National Public Health Week took place earlier this month, and for me, this was lucky #17. I've seen 17 National Public Health Weeks come and go since I started in the field - some in good times, many in bad. It seems fair to assess this as a particularly dark hour for the governmental public health enterprise, and for the health care system more broadly. Billions of funds have been cut and thousands of staff have been laid off. While times of change can be painful, this feels particularly stark. CDC, FDA, HRSA, SAMHSA, and more have seen substantial budget cuts and reductions in force. Those cuts of programs, bureaus, and departments represent challenges to the delivery of public health protections across the U.S., all while they continue to be much needed. Alongside these cuts in practice, researchers are feeling a similar crush, with grants already cut, more threatened, and the future unclear. With all this uncertainty, we desperately need to get together and talk about the health workforce and what it faces in the year and years to come. At this year’s AcademyHealth ARM, I hope to do just that.
With my theme co lead (Masami Tabata-Kelly) for this year's AcademyHealth’s 2025 ARM Health Workforce theme, I was heartened to see hundreds of applications desiring to speak on the important issues around the health workforce at the ARM in June of this year (in my hometown of Minneapolis). I think this year’s conference has a particularly strong group of speakers. In addition to poster sessions, we’ll hear discussions around:
- From Burnout to Retention: Bridging Individual Struggles and Systemic Solutions (Saturday, June 7)
- Innovations and Challenges in Rural Health Workforce Development (Sunday, June 8)
- Health Workforce Compensation: Gender, Policy, and Their Impact on Outcome (Monday, June 9)
- Rethinking Health Workforce Strategies: Insights from Data, Policy, and Practice (Tuesday, June 10)
How do we face the challenges before us?
To be fair, I hear money is pretty important. But so is the evidence basis, which is also under threat. If we are going to have fewer staff and fewer resources, it is all the more important to use them as efficiently and effectively as possible. Scientific research is critical to population health in terms of helping us understand which approaches work best. Identifying problems and practical solutions is as important for social scientists as for bench scientists.
Beyond enjoying summer in and around Minneapolis' lakes and trails, there's a lot to talk about at this meeting. A strong and stable health workforce is critical to the public health protections that we enjoy across the United States. During times of change and transition, coming together around shared commitments to health and public health are of particular importance.
Join us, won't you? Register here and explore the full agenda here.