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The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER)

ASPHER is the key independent European organisation dedicated to strengthening the role of public health by improving education and training of public health professionals for both practice and research.
Home » Secretariat updates » ASPHER September-October 2022 Newsletter

Secretariat updates

ASPHER September-October 2022 Newsletter
19 Oct 2022

The ASPHER Secretariat is thrilled to be reconnecting in person with many members at the ASPHER Deans’ & Directors’ Retreat this week in Sofia, Bulgaria! We look forward to also having those of you who are unable to travel join us online. An outline of the programme is listed here in the newsletter and the detailed version can be accessed online. Much appreciation goes out to local organisers at Faculty of Public Health, Medical University Sofia and especially Retreat Chair and ASPHER Executive Board member Karolina Lyubomirova!

The Sofia Retreat will be important to the life of the ASPHER organisation hosting the transfer of the ASPHER Presidency from John Middleton to Carlo Signorelli. John has seen the Association through a difficult time period, contributing to ASPHER’s financial stability, governance, partnership and global stature, and growing our membership. He did so while functioning for most of his term under the constraints of the Covid pandemic, making ASPHER a major voice for schools of public health in pandemic response through the Covid-19 Task Force. John will continue working with ASPHER as immediate past-President and as co-Chair of the Honours platform. The ASPHER Secretariat warmly thanks John for his devoted and consistent service. We also look forward to Prof Carlo Signorelli’s upcoming term. Carlo is not new to us as a long time member of the Executive Board and has already brought ASPHER in as a partner to the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SItI) for the 2023 World Congress on Public Health in Rome. We expect this to be an exciting time period for the Association!

As already mentioned, we will also see a change in leadership for the ASPHER Honours platform with John Middleton along with 2020 Štampar medalist Selma ŠogoriÄ? taking over as co-Chairs from Prof Jose Martin-Moreno and Prof Kasia Czabonawska. We thank Jose and Kasia for their loyal service to ASPHER and to this vital element of the Association.

If that wasn’t already enough, ASPHER will be celebrating our new award winners in Sofia! First and foremost with Laurent Chambaud who is honoured with this year’s prestigious Andrija Štampar Medal. We also are delighted to announce the Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University as the Teaching & Practice Excellence Award winner; Nadav Davidovtich for the Research Excellence Award; and Keren Dopelt and Rok Hrzic who will both receive the Early Career Excellence Award. Congratulations to all the 2022 award winners! Your dedication and excellence in public health is truly inspiring!

The European Public Health (EPH) Conference will be held in Berlin only a few short weeks after the Sofia Deans’ & Directors’ Retreat and we are also preparing for that event. ASPHER will be involved in several sessions and will be back onsite with the ASPHER booth. Be sure to let us know if you will be presenting at EPH so that we can add you to our programme of ASPHER highlights for the next newsletter. Also let us know if you would be interested in sharing some of the space at the ASPHER booth.

One of the signature events that is returning to EPH this year is the ASPHER Young Researchers’ Forum. Please be sure to share the call for abstracts with your students, postdocs, recent graduates and junior faculty. Don’t let them miss out on this great opportunity to present their work, connect with other young researchers and faculty mentors.

There has been plenty of usual business ongoing at ASPHER with the intake of the 2022 cohort to our Young Professionals Programme, work from our ASPHER Interns and Fellows, important statements on the upcoming Winter from the Covid-19 Task Force, a new seminar series from the Task Force on War, and a recent partners meeting and publication from the ERASMUS+ SEEEPHI project.

On a more somber note, ASPHER Secretariat regrets to inform you of the death of ASPHER Executive Board Member Carla Nunes, Dean of the National School of Public Health, NOVA University, Lisbon. Carla was a dynamic member of the ASPHER and broader public health community and she will be dearly missed.

In partner news, we would like to highlight that ASPHER has been granted Non-State Actor status with the WHO Regional Office for Europe and ASPHER Executive Board Member Nadav Davidovitch made a communication on public health professionalisation at the recent WHO European Regional Committee Meeting in Tel Aviv. We are also pleased that EPHA is running a thematic network on anti-racism and anti-discrimination to reduce health inequity with the EU Health Policy Platform. ASPHER will be actively involved with the initiative and subsequent joint statement.

There is also much more to read from both Members and Partners – so don’t miss their news and events as well as upcoming opportunities.

Good travels and see you in Sofia, Bulgaria!
ASPHER Secretariat

Download the ASPHER September-October 2022 Newsletter here.

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