Conference attendee listens to the Someone You Know mobile kiosk.
The Independence Blue Cross Foundation (Foundation) was deeply involved in the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting, held in Philadelphia on Nov. 2-6. Attended by nearly 13,000 health professionals, the APHA Annual Meeting is one of the most important conferences in the field of public health.
Stephen P. Fera, senior vice president for public affairs, moderated a panel discussion about the value of philanthropy-focused partnerships that go beyond grantmaking to improve community health. The panelists included Secretary Jen Smith of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs; Paula Agosto, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and Sharmain Matlock-Turner, president and CEO of the Urban Affairs Coalition. Earlier that day, Foundation President Lorina Marshall-Blake participated in a panel discussion about the intersection of philanthropy and public health.
The Foundation also hosted the Public Health Funder Network’s social hour and presented two posters — on the Foundation’s Nursing Internship Program model and Foundation’s commissioned research on warm hand-off protocols for opioid overdose survivors. Additionally, mobile kiosks from the Someone You Know anti-stigma campaign were on display at the conference.
