We're Hiring | New Videos: Climate Change & Health Risks to Farmworkers | Act Now: Support the CA Health Equity & Racial Justice Fund

PHI's Mary Pittman Recognized as One of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare

This month, PHI President and CEO Mary A. Pittman, DrPH, was named by Modern Healthcare as a Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare. Dr. Pittman?was recognized for her leadership in?addressing COVID-19, substance use disorders, health inequities and more. “Mary is a highly skilled executive. To watch her lead PHI however is to know that she is deeply compassionate, thoughtful, and resilient. She has inculcated these attributes across PHI,” says PHI Board Vice Chair Adaeze Enekwechi, PhD, MPP. “Since some of the consequences of our national and international public health policies disproportionately affect people of color, Mary saw it as an opportunity, and executed on her goals to recruit women and people of color to senior management and board roles at PHI.” Earlier this year, Dr. Pittman was also?included by Modern Healthcare in their top 100 leaders in the field. Read more →

Email Today & Call Tomorrow: Support the CA Health?Equity & Racial Justice Fund

Tomorrow (Thursday, March 3rd), the California Senate Budget Subcommittee #3 is meeting to identify their budget priorities. This is a critical moment to push the Senate to keep their commitment to the Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund, which would establish an annual fund to support nonprofit clinics, tribal organizations and community-based organizations to identify and address the health and justice issues most important to them.?Here's how you can help:

• Send a letter of support by TODAY, Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022:?Use this?template?(letters must include your organization’s logo and a signature) and email your PDF letter [email protected]?and bcc or email a copy [email protected].
• Call in to the hearing TOMORROW, Thursday, March 3rd, 2022:?Phone: 844-291-6364, Access Code: 3531283. The hearing will start after the Senate’s regular floor session, roughly around 10 am, in room 4203. Public comments are usually taken toward the end of the hearing. See a toolkit (in?English?and?Spanish) for instructions, sample scripts and talking points.

See more ways to support the California Health Equity & Racial Justice Fund?→

A Research Agenda on Environmental Exposures & Mental Health

Toxic chemical exposures, climate change, and environmental injustice are all contributors to mental health—for individuals as well as entire communities. A new?Environmental Health Perspectives?article from PHI’s Dr. Gina Solomon and partners reviews evidence that connects psychiatric disease with chemical exposures (particularly to metals, pesticides, and air pollution), environmental disasters (including chemical spills, floods, wildfires and droughts) and climate change. Building on a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine workshop, the article also includes recommended actions?such as including ensuring investigators of color are given full access to training opportunities and supported to lead new investigations in environmental exposures and mental health. Read the article?→

New Videos: Climate Change & Health Risks to Farmworkers

“The ash entered my lungs, leaving me with asthma. When the ambulance arrived I already felt I was at the point of asphyxiation. I had lost consciousness and later developed pneumonia,” says Amy Gomez, a farmworker who experienced first-hand the effects of wildfires in Ventura County, California. “When I was in the hospital, I thought I was going to die. I thought of my children, and what if no one was there for them. We need more support. There needs to be a solution to climate change.”?

Farmworkers are twenty times more likely to die from heat stress than the US workforce overall. As climate change exacerbates heat and wildfire smoke, resilience efforts in farmworker communities will be crucial.?To help increase awareness and push for action, farmworker leaders from PHI’s Achieving Resilient Communities farmworker advisory committee participated in a digital storytelling workshop to develop short videos, in Mixteco and Spanish, that share their personal lived experiences with heat and wildfire smoke.?Watch and share the videos?→

LA Times?Covers PHI Research on a Controversial Drug for Pregnant Women

A feature article in the?LA Times?goes in depth on the impact of the drug Makena, based in part on critical findings from PHI research.?Last year, a study from PHI's Child Health and Development Studies?found that children who were exposed in utero to the active ingredient in Makena—used for over a decade by expectant mothers to prevent premature births—had nearly double the risk of any cancer compared to those not exposed. And according to the FDA, the drug?doesn't actually work and should be taken off the market.

“Hormones have very broad potential impacts on the body,” says PHI's Barbara Cohn. “Anything the pregnant mother is exposed to, her children are exposed to and her grandchildren are exposed to simultaneously.” Read the full story in the?LA Times?→

Upcoming Webinars & Trainings

Achieving Climate Benefits at State, Local & National Levels with the Infrastructure Act

Sunday,?March 6 | 2:15-3pm ET

Join PHI’s Dr. Linda Rudolph at?the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health’s Annual Meeting?where she will moderate the panel discussion, “Achieving Climate Benefits at State, Local National Levels with the Infrastructure Act.”?Register here →

Big Ideas in Overdose Prevention: Invest in Health Equity

Wednesday, March 9 | 11am-12pm PT

This interactive session, hosted by PHI’s National Overdose Prevention Network (NOPN), will?explore key questions, challenges and solutions on how to?center health equity in?local responses to the overdose crisis. Participants will share ideas and connect with leaders from the NOPN national learning network. RSVP →

Workshop: Trauma-Informed Practice Part 2

Thursday, March 10 | 11am-12pm PT

Join PHI’s National Overdose Prevention Network for the second in a three-part series on how to use trauma-informed care to treat substance use, trauma and mental health disorders. Learn strategies on how to introduce trauma-informed care into overdose prevention efforts. This session will focus on toxic stress and burnout in the workplace. Register →

Operationalizing the Principles of Inclusive Emergency Management

Thursday, March 10 | 11:30am-1pm PT

In this webinar, PHI’s Pacific ADA Center will share key principles for inclusive emergency management to address whole community needs, including mass vaccination, evacuation/transportation planning and Public Safety Power Shutoff events. Join here?→

Spring Clean Your Global Health Resume

Wednesday, March 23 | 10-11am ET

Learn concrete?strategies to refresh your resume and?how position yourself?for success in applying for your next global health opportunity, in this webinar from?PHI’s Sustaining Technical and Analytical Resources. Register here →

More Covid-19 Resources

See how PHI is working alongside communities to increase vaccine equity, plus find tools, resources and best practices to address barriers in accessing vaccines. Explore our Vaccine Access & Equity Strategy initiative page?→

• Five Tips to Create Pitches That Lead to Media Coverage: For every news story about soaring COVID-19 case counts and devastating pandemic losses, there are countless other untold tales about the long-standing work of public health and community advocates. PHI’s Berkeley Media Studies Group shares insights from three reporters at national and local outlets on how to get media coverage for community-based health efforts. One tip: Tailor your pitch to the reporter, outlet?and its audience.?See more tips?→
• Partnering with Local Groups?to Reach Latinx Communities: Due to health injustices and systemic racism, Latinx communities are more likely to have lower COVID vaccine rates and lack access to culturally resonant?information. In California's Kern County, PHI's Together Toward Health provided grants and support to a coalition of community-based organizations that are working together to reach Latinx residents—leveraging?their expertise and connections to host pop-up clinics, distribute?PPE?and more. Read the impact story?→
• Boosting Vaccine Access for?Rural?Farmworkers: Most rural, agricultural communities struggle?with systemic barriers to accessing COVID-19 vaccines and other resources.?In California's Salinas and Imperial Valleys, local groups are providing vaccines, testing, resources and more, thanks in part to PHI's Together Toward Health. By bringing together partners like farmworkers,?growers, labor groups, schools, churches and community health workers, they've built a network rooted in community power—and today, these communities have some of the state's highest vaccination rates. Read the impact story?→
• How Trusted Messengers Can Fight COVID Misinformation: In Solano County, historically underserved Black, Hispanic and multi-racial residents have some of the lowest vaccination rates. Empower Solano, a grantee of PHI’s Together Toward Health, is using local partnerships and outreach to counter misinformation and build trust. "Our campaign is designed to ease reluctance by meeting people where they are; acknowledging their fears and giving them science-based facts that answer any questions they may have," says K. Patrice Williams, Empower Solano CEO. Learn more →

More from PHI and Programs

• Increasing Access to Housing, Health & Opportunity: In Fort Worth, Texas, Renaissance Heights United and?partners transformed a?vacant 200-acre site into an area that provides affordable housing, economic development opportunities, and education, family, and community health services. Read the full?Community Close Up?essay, part of a?series from PHI's Build Healthy Places Network?→
• Tracking Telehealth Policies to Advocate for Greater Access to Care: PHI’s Center for Connected Health Policy tracks state and federal telehealth regulations to promote improved outcomes and to increase equitable access to affordable health care. In 2021, CCHP identified more telehealth-related bills than any year before: 201 bills were passed in 47 state legislatures—nearly double the number adopted in 2020. See the impact story →
• Improving Food Security Across the Country: In 2021, PHI’s Center for Wellness and Nutrition collaborated with 303 partners in 39 states to improve access to fresh food; promote healthy drink options; include Native American perspectives, cultural practices and traditions in CalFresh; and more. Their Southeast Region SNAP-Ed evaluation report also found that?1,300 policy, systems and environmental changes reached 1.1 million people and reduced food insecurity by 15%. See the impact story?→
• Podcast: Supporting the CDC in Malawi: PHI/CDC Global Health Fellows work to improve health in the US and around the world, while developing the skills needed to tackle today’s most pressing challenges. Tune in to their latest podcast featuring Tigest Mekonnen, MPH, a former CDC Malawi Surveillance Fellow for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch. She discusses her career path, her work as a Fellow before and after the pandemic began, and lessons learned along the way. Tune in to the podcast →

We're Hiring

PHI is dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. Join us:

• Contract Administrator: Remote, USA. In collaboration with the Office of Research Administration and Agreements Team, the Contract Administrator has responsibility for the implementation of processes, systems and procedures related to contract administration for PHI’s clinical research portfolio.
• Multimedia Communications Associate: Remote, CA. This role will enhance the visibility, impacts and promotion of PHI and its programs through creative services and multimedia storytelling with a focus on graphic design, video and visual production for web, social media, publications, presentations and more.
• Health Equity & Justice Coordinator: Remote, USA. In this role, the Health Equity & Justice Coordinator for the Public Health Alliance of Southern California will help catalyze policy, systems and institutional changes across sectors to address upstream barriers to optimal health including structural racism, systemic oppression, institutional bias, and built environment policies.
• Financial Analyst III: Remote, USA. The Financial Analyst III is responsible for providing financial forecasting, budgeting, and reporting for the Children’s Oncology Group Coordinating Center, including managing funding from Federal, Industry, and Foundation grants and contracts.
• Quality Control Specialist I: Sacramento, CA. The Quality Control Specialist I is responsible for collecting and processing data into the California Cancer Registry statewide database by performing accurate and timely case finding, abstracting data based on records from physician’s offices and other sources, performing visual editing, linkage and consolidation of data submitted by reporting facilities and other regional sources and more.
• Program Associate II: Remote, California. Located with PHI's Alameda County Care Alliance Advanced Illness Care Program, this position will assist with the coordination and implementation of work plan activities, conduct programmatic reviews, development of program/communication materials, assist in program evaluation and conduct additional program activities as needed.

See all current opportunities →

Support PHI

With your support, PHI can continue to support science-based research and strengthen key partnerships to create health, equity and justice for all.?Donate today to support our work →

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