Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum with CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen

Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum with Dr. Mandy Cohen, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Redesigning the U.S. health system to focus on prevention, promote equity, and rebuild trust.

Please join Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Mandy Cohen and Dr. Sarah Szanton, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing for a fireside chat to discuss how to redesign the U.S. health system to shift from a focus on costly sick care to a prevention-based system that promotes whole-person care and eliminates inequities. Director Cohen and Dean Szanton will delve into how this paradigm shift can help rebuild trust in public health systems and better prepare all communities to address emerging public health challenges such as the H5N1 Bird Flu as well as pervasive, ongoing health crises and inequities resulting from non-communicable conditions, such as substance abuse disorder and maternal and infant mortality.

Director Cohen and Dean Szanton will also discuss how to support Neighborhood Nursing and other nurse-driven models of care that reach people where they are, consider the social determinants of health, and focus on prevention, health equity, wellness, and person-centered care.

The conversation will be hosted in-person at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center and via livestream.

When: Wednesday, June 26, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET

Register: Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum | Johns Hopkins in Washington, D.C. (jhu.edu)

About the Speakers:

Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH, is the Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Dr. Cohen is one of the nation's top health leaders with experience leading large and complex organizations, and a proven track-record protecting Americans' health and safety. As the director of CDC, she manages and directs the activities of the agency which includes developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and health education activities designed to improve the health of the American people as well as other nations and international agencies.

Dr. Cohen is an internal medicine physician and led the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, where she was lauded for her outstanding leadership during the COVID crisis, focusing on equity, data accountability, and transparent communication. She also transformed the North Carolina Medicaid program, through the state's Medicaid expansion and her focus on "whole person health" with the launch of the country's first statewide coordination platform, NCCARE360.

Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Cohen served as the Executive Vice President at Aledade and CEO of Aledade Care Solution, which helps independent primary care practices, health centers, and clinics deliver better care to their patients and thrive in value-based care.

Dr. Cohen previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and served as Acting Director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. Dr. Cohen was involved in many aspects of the Affordable Care Act policy development and implementation, including the expansion of coverage, insurance protections, and new provider payment models.

In February 2019, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Cohen one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare. In September of 2020, Dr. Cohen was awarded the Leadership in Public Health Practice Award from Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health for her outstanding leadership through the COVID pandemic and Dr. Cohen was named Tar Heel of the Year for 2020. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Cohen is married and has two daughters.

Dr. Cohen received her bachelor's degree from Cornell University, her Doctor of Medicine from the Yale School of Medicine, and her Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, ANP, FAAN is the Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Patricia M. Davidson Health Equity and Social Justice Endowed Professor. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her main research strands are improving health equity among older adults, aging in community, the effects of financial strain on health, and structural racial discrimination and resilience. She co-developed the CAPABLE program which has been tested in randomized trials and scaled to 45 new sites in 23 States. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing, was a 2019 Heinz Award winner for the Human Condition, and is a PBS Organization’s “Next Avenue Influencers in Aging.” She has published more than 220 papers and been Principal Investigator on more than $20 million in grants.

Szanton completed undergraduate work in African-American Studies at Harvard University and earned a bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She holds a nurse practitioner master’s degree from the University of Maryland and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

More About the Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum

The Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum is a quarterly series featuring conversations with leaders who address the most pressing challenges in the development or implementation of health policy. The series is jointly hosted by the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, the Carey Business School, and Johns Hopkins Medicine. The forum provides an opportunity for Johns Hopkins faculty, students, and operational experts to engage with policymakers and explore contemporary health policy approaches.

To watch the upcoming livestream and recordings of previous events, please visit the Health Policy Forum's .

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, 555 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, United States