A participant at APHA's 2025 Policy Action Institute engages with speakers. This year's event will be in Arlington, Virginia.
Photo courtesy Gayatri Malhotra
For public health professionals who want to make healthy changes in their communities, APHA's Policy Action Institute is a must-attend event.
Now in its eighth year, the popular meeting engages policy-minded professionals with actionable steps to advance health equity and strengthen public health. This year's event will be held June 9-10 in Arlington, Virginia, and online.
“We are at a critical point in public health,” Susan Polan, PhD, APHA's associate executive director for public affairs and advocacy, told The Nation's Health “Amid cuts to public health funding and ongoing threats to the workforce, it is more crucial than ever to ensure policymakers understand the vital role public health plays for their constituencies.”
Through hands-on workshops and networking sessions with public health policymakers, attendees will learn strategies to safeguard the nation's public health infrastructure amid funding cuts and ongoing challenges to science-based guidance. Experts from the state, local and national level will share tips that participants can use to influence policy, drive change and secure funding.
This year's lineup of speakers includes Shelley Hearne, DrPH, MPH, director of the Lerner Center of Public Health Advocacy and a professor of public health practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Hearne charged up attendees at the 2025 event with insights on getting into the heads of policymakers.
Virologist Maggie Bartlett, PhD, co-host of the “Why Should I Trust You?” podcast, will moderate a session that will explore ways to find common ground with policymakers on both sides of the political aisle.
On June 11, following the institute, in-person attendees at this year's event can use what they learned during visits on Capitol Hill with their members of Congress and staff. Amelia Nugent, a Denver native and MPH student at Tulane University, said participating in the Hill visits last year influenced her decision to pursue a health policy track in her studies.
“I was feeling kind of discouraged about public health and what was going on at the time,” Nugent told The Nation's Health. “But going and being able to talk to our senators and connect with other people from Colorado who felt the same way as I did was definitely the highlight.”
Registration for the 2026 Policy Action Institute is now open. Discounts are available for APHA members.
For more information on the Policy Action Institute, visit www.apha.org/pai.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
