DIALOGUE4HEALTH

• To provide an update on the status of the Johanns Amendment;
• To hear updates on activity taking place in Washington DC to advocate for community-based prevention now and in the future; and
• To provide options for how individuals, organizations, and partners can take action in support of the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

PRESENTERS

Judith Bell, MPA
President
PolicyLink
Oakland, CA

A noted policy advocate on a variety of equity issues, Ms. Bell works with community leaders and state and national partners to advance change at the local, state, and national levels. She also conducts advocacy trainings and workshops across the country to bring low-income communities into the policy process. Ms. Bell is an authority on innovative strategies and policies that increase access to healthy foods and reduce environmental health impacts on low-income communities. (www.policylink.org)

Larry Cohen, MSW
Executive Director
Prevention Institute
Oakland, CA

Larry Cohen, MSW, is the Executive Director and founder of Prevention Institute. Prevention Institute is a national non-profit dedicated to creating systematic, comprehensive strategies that change the conditions that impact community health. An important focus of Mr. Cohen’s work has been to develop local policies that support health and wellness and spur legislation at the state and federal levels. (preventioninstitute.org)


Richard Hamburg, MPA
Deputy Director
Trust for America’s Health
Washington, DC

Richard Hamburg is Deputy Director at TFAH. He oversees public policy initiatives, advocacy campaigns, and internal operations and has more than 25 years of experience as a leading health policy advocate. He has led TFAH's efforts to ensure disease prevention is a centerpiece of health reform, and has been instrumental in TFAH's work on obesity prevention, building national pandemic flu and public health emergency response capabilities, and increasing support for public health priorities and budgets. (healthyamericans.org)

Jeffrey Levi, PhD
Executive Director
Trust for America's Health
Washington, DC

Jeffrey Levi, PhD, is Executive Director of Trust for America's Health, where he leads the organization's advocacy efforts on behalf of a modernized public health system. Dr. Levi oversees TFAH's work on a range of public health policy issues, including its annual reports assessing the nation's public health preparedness, investment in public health infrastructure, and response to chronic diseases such as obesity. (healthyamericans.org)

Mary Pittman, DrPH
President & CEO
Public Health Institute
Oakland, CA

Mary A. Pittman, DrPH, is chief executive officer and president of the Public Health Institute (PHI) in Oakland, California. A nationally recognized leader in improving community health, addressing health inequities among vulnerable people and promoting quality of care, Pittman became in 2008 PHI’s second CEO and president since its founding in 1964. She has guided the development of a strategic plan that builds on existing PHI program strengths to achieve greater impact on public policy and practice in public health both in the U.S. and globally. PHI’s areas of focus include childhood obesity, prevention, the implementation of health reform, global health, the impacts of climate change on public health, the social determinants of health, the role of technology in health, increasing advocacy for the public’s health, and health workforce shortages. Under her leadership, PHI has been recognized as one of the 50 best nonprofit workplaces in the nation.

Pittman previously headed the Health Research and Educational Trust, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, and the California Association of Public Hospitals. She received her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and master’s degrees from UC Berkeley in public health and city and regional planning. (www.phi.org)

MODERATOR

Matthew Marsom
Director of Public Policy
Public Health Institute
Oakland, CA

Matthew Marsom is the Director of Public Health Policy and Advocacy for the Public Health Institute (PHI). The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. Mr. Marsom is responsible for designing and implementing PHI strategy for monitoring and influencing public policy, legislation and regulations affecting PHI projects and public health policy relevant to PHI interests. (www.phi.org)