Advancing Public Health in Uncertain Political Times
Summit Overview
The 2024 Bloomberg American Health Initiative brought together public health practitioners, policymakers, community organizations, and Bloomberg Fellows in Washington, D.C. from December 2-4, 2024 to explore strategies to ground public health solutions in evidence and forge connections to advance policies to improve health.
Speakers at the 2024 annual summit included leaders from state and federal public health agencies, political figures, faculty from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, journalists, and representatives from community organizations. Bloomberg Fellows also had the opportunity to meet and strategize with the Initiative’s growing network of collaborators who are on the cutting-edge of public health in communities across the country. Sessions covered strategies to work across political divides to evaluate and reform long-standing policies that impact public health.
To those of you who are students or are hoping to save lives – science doesn’t change. Politics might, but science doesn’t. Go forward with the tried-and-true process that we use in science for health, in which your North Star is evidence.
Watch the 2024 Bloomberg American Health Summit
Public health is not a game where we can walk away from a bad hand or simply wait for our next turn. It is a constant struggle, which impacts the daily lives of over 330 million people. If we do not do our jobs and advocate for [the people], no matter how difficult, nothing will get better.
Speakers
Keshia Pollack Porter
Bloomberg Centennial Chair, Vice Dean for Faculty, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Mallory O'Brien
Associate Scientist, Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Robert Hampshire
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology & Chief Science Officer, U.S. Department of Transportation
Jaytoya Manget
Faculty Nurse Practitioner and Director of Nursing for Children's School Services, Children's National Hospital
Marion Nestle
Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, New York University
Kelli Case
Senior Staff Attorney, Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative