Download the October - November ASPHER Newsletter here!

We open our newsletter this month with a photo referencing the children’s game of Ring around the Rosie. It is debated whether or not the rhyme associated with the game has its origin in outbreaks of bubonic plague, but with today’s Covid pandemic, ASPHER is assured that our members are putting in every effort to make sure our populations and health systems don't ‘all fall down’!

ASPHER secretariat has been very busy this autumn with ongoing projects, including the wrap of the UCCAIDE project to update core competencies in applied infectious disease epidemiology for ECDC. This was alongside key meetings where we were able to catch up with ASPHER members at the Deans’ & Directors’ Retreat, the Young Researchers’ Forum (YRF), and European Public Health (EPH) Conference, as well as many other member and partner events.

It was fabulous to meet with all members and see the Association crowd in such a good mood for the 2021 Deans’ & Directors’ Retreat. We appreciated learning about our members’ contributions to combat Covid-19 while still keeping up on other important aspects of the public’s health. There was time for celebrations with congratulations to the UK Faculty of Public Health on receiving the 2021 ASPHER Deans’ & Directors’ Good Practice Award! ASPHER will be following up from individual Retreat Plenary sessions for future actions as we advance with partners in Europe and build on the Association’s position globally working within the GNAPH – a Global Network of ASPHER-like networks from around the globe. More to come in the next newsletter!

Building upon the sessions at the Dean’s Retreat, we had two great ASPHER co-led round table sessions at the EPH Conference on the role of schools of public health in Covid-19 with contributions from ASPHER member programmes at: the Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP); Aarhus University; French School of Public Health (EHESP); Ben Gurion University; Lithuanian University of Health Sciences; Institute of Public Health, Porto (ISPUP); University College Dublin; Palacky University; Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan; and University of Copenhagen.

We feel fortunate at ASPHER to maintain eager involvement by ASPHER past presidents. Jeff Levett (1992-93), who continues to comment on current events in ASPHER blog and Ulrich Laaser (1994-95) who is involved in plans for the upcoming One Health agenda of ASPHER. Meanwhile, Jose Martin-Moreno (2000-01) and Anders Foldspang (2006-07) are key contributors to the ASPHER Covid-19 task force. Honorable mention also goes to former Executive Board Member and 2008 Andrija Stampar Medalist Ted Tulchinsky, who was the driving force behind the SEEEPHI action. They are exemplars of the ASPHER spirit, bridging generations and building a strong and vigorous membership network!

If you were able to follow Plenary 1 of the EPH conference, you know that ASPHER is also the voice of a new generation of leaders in public health with contributions from our Young Professionals Programme. ASPHER Fellow Rana Orhan is making exceptional efforts in ASPHER Climate and Health initiatives. The YRF in Krakow was a great success, showcasing the original research of students, alumni and young faculty from our member programmes. We look forward to opportunities to repeat the new YRF format at other member school events!

The ASPHER network keeps growing and we are extremely pleased to welcome the Department of Public Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Skövde as ASPHER’s newest provisional member. We are thinking ahead to exciting developments for 2022 to respond to the wide membership and dynamic and rich agenda and have increased our office capacity with the addition of Tatiana Caftea. Amongst other items, Tatiana will be working to update and improve the interactivity of Members’ profiles at ASPHER.org. Help her out by filling the ASPHER Members Survey if you haven’t already! We warmly welcome Tatiana and we expect you will be hearing from her and getting to know her soon!

Please enjoy the rest of the newsletter and be sure to keep in touch as we prepare for the holiday season!

All the best from ASPHER Secretariat,
Robert, Lore and Tatiana