“With APHA bringing thousands of public health professionals to the city, Atlanta will also be the home of public health networking and inspiration.”
— Jolene McNeil
For Georgia Public Health Association President-Elect Jimmie Smith, MD, MPH, having the Annual Meeting back in his state after several years is the icing on the cake — or in his case, the juice from a Georgia peach. Smith said he is looking forward to connecting with the estimated 12,000 public health professionals who will be gathering in Atlanta this fall.
“When you can bring those folks to your home state and have the opportunity to highlight some of the great things going on, that makes it even better for those of us who live here,” Smith told The Nation’s Health.
Thousands of the best and brightest in public health will take over Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center Nov. 12-15 for APHA’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo, the most anticipated public health event of the year.
This year’s theme is “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Overcoming Social and Ethical Challenges,” but APHA 2023’s slate of scientific sessions, networking events and professional development opportunities promises something for everyone, no matter their focus in public health.
“Atlanta is already the hub of public health,” said Jolene McNeil, CMP, DES, CEM, APHA’s director of event operations. “With APHA bringing thousands of public health professionals to the city, Atlanta will also be the home of public health networking and inspiration.”
Some of the nation’s most trusted public health voices will appear in over a dozen of APHA 2023’s “key events,” including Rachel Levine, MD, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She will keynote the Sunday, Nov. 12, opening session, which will also feature a drumline performance from a local high school.
APHA past President Lisa Carlson, MPH, MCHES, an executive administrator of research administration at Atlanta’s Emory School of Medicine, said she always encourages students to attend the opening session because it is a dynamic, high-energy session that sets the tone for the rest of the meeting.
“Rachel is a groundbreaking public health professional who will be no doubt inspiring to anybody trying to change the world, which is what all of us in public health are trying to do,” Carlson told The Nation’s Health.
Levine will also be part of a pre-meeting Women’s Leadership Institute. Kicking off Saturday, Nov. 11, the institute will equip women in public health with tools that can help them serve as confident, inspirational public health role models while smashing societal and structural barriers women face in health care leadership. An expert panel including Levine; Spelman College President Helene Gayle, MD; and National Council of Negro Women President Shavon Arline-Bradley, MPH, MDiv, closes out the institute on Monday, Nov. 13.
“It’s our inaugural year, and we’re just through the moon that we’re able to involve so many prominent leaders,” McNeil told The Nation’s Health.
Author and advocate Abdul El-Sayed, MD, DPhil, is bringing his “America Dissected” podcast back to the Annual Meeting Nov. 12 to discuss how the rapid growth of artificial intelligence could potentially do more harm than good when it comes to public health mis- and disinformation. The conversation will be taped and used for a future episode of the popular podcast.
Sunday also kicks off APHA 2023’s Champion Conversations, a series of special sessions through Wednesday, Nov. 15, where experts weigh in on topics such as how to build a diverse public health workforce, evaluate the costs of health inequity and enlist people with lived experiences in creating public health programming. Attendees can dig even deeper into discussions with Champion Conversation presenters and fellow participants at post-session “coffee talks.”
Rounding out the key events is the Nov. 15 closing session, which will focus on the steps necessary to transform public health. Incoming APHA President Ella Greene-Moton will take over the reins from outgoing president Chris Chanyasulkit, PhD, MPH, at the event.
A regular Annual Meeting attendee for over two decades, Greene-Moton said it was never enough for her to just attend the meeting, give presentations and come home. She wanted to know the inner workings of APHA, and eventually became involved with leadership bodies such as APHA’s Action Board and Executive Board.
“I’m really interested in understanding how I can use my position to move the needle forward as far as helping people understand what public health is, and understand how everything that has to do with who we are, where we live, where we work is public health,” Greene-Moton told The Nation’s Health. “The better we understand that and take pieces of that puzzle and fit them together, the better our outcome will be.”
Greene-Moton is also scheduled to speak at a session for APHA’s Learning Institutes, a pre-meeting opportunity to get hands-on training and to earn continuing education credits. Held Nov. 11 and Nov. 12, the institutes provide attendees partial and all-day courses on topics such as biostatistics, scientific writing and diversity in public health.
Annual Meeting attendees can also earn 1.5 CE credits for every CE-eligible scientific session they evaluate, with eligible sessions denoted in the Annual Meeting program. Credits are available for Certified Health Education Specialists, Master Certified Health Education Specialists and more.
One of the newest offerings available for CE credit at the Annual Meeting is a live seizure recognition and first aid-certification training on Sunday. Hosted by the Epilepsy Foundation, the course will teach attendees how to identify when someone is having a seizure and the do’s and don’ts in ensuring they receive appropriate care. Registration is open online at bit.ly/APHAepilepsy.
Special events add to meeting excitement
Atlanta is not just a hub for U.S. public health. It is also home to the Georgia Aquarium — the country’s largest. APHA attendees who want to feel like they are underwater without getting wet can get up close and personal with penguins, whale sharks and other slippery creatures at the aquarium’s APHA Night on Monday. Tickets are available now at www.georgiaaquarium.org/apha.
“I’ve been to the (Georgia) aquarium before, but it’s a different experience when you’re going for professional reasons and can network,” Quinyatta Mumford, DrPH, MPH, CHES, Affiliate representative to APHA’s Governing Council for Arkansas, told The Nation’s Health. “It’s just a unique space to be able to collaborate and talk public health in.”
The aquarium is one of several special ticketed Annual Meeting events. Attendees can use the aquarium as inspiration for a team name at the Masters in Pop(lic) Health Trivia night on Tuesday, Nov. 14, where public health aficionados can test their knowledge against others for bragging rights and prizes. And there is still time to buy tickets to special Section luncheons, socials and celebrations, such as the Public Health Nursing Section’s Centennial Gala on Sunday, Nov. 12, and the Latino Caucus’ Helen Rodríguez-Trías Breakfast on Tuesday, Nov. 14, which will mark the group’s 50th anniversary.
The best of public health will be celebrated at APHA’s Public Health Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Monday, where a dozen researchers, practitioners and advocates will be honored for their excellence in public health innovation, mentorship and advocacy. Attendees have until Nov. 6 to get tickets for the special events.
Having a slate of social hours, presentations and special events makes the Annual Meeting a goldmine for social media. But for those who have never made a TikTok or have questions about Threads, Instagram and other tools, the APHA Annual Meeting Social Media Lab can help. APHA and JSI have partnered once again for the lab, which has a new home on APHA’s Ignition Stage.
Attendees can get personalized help on growing their social media presence and more with one-on-one consults. They can also take advantage of short talks on misinformation, storytelling and brand building. Registration for the Social Media Lab consults, which are free for all Annual Meeting attendees, is open online now at www.apha.org/ignition-stage.
Annual Meeting-goers who want expert insights into public health storytelling can grab a seat at APHA’s Public Health Film Festival. Showcasing everything from short films and public service announcements to documentaries and feature-length films, the festival returns to blend masterful storytelling with pressing public health issues and a call to action. The short film session kicks off online on Thursday, Nov. 9, and the festival’s Sunday opening session focuses on centering Black voices when tackling inequities in maternal health care.
This year’s festival includes a special Monday session featuring filmmakers who will share their filmmaking journey and how the public health community can use the art form to influence policy.
Public Health Expo offers networking
The Annual Meeting is all about networking, sharing and learning, and the Public Health Expo is an easy way to get started on all three. Open Sunday through Tuesday, this year’s expo will feature over 300 exhibitors, including over 100 schools of public health.
The expo is a one-stop shop for professional development needs. New to the expo this year is the Technology Conversation Arena. Supported by Amazon Web Services, professionals will share their best practices in leadership, management and business in sessions that feature real-world examples of how science drives product innovation.
Expo attendees can also learn management and leadership skills to boost their public health careers in the return of the Leadership Lab. Supported by Ernst and Young, the lab will feature several sessions on topics such as using analytics in decision making, and the intersection of workforce development and health equity. Public health newbies who are looking to hone their presentation skills can take advantage of the Emerging Scholars Theater, where they can present their research and get feedback in a comfortable setting.
Those in need of professional headshots can get free, high-quality images at the Headshot Lounge, offered in partnership with the de Beaumont Foundation. And attendees can get personalized signatures inside their favorite APHA Press books in a special book signing party on Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Book authors and editors include former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH; Alfredo Morabia, MD, PhD, editor-in-chief of APHA’s American Journal of Public Health; and Michael Fraser, PhD, MS, CAE, FCPP, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
APHA 2023 attendees will have a chance to unwind and get physical at APHA’s Wellness Center, also located in the expo. This year’s events include yoga, dance, stretching and mindfulness. Health talks at the Wellness Center will show participants how to host healthy cooking programs, conduct community blood pressure screenings and more.
One of the hallmarks of the meeting expo hall are the poster sessions, where attendees can learn about the latest research from up-and-coming public health professionals who are there to take questions and connect with other public health researchers whose work intersects with their findings.
“I really enjoy those sessions because when those posters go up, you’re talking two-, three-hundred ideas that are up and they change every hour,” said Smith of the Georgia Public Health Association, who is also an adjunct professor at Mercer University. “It helps me in my academic setting because it may spawn some ideas that I can share with students for their research efforts.”
The poster sessions are just one part of the research shared at the meeting. More than 1,000 scientific sessions are available featuring new attendees and event regulars. This is the first year Jackie Cosse, a PhD student at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, is presenting her research after APHA chose two of her abstracts.
“Public health in social work is a really big space where I’m hoping to make connections in and have conversations with people,” Cosse told The Nation’s Health.
Maryland Public Health Association President Suparna Navale, MS, MPH, has been to numerous annual meetings, but this year marks her return to presenting research. Also the Epidemiology Section’s chair-elect, Navale said she is looking forward to Affiliate Day on Saturday to learn what other associations have done to boost membership engagement.
“The idea for our tri-state meeting every spring came from an Affiliate Day three years ago,” Navale told The Nation’s Health.
The fellowship with APHA Affiliates will continue into Saturday evening at the Council of Affiliates Awards Reception, where the group will honor organizations and individual leaders for their excellence in Affiliate public health outreach and mentorship.
Navale came up the ranks of the Association as a member of APHA’s Student Assembly, which is convening hundreds of young professionals for its National Student Meeting on Saturday. The day-long event brings emerging public health professionals into the fold of APHA, relays the benefits of a student APHA membership and provides an opportunity to meet fellow students of public health and related disciplines from across the country. The Student Assembly is also hosting a Speed Mentoring Session on Sunday from 1-4 p.m.
For public health champions who cannot be in Atlanta, APHA has another option. The Association’s digital Annual Meeting experience will connect participants to even more special events than before. Users will not only be able to livestream some of the most popular events — such as opening session speaker Rachel Levine and the “America Dissected” podcast taping — they can access pre-Annual Meeting content such as Nov. 9 sessions on mental health, public health nursing and disability in the public health sphere. In-person attendees also have access to the digital meeting content.
Among those looking forward to APHA 2023 is Laurel Sharpless, a PhD student in health behavior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she attended and presented virtually at APHA 2021. She will be presenting in-person in Atlanta on the use of restorative justice for survivors of intimate partner violence.
“Even though making new connections is a valuable opportunity provided through APHA, what is really special to me is that two of my primary mentors — co-authors of my presentation, who have mentored me via Zoom the past four years — will be in attendance,” Sharpless told The Nation’s Health. “This allows me an opportunity to see my mentors and connect in person, which is especially meaningful.”
Being around like-minded professionals who are working to sustain the future of public health is helpful to inspire and strengthen workers, especially in light of the field’s difficult years combating COVID-19, Smith said.
“You come back rejuvenated once you’ve been to a meeting such as this,” he said.
APHA 2023 registration is open now. Visit www.apha.org/annualmeeting.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association