Time to Get Together: #APHA 2016
ETR | October 27, 2016
Summed up in a word? Awesome.
The annual meetings of the American Public Health Association are one of the nation’s premiere professional events. This year, more than 12,000 attendees will be showing up in Denver October 29-November 2. They’ll present research, work on policy recommendations, learn new skills and network with colleagues from across the nation and around the world.
ETR’s team will be in the thick of it, offering presentations, hosting our booth in the Exhibit Hall (Booth 1314), and connecting with partners old and new. Look around for us, and here’s what you might see.
Working Towards Smoke-Free Casinos
Have you ever gone to a casino that allows smoking? That’s a mighty challenging experience for a non-smoker interested in public health. ETR’s Narinder Dhaliwal is Project Director of the California Clean Air Project, a program that offers technical assistance to tribal casinos in California to voluntarily develop smoke-free workplace policies. She’s built some impressive partnerships with California tribal nations, supporting a transition to smoke-free and smoking-restricted casinos.
She’ll be sharing some of the key elements in building the kinds of relationships that facilitate this type of advocacy and transformation at her presentation on Tuesday (Session 4005.0). If you can’t make the presentation, you can read about some of her experiences and lessons learned in this previous blog post.
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Building Knowledge About Teen Fathers
BA Laris brings together the best of two worlds—she does research and she provides capacity-building assistance to community-based organizations working in HIV prevention. She works face-to-face with front line providers all around the nation. She has a deep understanding of the challenges they face and the strengths they bring to their work. As a researcher, she’s brought a focus to issues affecting adolescent health both in the U.S. and internationally.
She’ll be presenting on Tuesday (Session 4047.0) about a three-year, longitudinal study of teen parents in Los Angeles, with a particular emphasis on the young fathers. The study follow-up reaches out to 36 months after birth, at which point fewer than 1 in 5 fathers still has substantial involvement with their child. BA will be discussing factors that might improve young fathers’ involvement in child care.
Teen Moms and Contraception: What’s Going On?
Senior Research Scientist Pam Drake, in partnership with Mona Desai from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, will be presenting on a panel on Tuesday (Session 4416.0). Their research looks at building better understanding of repeat pregnancies and births among teen mothers, including contraceptive attitudes, myths and behaviors and how these change over time. They’ve gathered data from both the mothers and fathers.
This work reinforces the need to provide better education and support to teen moms immediately after the birth of their child, as well as over time as their relationships and attitudes change.
Outstanding Public Health Students
ETR proudly sponsors the APHA Outstanding Student Abstract Award. National Sales Manager John Henry Ledwith will be presenting the award this year as part of Tuesday’s session on Outstanding Papers on School Health Topics (Session 4423.0). This reflects ETR’s larger commitment to the importance of supporting students and young professionals. It is one of the best ways to contribute to the ongoing revitalization of the profession, and it is a privilege to be able to play this role.
Go, #APHA2016!
No wonder we’re excited about the APHA meetings. It’s an extraordinary opportunity to advance the field and a great chance for individual attendees (and their colleagues back home) to learn, share and grow in the profession. Use that #APHA2016 hashtag to follow the conference and share the learning. Thanks, APHA!
