course, to seniors who are saving hundreds of dollars on their prescription drugs,” Koh said. “In the years to come, millions more will be protected from the worst insurance company abuses and have access to quality, affordable health coverage.”

![Figure5](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F5.medium.gif)

[Figure5](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F5)

HHS Assistant Secetary for Health Howard Koh speaks at a public health quality session.

Photo by MIchele Late

Despite the successes of the health reform law, it has not been an easy year for public health, particularly because of budget cuts that have led to reductions in public health programs and staff. However, that has not deterred public health workers from steadfastly protecting and improving health, noted APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP (E).

“Tough times like this require character, steadiness, hard work and clear leadership, and I believe the public health community has delivered,” Benjamin said.

The meeting theme of a lifetime of health and wellness also resonated throughout the Oct. 28 opening session during speeches by keynote speakers Reed Tuckson MD, FACP, executive vice president and chief of medical affairs for UnitedHealth Group, and author Gail Sheehy, MA.

![Figure6](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F6.medium.gif)

[Figure6](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F6)

Keynote speaker Gail Sheehy talks at the opening session.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

Tuckson called the nation’s growing preventable chronic illnesses a tsunami “that is washing every day over the banks of a medical care system that we already can’t afford.” To prevent the coming tide of illness that is on the horizon, Tuckson called for an integrated, holistic, person-centric health system model.

Data and analytics will be key to such a vision, Tuckson said, taking into account that trust and security is imperative. He called for increased community engagement on prevention and an increase in multidisciplinary health workers who can bridge the gap between medicine and public health.

![Figure7](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F7.medium.gif)

[Figure7](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F7)

Annual Meeting participants visit the expo, which featured more than 700 booths of information, products and services.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

“We have to decide that maybe the patient is the most important, not the organization,” he said.

One way to spread the message of prevention and reach people with health interventions is to take advantages of so-called “passages” in life when they are most open to change, according to Sheehy, who has authored more than a dozen books. While childhood, adulthood and old age are most commonly thought of as the major life stages, development is a lifelong journey, she said.

“The ideal time for you as health professionals to galvanize people to change their health behaviors is when they’re in a passage, because they’re already reassessing their inner world as well as their outer conditions,” Sheehy said. “What a great time to excite them to start rebuilding their health.”

The call to deliver public health messages carried on throughout the Annual Meeting, leading up to the closing session on Wednesday, Oct. 31, during which incoming president Adewale Troutman, MD, MPH, MA, CPH, urged APHA members to stand for justice.

![Figure8](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F8.medium.gif)

[Figure8](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F8)

Author and activist Angela Davis speaks before a crowd of more than 1,000 people at the Annual Meeting closing session.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

“Health is a social justice issue,” said Troutman, a health equity activist and professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health. “I ask you to help build a national recognition of that effort and all that we have to do.”

Closing session keynote speaker Angela Davis, a professor and author, took the stage before a crowd of about 1,000 people for a talk on incarceration and its effect on communities.

“Mass incarceration is not simply a public health issue, it’s a public health hazard that has reached crisis proportions,” Davis said.

She noted that blacks comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population but make up almost half of the overall prison population, and that Hispanics are similarly disproportionately represented. Davis said that minorities are not more likely to commit criminal acts, but that minority communities are subject to more scrutiny from law enforcement than white communities.

![Figure9](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F9.medium.gif)

[Figure9](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F9)

Photo by MIchele Late

A longtime political activist know for her outspoken views on a range of causes, Davis did not shy away from controversy during her Annual Meeting speech. Davis discussed her opinions on the conflict between Israel and Palestine at length, characterizing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians as analogous to apartheid in South Africa. Davis cast the issue as one of mass incarceration of the Palestinians by the Israelis and compared Palestinian struggles to the historic struggle for civil rights in the United States.

“Suppose there had been no international support for black Americans during the Montgomery bus boycott,” she said.

Beyond presentations, Annual Meeting attendees were able to use the APHA Annual Meeting to improve their public health knowledge, network and receive continuing education credits. They also took advantage of social media, using tools such as Facebook and Twitter to connect with fellow attendees and share their thoughts on the meeting.

Twitter users were particularly active during the Annual Meeting, posting more than 8,200 tweets with the Annual Meeting hashtag, #apha12, during the conference, which is a new high. APHA used Storify for the first time at the meeting, posting daily highlights drawn from participants on its channel at [www.storify.com/APHA](http://www.storify.com/APHA).

APHA’s Annual Meeting Blog was a key attraction during the meeting, both for attendees and those who were following the meeting from afar. The blog featured news about the meeting as it happened, publishing more than 60 posts. The entries are online at [http://aphaannualmeeting.blogspot.com](http://aphaannualmeeting.blogspot.com).

![Figure10](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F10.medium.gif)

[Figure10](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F10)

Keynote speaker Reed Tuckson at the opening session.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

Speeches from the opening session, including those from Tuckson, Pelosi and Sheehy, can be watched on APHA’s YouTube channel at [www.youtube.com/aphadc](http://www.youtube.com/aphadc).

Meeting attendees who want to replay a scientific session they attended or take in one they missed can do so through APHA’s E-ssentialLearning program. The program offers online access to thousands of audio recordings and PowerPoint presentations from scientific sessions held at the Annual Meeting. For a fee, the program allows Web users to listen to presentations from Annual Meeting scientific sessions and view related PowerPoint presentations.

E-ssentialLearning is particularly popular with people who made scientific presentations at the meeting, as they can listen to recordings of their presentations. Presenters receive discounted rates for subscribing to the program, which can be accessed now at [www.apha.org/meetings/annualmeeting](http://www.apha.org/meetings/annualmeeting).

![Figure11](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/42/10/1.3/F11.medium.gif)

[Figure11](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/42/10/1.3/F11)

APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, left, signs copies of the new book “The Quest for Health Reform: A Satirical History,” with co-authors at APHA’s 140th Annual Meeting. The book sold out at the Annual Meeting, but can be purchased online now from APHA Press at [www.aphabookstore.org](http://www.aphabookstore.org).

Photo by Charlotte Tucker

Additionally, Annual Meeting attendees raised $5,000 through APHA’s annual Help Us Help Them campaign, which gives back to the meeting community. The donation was presented to the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, which provides health care in underserved neighborhoods.

The 2013 APHA Annual Meeting, which will have a theme of “Think Global, Act Local,” will be held Nov. 2–6 in Boston.

Abstract submissions are now being accepted for the 2013 meeting (see Page 2).

For more on APHA’s past and future Annual Meetings, visit [www.apha.org/meetings](http://www.apha.org/meetings), call 202-777-2742 or email comments{at}apha.org.

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association