APHA ready to welcome health workers to Chicago meeting: Meeting to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 4
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* Kim Krisberg

The theme of “Health In All Policies” will provide a backdrop for APHA’s 143rd Annual Meeting and Exposition, which will gather in the windy city of Chicago this fall.

More than 12,000 public health practitioners, researchers, leaders, scientists, advocates, academics and students are expected to attend this year’s meeting at Chicago’s McCormick Place. Running Oct. 31-Nov. 4, the meeting will host thousands of presentations on the latest and most promising practices in public health, hundreds of informational and retail booths at the Public Health Expo as well as business meetings, networking events, award celebrations, book signings, continuing education opportunities and poster sessions. While many of this year’s scientific sessions will explore the “Health In All Policies” theme, the program will also offer sessions focusing on nearly every discipline, topic and trend in the public health field, from tobacco use prevention to juvenile justice policies to public health accreditation.

“I am thrilled to bring the APHA Annual Meeting to my home town of Chicago,” said APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD. “And I’m especially excited about this year’s theme of ‘Health In All Policies’ — a philosophy perfectly suited to the task of uniting stakeholders across sectors on behalf of health for all. As APHA continues its work to create the healthiest nation in one generation, this year’s theme helps highlight the new and innovative ways public health practitioners are partnering toward better health.”

The meeting’s main events kick off on Sunday, Nov. 1, with the opening session, which will feature remarks from actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr.; U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA; and keynote speaker Freeman Hrabowski, PhD, MA. Hrabowski has served as president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County for two decades, during which time he transformed the university into a leading research institution.

Immediately following the opening session, the Public Health Expo will open for its nearly four-day run. The expo’s hundreds of booths will include schools of public health; state, local and federal public health agencies; book publishers; and public health nonprofit and advocacy organizations. The expo will also include Everything APHA, where attendees can browse offerings from APHA Press, visit the Public Health CareerMart Career Guidance Center, learn about APHA membership and meet leaders from APHA’s member groups.

The left side of the Expo hall will host hundreds of scientific poster sessions throughout the meeting. While at the guidance center, job seekers can meet employers face-to-face and participate in one-on-one career coaching sessions.

Visitors to Everything APHA can purchase a limited edition T-shirt that reads “I Love Public Health,” with the word “love” represented with a red heart. Attendees can also purchase and pick up the shirt at the APHA Press satellite booth near the registration area on Saturday, Oct. 31, and Sunday. Attendees are encouraged to wear their new T-shirts to the opening session to show off their support for public health. Shirts purchased through online registration will be available for pickup from both the satellite booth and APHA Press. Also inside the expo hall, APHA Press will be hosting a number of book signings, including a signing with opening keynote speaker Hrabowski, author of “Holding Fast to Dreams: Empowering Youth from the Civil Rights Crusade to STEM Achievement,” at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday as well as a signing with Michael Marmot, PhD, author of “The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World,” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/45/9/1.4/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/45/9/1.4/F1)

Among the many scientific sessions will be a number of APHA special sessions, including session 3233 at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, on state leadership and action, which will feature presentations from three leaders working in state public health departments. Other special sessions include session 4398, at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, which will offer perspectives on health equity from leading academic researchers as well as a representative from Project Brotherhood, a Chicago health clinic that specializes in serving black men; and session 5032 at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4, on Medicare and civil rights.

This year’s Monday general session, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., will explore the National Prevention Strategy and its role in creating a healthier nation. The Wednesday closing session — which will be keynoted by Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, acting U.S. assistant secretary for health — will focus on social determinants of health and feature health leaders from Baltimore, St. Louis and Chicago.

While the Annual Meeting’s big events kick off on Sunday, some meeting events begin earlier. On Friday, Oct. 30, APHA will host its third annual Public Health Codeathon, which will bring together health workers and coders to create new tools to help public health professionals and Americans improve life expectancies. The event culminates in a Sunday morning session in which meeting attendees can hear about technology created during the event and learn who the winners are. For more information, visit [www.apha.org/codeathon](http://www.apha.org/codeathon).

Meeting attendees can participate in a variety of APHA Learning Institutes taking place on Saturday and Sunday and earn continuing education credits. This year’s half-, full- and two-day institutes cover a variety of public health topics, such as global health, public health ethics, scientific writing for peer-reviewed publications and biostatistics. Annual Meeting attendees can also earn continuing education credits by attending and evaluating scientific sessions on Monday through Wednesday.

APHA is again offering its Annual Meeting app for mobile devices, which is available free for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. A mobile Web version is also available for BlackBerry or Windows devices. The app is available now in app stores.

Thanks to a partnership with APHA’s Physical Activity Section, this year’s gathering will feature an Annual Meeting Wellness Center, which will be located behind the Mix and Mingle Lounge in McCormick Place. Wellness Center activities will begin on Sunday, with APHA’s Walking Challenge and run throughout the meeting, offering mini exercise breaks and short yoga sessions. At 5:30 p.m. Sunday at McCormick Place, APHA will be leading a group dance session incorporating the #GimmeFive dance created for the Let’s Move! campaign. Attendees are encouraged to learn the dance and join in.

To learn more about the meeting’s wellness events, visit [www.apha.org/APHA15wellness](http://www.apha.org/APHA15wellness).

## Social media: Stay informed on the go

With so many Annual Meeting sessions and events packed into just a handful of days, APHA’s social media team will be out in full force to keep attendees in the know and on the go.

For updates and news from Chicago via Twitter, follow @APHAAnnualMtg and join in using the #APHA15 hashtag when tweeting or posting about this year’s Annual Meeting. Visit and sign up for daily email updates from the APHA Annual Meeting Blog, which will bring readers nearly real-time coverage from a variety of events happening in Chicago.

Also, check in with APHA on Facebook, read daily recaps on APHA’s Storify, watch video clips on APHA’s YouTube channel and flip through photos on APHA’s Flickr page and Instagram.

For meeting attendees who want to learn more about using social media to improve their community’s health, visit the on-site APHA Annual Meeting Social Media Lab, presented in partnership with [AIDS.gov](http://AIDS.gov), and sign up for one-on-one sessions with social media experts. Learn more at [www.apha.org/social-media-lab](http://www.apha.org/social-media-lab).

Registration for the meeting will be available on-site in Chicago. Online registration will remain available until the week before the meeting.

For more information on the Annual Meeting, visit [www.apha.org/annualmeeting](http://www.apha.org/annualmeeting).

## Lights, camera, action: APHA TV returns to APHA Annual Meeting

For the second year in a row, APHA Annual Meeting attendees as well as those who cannot make it to Chicago can tune into APHA TV.

APHA is producing daily APHA TV episodes from APHA’s 143rd Annual Meeting and Exposition in Chicago, Oct. 31-Nov. 4. Each daily program will feature short segments highlighting programs, research and best practices in public health, as well as “Meeting News,” a daily program of Annual Meeting highlights, interviews and reactions from attendees.

“APHA TV offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Annual Meeting and gives viewers — both at home and in Chicago — a chance to catch up on what they’ve missed,” said David Fouse, APHA’s director of communications. “In addition, APHA TV helps us raise awareness and visibility of public health and the dedicated professionals who put public health into action.”

APHA TV episodes will be broadcast inside the McCormick Place convention center and on meeting buses as well as in select hotel rooms. Viewers off-site can tune in via APHA’s website and YouTube channel. To learn about having an organization featured in an episode and for general information about APHA TV, visit [www.apha.org](http://www.apha.org).

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