Highlights
- The APHA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC was a resounding success!
- Many participants visited the International Health Section booth!
- We came back with a renewed sense of hope for the future of Public Health
Congratulations to this years APHA International Health Section Awardees! Distinguished Service Awards: Jamie Zigterman Nominator: Liz Healy Evelyn Cherow Nominator: Gopal Sankaran Young Professional Award: Hannah Stewart Nominator: Tomasz Bugajski Mid-Career Award: Marlene Joannie Bewa Nominator: Patrick Sembaya Community-Oriented Public Heath Award: Mulugeta Gebregziabher Nominator: John Vena Lifetime Achievement Award: Amy Hagopian Nominator: Patrice Sutton Certificates of Recognition: Carol Dabbs - Leadership on the International Health Section scholarship program Cheryl Conner - Leadership on Governing Council Cindy Sousa - Leadership on the Palestine Health Justice Working Group (PHJWG) Leonard Rubenstein - Leadership on protecting health workers in war zones Rachel Rubin - PHJWG leadership Russell Morgan - Leadership on the International Health Section scholarship program Yara Asi - PHJWG leadership Winners of Abstract Scholarships: Emmanuel Animashaun Pablo Valente Emily Luo Sindu Ravishankar Student Scholarship Winners Kerren Herran Monzur Patwary Jamal Uddin YounJung Na
Spotlight
• All Member meetings •
IH Section hosts 5 all-member meetings in 2025 At the dawn of the second Donald J. Trump presidential term in January 2025, global health workers found themselves in the crosshairs. Trump secured the services of the chain-saw wielding Elon Musk to eradicate the waste of foreign aid, especially public health aid. Many of our IH section members suddenly found themselves unemployed, or "DOGEd" as the term was coined. In response, our section held several all-member meetings on zoom that were part informational, part group therapy. The first meeting, February 28, drew 48 registrant attendees. We talked about the various ways in which APHA was pushing back, and hosted Georges Benjamin, our executive director, as a guest speaker. We discussed the APHA lawsuit against the federal government’s DOGE operation, and we pointed people to the APHA website, “Public Health Under Threat.” We also broke into smaller groups to discuss job hunting, political activism, news sources, and what the future holds for students. Our second meeting in April drew more than a hundred registrants, about half of whom attended. We heard from two of our own members. Jirair Ratevosian spoke on PEPFAR’s history, accomplishment, and current depleted state. Member Jessica Keralis spoke about her adventures in being laid off from the CDC HIV prevention program. In May, seventy people registered to hear Rob Sonenthal, attorney and board member of the USAID Alumni Association. Rob gave us an overview of the various lawsuits underway to try to slow or derail the dismantling of our nation's global health operation. In July, more than 30 members heard Dr. Scott Radloff speak about the state of USAID. Radloff is based at the John Hopkins School of Public Health, after a career working at USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health. A claim to fame is that he was formerly a boss of our former chair, Carol Dabbs. In September, 123 people registered to hear Professor Angela Esi Apeagyei, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, talk about her paper in The Lancet titled: "Tracking development assistance for health, 1990–2030: historical trends, recent cuts, and outlook." (July, 2025) She illustrated the trends on global health finance over the previous 35 years, and made projections, especially in light of recent US and UK pullbacks. We’ll continue to host these all-member get-togethers as a way of building camaraderie, solidarity and an information base for our global health work in these strange new times. Amy Hagopian
Reflections
Amy Hagopian’s expulsion from APHA: A report on activities at the annual meeting in Washington DC By: Amy Hagopian, former chair of APHA IH I received notice from Executive Director Georges Benjamin on September 19, 2025, that the “Governance Committee of the APHA Executive Board met on September 12, 2025, to consider the (Code of Conduct Matter),” and had ruled my membership was suspended, I was removed as International Health Section Chairperson effective immediately, and I was to be expelled from all APHA meetings & events (both in-person and virtual) through 2026. Read the full article by clicking the button below:
When Professional Associations Fail Public Health "The destruction of Gaza's health system represents one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time and demands a response from professional health organisations. European public health associations have objected to the “scale and intensity of the destruction being wrought by the Israel Defense Forces, creating a virtually complete collapse of the health and social systems in Gaza”,1,2 but other professional health associations have remained largely silent—or worse, have actively silenced members advocating for Palestinian health." Read the full article by clicking the button below:
Working Group Spotlight Global Maternal and Child Health Network: An Intersectional Work Group (GMCHN) 2025 Evolving Structure and Sample Activities* ▪ Track and disseminate breaking news on emerging global and national programs, policies, research, funding and career openings via APHA’s LEAD member community engagement platform to GMCHN, IH, MCH, Disability, Health Equity, Human Rights Forum, Member Central, and other component entities’ members on related topics; ▪ Organize professional development panel sessions for APHA Annual Meeting and national/international webinars; i.e., APHA Office of Global Health, Thrive Coalition, WFPHA Women, Children & Youth Committee, HIIT, Mental Health, and other Sections, Forums, Caucuses; ▪ Develop and collaborate with internal and external entities on development of evidence-based practice policy briefs/papers for EB & Governing Council approval and participate in public policy advocacy; i.e., APHA Office of Global Health, Thrive Coalition, WFPHA Women, Children & Youth Committee, HIIT, Mental Health, and other Sections, Forums, Caucuses; ▪ Hold bimonthly GMCHN Volunteer Leadership Committee meetings to gather input and mentor new volunteers to support prioritized activities; ▪ Review and update extant APHA GMCHN topic policy documents for archival purposes; and ▪ Recruit early, mid- and seasoned career volunteers for expanding distributed leadership and diverse voices, outputs and outcomes to support the professional needs of APHA’s members, and collaborate with external alliances within the GMCH domains; e.g., WFPHA Women, Children & Youth Committee(s). *GMCHN prioritized APHA members’ program and policy foci that emerged from GMCHN targeted survey results from 2023 and 2024 and an upcoming 2025 membership survey plus monitor goal priorities emanating fromUN/UNICEF/UNESCO/DESA, WHO, World Bank, US Congress, Foundations, US Congress. social and venture enterprises, foundations, Think Tanks, among other thought leadership publications, organizations, agencies, and events. Evelyn Cherow, Chair, APHA Global Maternal & Child Health Network ¾ An Intersectional Work Group
CHANGING THE WORLD – FOR THE BETTER I am the Historian of the APHA International Health Section. My main qualification for this role is that years ago, I suggested to the Section leadership that we establish a position of Historian, and guess what happened. I was assigned the role without even asking for it. Perhaps another factor is that, although not necessarily a qualification, I am one of the oldest members of the Section at age 85. That means that I have personally experienced more international health developments and events than most of you have. How many of you remember the polio scare of the 1950s? One of my high school classmates contracted polio in 1955, just a year before mass polio vaccinations became possible. Did you live through the 1960 FDA approval of the birth control pill, which radically changed relationships between young men and women? Some of you, but not most of you, may have read the June 1, 1981, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of CDC that reported five unusual cases of pneumonia among five homosexual men in Los Angeles, the first reference to what later became known as HIV. International health is a very exciting, dynamic field. Admittedly, this year has been a downer in some ways with the current Administration’s action on foreign aid in general and global health in particular. I recently heard a former No. 2 top official at USAID describe these actions as “stupid, obscene, unforgiveable, and self-mutilating.” My heart goes out to those of you younger members of the IH Section whose lives and careers and aspirations have been suddenly and cruelly interrupted by recent actions. But our spirits should be buoyed by the data showing that our collective efforts in global health have really changed the world. One of my heroes who is still living, age 92, is Prof. Henry Mosley. Some of you with degrees from Johns Hopkins may have taken classes from him. After an association there for over half a century, he and his wife are now leaving Baltimore to live with their son in Dallas, Texas. Henry was the 2011 recipient of our Section’s Carl Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award in International Health. His early research paved the way for advances in controlling cholera. He was the founding Director of the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh and of the Hopkins Population Center at the Johns Hopkins University. He played a key role in the research leading to the development of oral rehydration therapy which saved tens of millions of lives of children from diarrheal mortality. Wikipedia describes his illustrious service to humanity through global health research, teaching, and development. Go to www.wikipedia.org and search for “Henry Mosley.” Advances in global health really are changing the world. Here are a couple statistics that affirm my choice of international health as my profession. In 1990, approximately 12.8 million children under the age of five died globally. Globally, the leading causes of death then were illnesses like pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles, but we have made spectacular progress. By 2023, the total number of under-5 deaths worldwide had declined from 12.8 million in 1990 to 4.8 million, even with population growth. Since 1990, the global under-5 mortality rate has dropped by 59%. I feel tremendous satisfaction from having been a player in such amazing global developments. By Ray Martin IH Historian
THE BEST IS YET TO COME (and we actually mean it)!!! In 2026, our IH Section will continue our global leadership with advances in global health policies, outreach to other sections, stimulation and support to members' research and programs, to emphasize our commitment to global public health successes. Our IH leadership encourages all members to engage in our mission and welcome new members to build an even more successful International Health Section.