Happy Canada Day (July 1) and Independence Day (July 4) to all – I hope you had a great holiday! This Executive Director Share contains updates from two weeks of ASTHO activity given that I was on vacation the week of July 3. Lots happened while I was away and I am glad to share some of the highlights below!
The Weeks in Review:
ASTHO Executive Committee Meeting: Wednesday, July 12
ASTHO Executive Committee Meeting Summary: June 28 ASTHO President-Elect Named CDC Director
ASTHO Member Jerome Adams Nominated for Surgeon General
Pennsylvania Physician General Visits ASTHO
Annual Meeting and Policy Summit Registration Open!
Upcoming Teleconference with White House Office of Management and Budget on HHS Preparedness Programs
June 30: All-S/THO Call Summary
Next All-S/THO Call is Friday, July 14
State Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) Final Reviews
ASTHO Signs On to Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Letter
Jay Butler Nominated to Continue to Serve as Member of the PACCARB
ASTHO’s Upcoming Strategic Planning Work
ASTHO Hosts National Alliance for Radiation Readiness Meeting
ASTHO Hosts Cancer Linkages Meeting
Operations Updates
Staff Kudos
The Week Ahead
ASTHO Executive Committee Meeting: Wednesday, July 12
The ASTHO Executive Committee will meet on Wednesday, July 12 via teleconference for its bimonthly meeting. Agenda items include an update on ASTHO officer nominations, an overview of ASTHO’s strategic planning process for 2018-2020, an overview of September events planning, pending transitions, and fiscal and operational updates. If you would like more information about the committee’s agenda, please let me know (mfraser@astho.org).
ASTHO Executive Committee Meeting Summary: June 28 The ASTHO Executive Committee met on Wednesday, June 28 via teleconference for its regular bimonthly meeting. Agenda items included a discussion of the June Board meeting and action items for follow-up, advocacy updates, discussion of a “virtual” process for reviewing Policy Committee recommendations, and operational updates.
ASTHO President-Elect Named CDC Director
On Friday, Brenda Fitzgerald (SHO-GA) was named CDC Director by Secretary Tom Price. I am excited about working with Brenda in her new role in the months and years ahead. Pat O’Neal was named Georgia’s new state health officer by Gov. Nathan Deal. If you missed the news, here’s a link to our ASTHO press release and one of the many articles in which ASTHO was mentioned. Since Brenda was ASTHO’s President-Elect, this means we will have a vacancy in the office until the new President-Elect is elected at the September meeting. Any member interested in our nominations process should contact me (mfraser@astho.org) or President Jay Butler (president@astho.org) as soon as possible!
ASTHO Member Jerome Adams Nominated for Surgeon General
Two weeks ago, Jerome Adams (SHO-IN) was nominated for the position of Surgeon General. The position is Senate confirmed and Jerome will be going through the nominations process soon. Here is a link to an article on Jerome’s nomination and the ASTHO press release from last week. We will be sure to keep ASTHO members updated on the nominations process.
Pennsylvania Physician General Visits ASTHO
Two weeks ago, Rachel Levine (SHO-PA) and her chief of staff, Sarah Boetang, came to Washington to visit with ASTHO staff and learn more about our work and resources available to SHOs. We discussed Pennsylvania’s leadership related to the opioid crisis and also had time for Rachel to visit with ASTHO staff for a “lunch and learn.” It was a great visit, which also included Rob Morrison of NASADAD, who shared some of our joint work on opioid use disorder prevention. We always invite members to visit ASTHO when they are in the area – please let me know if you are in town and would like to stop by to say hello!
Annual Meeting and Policy Summit Registration Open!
We are excited about ASTHO's September Board Meeting, Policy Summit, 75th Anniversary Gala, and Annual Meeting, taking place from Sept. 18-21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Please visit our website and register for the annual meeting. SHOs will be receiving important logistical information on how to RSVP/register and book travel for the 2017 Policy Summit this week via e-mail. If you have any questions, Melissa Ferguson will be happy to assist you.
Upcoming Teleconference with White House Office of Management and Budget on Preparedness
On July 11, ASTHO’s Federal Government Relations and Preparedness teams will convene a conference call with preparedness staff from 10 states to discuss implications of the President’s FY19 proposed budget with representatives of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Look for an update from that meeting in next week’s Executive Director Share.
June 30 All-S/THO Call Summary On Friday, June 30, ASTHO hosted its bimonthly All-S/THO call. The call included a briefing by Timothy Persons, chief scientist from the GAO, who presented findings from the May 23 report, “Actions Needed to Address the Challenges of Responding to Zika Virus Disease Outbreaks,” on the call. We also shared an ASTHO advocacy update.
Next All-S/THO Call is Friday, July 14
The next All-S/THO call will take place on Friday, July 14 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. EDT. The agenda will include a discussion of Healthy Choices, Healthy States - Environmental Approaches to Nutrition and Physical Activity, as well as advocacy updates and news from Washington.
State Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) Final Reviews
On Thursday, June 29, ASTHO hosted three finalists for the SHLI award. Each finalist brought different strengths to the new iteration of the SHLI program. The final decision will be announced this coming week after discussions with each of the finalists. Many thanks to Sharon Moffat, Melissa Ferguson, and several others who were involved in the entire process which worked very well and included staff, funders, members, and program alumni.
ASTHO Signs On to Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Letter
ASTHO signed on to a letter organized by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids this week. The letter is being sent to the House Appropriations Committee opposing the two tobacco policy riders in the House FY18 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. These riders are not new – they came up in last year’s appropriations process and ASTHO has previously signed on to similar letters. These riders would undermine FDA’s authority to regulate tobacco products by: exempting large/premium cigars from FDA oversight, creating a loophole that would allow cheap/flavored cigars to evade FDA oversight (dangerous for youth who are sensitive to price and attracted to flavored products); exempting a number of e-cigarettes and cigars already on the market from FDA review, which is one of FDA’s best ways of evaluating and taking action on products that negatively impact on public health (again, posing risks to public health and youth who use these products). The letter aligns with ASTHO’s position to support aggressive efforts to reduce all tobacco use, particularly to monitor the sale and availability of tobacco products (see the last subsection of bullet points in Section II of our position statement). This subsection supports FDA’s full implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which the riders at hand threaten.
Jay Butler Nominated to Continue to Serve as Member of the PACCARB
Last week, ASTHO supported the re-appointment of Jay Butler (SHO-AK) to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB). We will monitor the appointment process and share any updates as we receive them.
ASTHO’s Upcoming Strategic Planning Work
Zarnaaz Bashir has been working with staff and the Executive Committee to finalize plans for developing ASTHO’s 2018-2020 strategic plan. The Board and a Strategic Planning Committee will oversee the process and will include a staff feedback component, as well as feedback from funding partners, affiliates, and other public health partners—and ASTHO members, of course. The Staff Working Group includes Elizabeth Harper, Sharon Moffatt, Jane Esworthy, Carolyn Mullen, Emily Peterman, Sanaa Akbarali, Jerry Rhodes, and Corey Hughley. The working group “launch” is set for July 20.
ASTHO Hosts National Alliance for Radiation Readiness Meeting On June 27 and 28, ASTHO hosted the annual meeting of the National Alliance for Radiation Readiness in Arlington, VA. Approximately 50 participants attended the two-day meeting, which included presentations from many state participants and federal updates from CDC, FDA, FBI, NRC, and FEMA.
ASTHO Hosts Cancer Linkages Meeting
On June 29, ASTHO hosted an in-person meeting for the states participating in the Cancer Linkages project. Representatives from Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and CDC attended the meeting, which was held at ASTHO’s offices.
Operations Updates
As of June 29, 2017, the number of contracts and amendments being processed remained the same. The backlog caused by waiting for approval of new contractors by CDC has ended and the number of contracts being processed is decreasing. 80 contracts and amendments are being processed (47 are drafted, sent out and not yet returned; 33 contracts and amendments need to be completed and sent to vendors). The Finance Team filed the FY16 audit report with the federal clearinghouse. This is a requirement of our federal funding. Staff also began distributing copies of the FY16 audit report to numerous entities requesting the report.
Staff Kudos
This week, I share kudos with several staff including Sharon Moffatt and Melissa Ferguson for their help with the SHLI review process. Kudos also to Regina Hawkins and Asha Farrah, who coordinated and led the National Alliance for Radiation Readiness meeting. Emily Moore, Tim Carney, Mary Ann Cooney, and Roland Gamache also received kudos from CDC for their work on the Cancer Linkages meeting. Our CDC project officer wrote:
Thank you for organizing, hosting, and carrying-out a very productive meeting yesterday. The participants were engaged throughout the day and seemed to very much enjoy the process. It struck a good balance of information sharing from all the parties. I was told by one participant afterwards that it was one of the most interesting meetings she’s attended…Special thanks to Emily for overseeing the many details of the meeting and supporting the states’ last minute needs – everything ran smoothly and seamlessly. And to Roland, for facilitating the conversations and eliciting very useful information for the project’s documentation. I think we easily achieved all of the meeting objectives!
The Week Ahead
Monday, July 10 – Internal meetings; travel to NACCHO meeting (Pittsburgh, PA)
Tuesday, July 11 – NACCHO meeting; teleconference with OMB re: PHEP/HPP Program
Wednesday, July 12 – NACCHO meeting; internal teleconferences; Executive Committee teleconference (5 p.m. EDT)
Thursday, July 13 – NACCHO meeting; EMT meeting; return to Washington
Friday, July 14 – internal meetings at ASTHO; All-S/THO Call (4:30 p.m. EDT)