News and Events
Latest CPHS News
Register now for our upcoming seminar with Daniel Sledge, PhD.
September 4, 2025: The Center for Public Health Systems has announced our Advisory Board. We look forward to working with this panel of experts.
August 27, 2025: CPHS faculty member Heather Krasna and colleagues published a new study finding that public health nurses deserve formal recognition as a distinct occupation.
2025 Fall Seminars
October 20, 5:30pm, Hammer Health Sciences Building, Room 401 Register Now
Daniel Sledge, PhD: "The Securitization of American Public Health"
This talk explores the securitization of American public health andthe transformation of the political foundations of public health over the past twenty-five years. Despite notable successes in areas such as smoking cessation, public health institutions did a poor job of expanding beyond traditional threats such as acute andinfectious diseases to combat the challenge of chronic disease. The 9/11 attacks, 2001 anthrax mailings, and apparent threat of biological weapons opened a window of opportunity that allowedentrepreneurial bureaucrats and political leaders to frame public health as a matter of national security. The resulting infusion of resources and shift in priorities reoriented local level public health infrastructure towards specific challenges such as emergency preparedness and bioterrorism. In the model of public health that emerged, key aspects of local capacity were underfunded, institutions were designed around a narrow set of problems, andcore challenges such as chronic disease and the social drivers of health were often left unaddressed. Although public health officials were well aware of the threat of pandemic disease, the emphasis on security-framed threats came at the expense of the basic infrastructure needed to address a prolonged crisis such as COVID-19.
November 18: Public Health Law Seminar
Details to come
Past events:
April 25, 2025: The CPHS Annual Conference: Local Public Health: Shaping Policies, Partnerships, and Progress
The 2025 HPM/CPHS Healthcare Conference explored the evolving role of local health departments in addressing the nation’s most pressing public health challenges. Sessions covered a range of topics, including national trends in the structure, activities, priorities, and funding of local health departments. Please find select recordings below:
The Morning Keynote: A National Public Health Lens on Local Action
Moderated by: Dr. Morgan McDonald, National Director of Population Health and Health Equity Leadership, Milbank Memorial Fund
Featuring: Lori Freeman, Chief Executive Officer, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
The Afternoon Panel: Advancing Equity: A Focus on Health-Related Social Needs
Panelists:
Moderated by: Mitch Stripling, Director, NYC Pandemic Response Institute, Columbia University
Dr. Julia Iyasere, Executive Director, Dalio Center for Health Justice at NewYork-Presbyterian
Dr. Toyin Ajayi, Co-founder and CEO, Cityblock Health
Dr. Virginia Caine, Director and Chief Medical Officer, Marion County Public Health Department, Indiana
The Closing Keynote: From NYC to the Nation: Public Health Leadership and Resilience
Moderated by: Dr. Michael Sparer, Director, Center for Public Health Systems, Professor and Department Chair, Health Policy & Management
Featuring: Dr. Michelle Morse, Acting Commissioner of Health, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health); Chief Medical Officer and Executive Deputy Commissioner, NYC Health
December 12, 2024: Center for Public Health Systems Launch Event
A December 12 event officially launched a new Center for Public Health Systems within the Columbia Mailman School’s Department of Health Policy & Management (HPM). The event underlined the importance of research, education, communications, and community engagement to forge connections across a fragmented public health system in the U.S.
Michael Sparer, HPM chair and director of the new center, emceed the event at the Columbia University Forum on 125th Street, speaking in conversation with author and philanthropist Chelsea Clinton, ‘10 MPH, an adjunct porfessor in HPM and member of the School’s board of advisors, and Umair A. Shah, secretary of health for Washington State. Read more about the launch event here.