The American Public Health Association ( APHA ) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health professionals in the United States and host the largest gathering of public health professionals in the world at their annual meeting and exhibition. The organization focusses on a wide range of public health issues with programing related to academics, policy, capacity building, and advocacy.
17-530: The Sedgwick Memorial Medal , given by the American Public Health Association , was established in 1929 for distinguished service and advancement of public health knowledge and practice. It is considered the APHA's highest honor. The medal is established in honour of William Thompson Sedgwick (1855–1921). Source: APHA American Public Health Association In 1872, APHA was founded by
34-575: A circulation of about 23,000. It is published 10 times per year, with February/March and November/December serving as combined issues. Modern Medicine , a Chicago-based monthly magazine with stories on medical and health progress for physicians and others interested in administrative, industrial and social health problems, debuted in May 1919. The publication was divided into four parts: medicine in industry, medical advances and their applications, social medicine, and public health administration. The latter section
51-399: A group of physicians, including Stephen Smith and Henry Hartshorne. APHA has been involved in every major significant public health program of the last 150 years. A list of major milestones can be found on their website, completed in celebration of their 150th anniversary. [1] APHA has more than 25,000 members worldwide. The association defines itself as an organization that: "champions
68-440: A monthly peer-reviewed public health journal covering public health and policy. APHA also publishes The Nation's Health , a monthly newspaper covering public health news and APHA updates. The APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition is the largest meeting of public health professionals in the world. The meeting draws more than 13,000 attendees, offers 700 booths of exhibits and features more than 1,000 scientific sessions, representing
85-420: A shared interest with the goal of becoming a section. Caucuses are outside professional organizations that are organized around social issues or populations in official relation with APHA. APHA is governed by a Governing Council composed of voting representatives from the various APHA member sections and independent state affiliates. The Governing Council receives reports from staff and member committees, adopts
102-659: The American Journal of Public Health and The Nation's Health as well as a weekly newsletter, Inside Public Health, access to APHA's online community, and an extensive members only webinar series. The accomplishments of public health leaders are recognized through an awards program. APHA presents its national awards during its annual meeting. National APHA awards include: Many APHA member sections also present awards in their particular field or focus area. The Public Health Education and Health Promotion section recognizes individuals in six award categories. The awards include
119-749: The Association for Women in Communications ; and 2008 and 2009 awards for writing from the Communications Concepts Awards for Publication Excellence. The newspaper's web site features full issues of the newspaper, online-only public health news stories and archived articles. Access is by subscription or APHA membership, but some news features are available free. "Healthy You" is a health tipsheet in every issue of The Nation’s Health since October 2006. The tipsheet, written and researched by The Nation's Health editorial staff, offers materials on
136-650: The APHA in 1970, honors a statistician under age 40 who has made outstanding contributions to health statistics, especially public health statistics. The Nation%27s Health The Nation's Health is the monthly newspaper of the American Public Health Association , a source of news from and for the public health field. The newspaper covers issues of interest to public health professionals, including news on federal, state and local public health policy; developments and trends in public health science and practice; global health issues; research findings; and coverage of state and local health departments. The print edition has
153-616: The Distinguished Career Award, Early Career Award, Mayhew Derryberry Award for contributions of behavioral scientists to health education, Mohan Sing Award for humor in health education, Sarah Mazelis Award for health education practitioners, and Rogers Award for public health communication. The Statistics section offers the Mortimer Spiegelman Award to a statistician under the age of 40 for contribution to public health statistics. Rema Lapouse Award – sponsored by
170-548: The Mental Health, Epidemiology, and Statistics Sections, this award is granted to an outstanding scientist in the area of psychiatric epidemiology . The American Public Health Association publishes more than 70 public health books. Several of these are the reference source for their specialty within public health practice. Some publication titles include: In addition, APHA publishes the American Journal of Public Health ,
187-450: The full spectrum of public health issues as well as the multifaceted nature of APHA in relation to the advancement of science and public health advocacy. Presentations cover new research and trends in public health science and practice. National Public Health Week is an observance organized annually by APHA during the first full week of April. The week’s activities are designed to raise awareness around issues that are important to improving
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#1733105209295204-551: The health of all people and all communities. We strengthen the public health profession. We speak out for public health issues and policies backed by science. We are the only organization that combines a 150-plus year perspective, a broad-based member community and the ability to influence federal policy to improve the public's health." It defines its mission as: "Improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status." Members are organized into sections, special interest groups, affiliates, forums, and caucuses. Sections are
221-513: The official policy stances of the association, and elects a 24 member executive board to oversee the operations of the association. Members also serve in elected and appointed roles across the APHA member sections, committees, and several subordinate boards related to advocacy, education, science, publications, and other areas where collaboration is key. APHA has five types of membership: regular, retired, early-career professional, organizational, and student. Members receive an online subscription to
238-440: The primary organizing units in APHA composed of individuals with shared interest in topics, practice areas, or conditions. Affiliates are state-based public health associations which are separate legal entities from APHA but collaborate closely with each having a representative on APHA's Governing Council. Forums are cross-organization bodies around an interdisciplinary health topic. Special interest groups are groups organizing around
255-747: The public’s health. In June 2019, The American Public Health Association firmly condemned official litigation with the United States of America by the Trump administration. At the end of the Trump administration, the APHA opposed a legal filing with the Supreme Court which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act. This Supreme Court case was decided in June 2021, and the court left the Affordable Care Act in place. The Mortimer Spiegelman Award, established by
272-603: The title page of the scientific journal as part of its official name. In October 1970, it broke away from the AJPH and assumed its role as the official newspaper of APHA. The first regular issue of the current format was published in January 1971. Among the awards won by the newspaper are: 2009 and 2008 Excel Awards for feature writing from the Society of National Association Publications ; 2005 and 2006 awards for feature series writing from
289-468: Was known as "The Nation’s Health" and offered material on administrative medicine, organized health services and public welfare. In May 1921, Modern Medicine assumed the title The Nation’s Health , becoming entirely a journal devoted to public health in the broadest sense and targeted at both professionals and nonprofessionals. In 1927, it merged with the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH); for more than 40 years, "The Nation’s Health" appeared on
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