Several of our first-year CEMCH Leaders attended the 2025 APHA Conference in D.C. More than 12,000 professionals and students in the Public Health field turned out for APHA 2025: Making the Public’s Health a National Priority. What follows is a post from one of the attendees, Marisa Arsenault.
This was my first time attending a conference, and what a way to dive in headfirst than at APHA in my home city. I’m glad I had planned who and what I wanted to see, or I would’ve been completely overwhelmed!
I started the weekend off strong at the MCH Town Hall: Navigating Project 2025 with my CEMCH cohort. I got to hear from Magda Peck, ScD, the founder of CityMatch, Dr. Susan Polan, the associate executive director for APHA, and Dr. Sandra Brooks, the CEO of ACOG. The work that is being done to address MCH at the local, state, and federal levels, left me feeling inspired. A quote was repeated during the town hall, that “the urgency is NOW!” and being in the room surrounded by such passionate MCH professionals, I was reminded that people are stepping up and putting advocacy to action. The energy in the room was electric and really set the tone for the rest of the conference.
The following day I attended a panel on decolonizing public health, where I learned about the indigenous determinants of health and the ways in which sovereignty and solidarity can overlap. It was also enlightening to learn how reconciliation, decolonization, and indigenization can work in tandem with public health to address systemic racism and colonial legacies that continue to impact Indigenous health. Shortly after I attended Making Health Injustice an International Priority: Challenges and Paths Ahead in Palestine. Getting to hear from Palestinian researchers who are highlighting the current public health crisis was beyond impactful. I learned how historically public health collapse has been used as a tool during wartime, and how hydro-hegemony and colonization go hand in hand. I heard from Dina Hamideh, PhD, MS, who spoke about ways in which mobile health tools can be used in occupation related settings. It was inspiring to be in a room of like-minded people who are doing meaningful research.
I finished the weekend off at the Film Festival Workshop: Storytelling Strategies to Amplify Health Research. The session started off as a panel but then the speakers moved throughout the room, and I had the chance to chat with Maggie Stogner, the Executive Director at the Center for Environmental Filmmaking. She recently released “Upstream, Downriver – Uniting for Water Justice,” which is a topic I’m passionate about. She emphasized the importance of the message, and how people are swayed by stories, not data. I also got to chat with Abimisola Anibaba, a multimedia producer and host, who also happened to be a Tulane alumna!
Marisa Arsenault, BS, is a first year MPH student, concentrating on International Health and Sustainable Development and Maternal Child Health. She plans to graduate May 2027. Her interests include MCH as it relates to climate change, water security, and SRH access.
