Northwest Center for Public Health Practice

Public Health Training, Research, and Evaluation for the Northwest

Hot Topics in Practice is a monthly webinar forum to discuss issues currently affecting public health practice.

Each month guest speakers from local, state, tribal, and national public health organizations present and take questions from the audience. Hot Topics is moderated by Allene Mares.

Next Session

Connecting Work to Wellness

September 29, 2020

In the September session of Hot Topics in Practice, representatives from Connect to Wellness discuss the program’s unique model for supporting evidence-based health promotion in small worksites, which are the vast majority of US worksites.

Register today to learn about a collaborative model for public health and private enterprise to address health equity.

Previous Sessions

Below you may browse previous Hot Topics webinar sessions. All are available for viewing in PH LearnLink free of charge.

Clark County’s 2019 Measles Outbreak: Vaccination Science, Controversy, and Public Trust

June 25, 2019

This one-hour Hot Topics webinar describes how Clark County Public Health in Washington State responded to an outbreak in a community with large populations of unvaccinated children.

Photograph of a sign reading Measles Alert: STOP.

Finding Strength in Small Numbers: Epidemiology in Urban Indian Communities

May 21, 2019

This one-hour Hot Topics webinar reviews strategies for working with small data sets to better understand health issues, with examples from urban Indian communities.

Photograph of an AI/AN woman and young child.

Changing the Narrative About Homelessness

April 30, 2019

This one-hour webinar reviews how to address homelessness with new messages and interventions.

Transitioning to Population Health Services

March 26, 2019

This one-hour Hot Topics webinar reviews how a large health department reduced their clinical services to focus more on primary prevention.

Photograph of a stethoscope and apple resting on a photo of a crowd of people.

A Public Health Approach to the Opioid Crisis

February 26, 2019

This one-hour webinar reviews how public health professionals can take a lead in preventing opioid misuse.

Photograph of pills on a sheet of paper which is marked in a diagram.

Systems Thinking in Public Health

January 29, 2019

In this one-hour webinar, Mary Kay Chess explores how systems thinking can be used to understand and resolve difficult public health problems.

Photograph of several post-it notes laid out on a larger diagram.

Cleaner Air For Oregon

December 20, 2018

In this one-hour webinar, David Farrer, MS, PhD, reviews how his Oregon colleagues addressed community concerns after high levels of arsenic and cadmium were detected in a Portland neighborhood.

Supporting Emotional Wellness in Frontier Areas

November 27, 2018

In this one-hour Hot Topics webinar, Judith LaPan, MS, MBA, discusses how her rural Montana health department adopted an emergency response framework to better support emotional health in their community.

Photograph of two people on the end of a dock seen from a distance.

Building Vaccine Confidence Through Messaging

October 24, 2018

In this one-hour webinar, communications professor Devon Greyson explores ways to help public health professionals and clinical providers speak about vaccinations.

Smoke-Ready Communities During Severe Wildfires

September 25, 2018

In this one-hour Hot Topics webinar, Sarah Coefield, MS, discusses how the Missoula City-County Health Department supported public health during the 2017 summer wildfire season.

Photograph of a forested mountainside after a wildfire seen through thick smoke.

Healthy Aging in Oregon

August 28, 2018

In this one-hour webinar, Kirsten Aird, MPH, shares Oregon's approach to engaging older populations in addressing health across the lifespan.

Photograph of two women looking at ocean waves.

Positioning a Local Public Health Agency as the Chief Health Strategist

July 24, 2018

In this one-hour Hot Topics webinar, Public Health Director Dawn Emerick shares how her division embraced the Chief Health Strategist role to better work with new partners and demonstrate their agency’s value to the community.

Public Health Communications For Hurricane Maria Response

June 27, 2018

In this one-hour webinar, Maria Levis, CEO of Impactivo, reviews how her team deployed creative communication strategies to address public health issues in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

Photograph of satellite dish that has been destroyed by a storm.

Investigating Maternal Mortality in Washington State

May 29, 2018

In this one-hour Hot Topics webinar, Alexis Bates reviews why maternal deaths in the United States have risen since the 1980s, and what is being done both locally and nationally to address the issue.

Photograph of a woman and young boy.

Real Estate and Design as Public Health Practice

April 25, 2018

In this one-hour Hot Topics webinar, planner and architect Erin Christensen Ishizaki explains how her work uses public health research and design as interventions to reduce chronic disease.

Photograph of outdoor seating at a restaurant.