Washington, DC, March 25, 2004 —Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Deputy Director Ed Thompson, MD, MPH, is among the public health leaders who will speak at the annual Oklahoma Public Health Association meeting April 1-2, 2004, at the Adams Mark Tulsa Hotel in Tulsa, Okla. The conference will focus on current public health challenges, including bioterrorism preparedness and health disparities, and will bring together more than 500 public health leaders from across Oklahoma providing an opportunity to address important public health issues on both a state and national level.
In addition to Dr. Thompson, speakers will include:
- Virginia Caine, MD, president of the American Public Health Association (APHA);
- Joe Henderson, associate director of the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response at CDC; and
- Leonard Marcus, PhD, director of the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Caine will deliver a plenary speech titled “Eliminating Health Disparities – Communities Moving from Statistics to Solutions”; Thompson and Henderson will discuss “The State of the Nation's Health”; and Marcus will speak on “Collaborations in Public Health Preparedness.”
Additional workshops will address local level initiatives, health surveillance systems and the legal aspects of emergency preparedness. Conference objectives include educating attendees about policies and legislation affecting the public health on both local and national levels and providing tools and practices to promote public health in the community.
“We must ensure that public health is prepared for the many challenges it faces today, from emergency preparedness to health disparities to chronic diseases,” said Caine. “Public health professionals across Oklahoma have the opportunity to play a critical role in educating and intervening for long-lasting progress regarding the future of public health.”
“The 2004 Oklahoma Public Health Association Annual Meeting will provide public health professionals an opportunity to learn from public health leaders across the country how to ‘swim with the sharks' to face emerging new challenges in public health,” said OPHA President Shari Kinney, RN, MS, MPH.
OPHA, an affiliate of APHA, is dedicated to bringing interested people and agencies into closer association for the promotion and protection of Oklahoma's public health. By bringing public health experts together on the state and community levels, OPHA influences the development of statewide policy and provides leadership to public health professionals in Oklahoma. For more information about the conference, contact Joyce Collard at (405) 364-4050 or opha@earthlink.net.