New Podcast: Prioritizing Prevention and Preparedness in America
While the public health community has worked tirelessly to take on COVID-19, the pandemic has exposed critical weaknesses in our public health system. With this in mind, the CDC Foundation is convening with partners a national summit series to advance actions for a modernized U.S. public health system. Today, the CDC Foundation released a Contagious Conversations podcast with Anand Parekh, MD, one of the featured speakers at the first summit in December. Dr. Parekh’s discussion builds on the critical topic of this first summit, achieving a diverse and robust public health workforce.
In addition to Dr. Parekh, the first summit featured public health luminaries as well as practitioners from across the public health spectrum who provided insights into achieving the workforce needed for the future. The summit series titled, Lights, Camera, Action: The Future of Public Health, is purposeful in conveying the landscape and needs of the public health system at present, as well as the urgency for an action-oriented approach to move the field forward.
Dr. Parekh is chief medical advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Prior to joining the Bipartisan Policy Center, he completed a decade of service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including a role as HHS deputy assistant secretary of health, playing instrumental roles in the implementation of the Recovery Act’s Prevention and Wellness Fund, the Affordable Care Act’s prevention initiatives, and HHS’ Multiple Chronic Conditions Initiative.
In the latest Contagious Conversations podcast episode, Dr. Parekh discusses the importance of prevention in America's public health strategy. He also explores the many health challenges ahead of us in addition to COVID-19 that we need to prioritize and tackle as a nation, building on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s recent report Public Health Forward: Modernizing the U.S. Public Health System.
I encourage everyone to listen to this episode and learn more about the importance of prioritizing prevention in our nation, and how we can work together to modernize our nation’s public health system. And, I encourage you to make plans to attend on January 25 the second summit focused on creating an interoperable and modern data and technology infrastructure. Learn more and register at futureofpublichealth.org.
