June 16, 2026. Risk assessment - the processes used to identify and analyze potential hazards before they occur - is a critical part of building readiness for disasters like earthquakes, wildfires, and tsunamis. Today, many jurisdictions carry out these processes in complex, non-standard ways. But now, a team of researchers from the University of Washington (UW) and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) have come together to help standardize these processes using a new evidence-informed tool.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the importance of and challenges associated with local jurisdictional risk assessment
- Explore the methodology developed at UW to facilitate data-driven local risk assessment
- Identify how the H2azaRDS tool seeks to balance methodological rigor with adaptability to local concerns
May 26, 2026. Participatory evaluation is increasingly recognized as a critical approach for producing relevant, ethical, and actionable public health evidence. This session introduces participatory evaluation as both a methodology and a practice stance, highlighting how it has been applied in peer-led overdose prevention research through Research with Expert Advisors on Drug Use (READU).
Learning Objectives
- Define participatory evaluation and describe how it differs from traditional evaluation approaches in public health practice
- Identify key principles and ethical considerations underlying participatory evaluation, particularly in peer-led and community-based research
- Examine real-world participatory evaluation in local public health initiatives, including successes and challenges
April 21, 2026. In the April session of Hot Topics in Practice, presenters Tao Kwan-Gett, MD, MPH, the Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH) Health Officer, and Alli Black, MS, PhD, Senior Epidemiologist with DOH, will provide an overview of measles in Washington state, showcasing how measles genomic data has been used to describe the epidemiology of outbreaks. By viewing this webinar, participants will better understand how to differentiate introduction events and monitor in-state transmission of measles in the context of national trends.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the epidemiology of measles in Washington since 2019 in the context of national trends
- Identify how pathogen genomic data provide information about epidemiological relationships
- Explain how Washington’s Department of Health (DOH) uses viral whole genome sequences to explore the epidemiology of measles outbreaks
March 31, 2026. In the March 2026 session of Hot Topics in Practice, presenter Laurie Stewart, MS, a Foodborne and Waterborne Disease Epidemiologist with the Washington state Department of Health, will provide viewers with a behind-the-scenes look at how foodborne disease detectives pinpoint the sources of outbreaks. By viewing this webinar, participants will gain familiarity with current outbreak detection tools and consider the ways in which today’s complex foodborne illness surveillance and investigation practices are used to protect the public’s health.
Learning Objectives
- Define the meaning of a foodborne outbreak investigation
- Explain how patient purchase records help identify the source of foodborne outbreaks
- Describe how genetic sequencing of organisms that cause foodborne illness can help identify sources of outbreaks
February 24, 2026. In the February session of Hot Topics in Practice, presenters Dr. Betty Bekemeier, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN and Dr. Patrick O’Carroll, MD, MPH, will draw upon significant events over these past years and the lessons we have drawn from them in five key areas: emergency preparedness and response, communications, policy, public health systems improvement, and population-level interventions. By viewing this webinar, participants will reflect on areas of importance to their own work and consider approaches that will help them remain resilient in their roles in the public health workforce going forward.
Learning Objectives
- Identify five core themes significant to public health practice over the past twenty plus years
- Discuss the impact of core themes on members of the public health workforce
- Consider present needs and skill areas relevant to public health practice
January 13, 2025. In the January 2026 session of Hot Topics in Practice, presenter Heather Hansen, a Health Education Specialist at Eastern Idaho Public Health, will provide an overview of the current landscape of youth vape products, and discuss how current awareness and education initiatives are encouraging youth to become peer leaders to teach vape prevention. By viewing this webinar, participants will learn about how to implement programs like CATCH My Breath and utilize other resources that can reduce the harms of youth vaping.
Learning Objectives
- Describe the harms and dangers of youth vaping
- Identify current youth vape
prevention awareness and education campaigns in Idaho
- Explain how to involve youth in peer efforts to advance vape prevention
December 9, 2025. In the December session of Hot Topics in Practice, presenters Em Trubits, PhD, Research Analyst at OHA, and Emily York, MPH, Program Analyst at OHA, will offer a first look at how this innovative policy is unfolding on the ground through new data collected from psilocybin service centers and clients of these services. By viewing this webinar, participants will learn how this new health and wellness option aligns with the state’s most pressing public health priorities.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the core functions of the Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS) model
- Describe how psilocybin services align with Oregon’s public health priorities
- Explain how to access the OPS Data Dashboard and other resources on the OPS website
November 19, 2025. The November Session of Hot Topics in Practice will discuss policy codesign as a collaborative tool for public health teams, focusing on the levels of involvement, processes, and roles it involves. By viewing this webinar, participants will be better positioned to identify complex or difficult public problems that require the integration of multiple perspectives
Learning Objectives
- Explain the difference between Big P and little p policy
- Describe the principles of
collaborative policy development
- Identify situations that may be best suited for using policy codesign
September 23, 2025
Learning Objectives
- Understand the similarities and differences between primary care and public health enterprises
- Review examples of short-term and long-term collaborative projects
- Explore potential opportunities for future projects and partnerships
January 28, 2025
The January session of Hot Topics in Practice will discuss Oregon Health Authority’s role in the class action lawsuit against JUUL Labs. JUUL Lab’s intentional marketing of addictive vaping products to children started a vaping epidemic among youth. In this hour-long webinar, the presenter will discuss the court order and OHA’s plans for using the settlement funds. By the end of the webinar, participants will understand the court order severely limiting JUUL’s marketing and sales practices and OHA’s approach to better support youth cessation and prevention.
Learning Objectives
● Describe Oregon’s role in the Class Action lawsuit against JUUL Labs
● Understand the court order severely limiting JUUL’s marketing and sales practices
● Explore Oregon’s approach to using JUUL settlement funds
December 17, 2024
In this one-hour webinar, which is part of the Hot Topics series, the presenters (Cassandra Mohan, MSPH, Research Associate, and Seun Aluko, MPH, Lead Research Scientist, from the Population Health Innovation Lab (PHIL)) will present research behind a framework for outbreak response and prevention in healthcare settings, and offer guidance for how LHDs can work with healthcare facilities and the community towards implementing equity focused outbreak response and prevention interventions. By the end of the webinar, participants will have a better understanding of how to collect data and metrics that can inform outbreak response and prevention work.
Learning Objectives
- Collect data and metrics that can inform outbreak response and prevention work
- Understand how to apply a framework to develop targeted interventions for the upcoming respiratory outbreak season
November 17, 2024. In this one-hour webinar, which is part of the Hot Topics series, Kat Kelley, Lead Analyst – Syndemics at NACCHO, S. Garrison Carruth, Public Health Administrator III at CDPH, and Sylvia Dziemian also from CDPH, will define syndemic approaches and highlight various strategies used by local health departments (LHDs) to address the syndemic. The presenters will also discuss how LHDs can advance syndemic approaches to more effectively address the intersecting epidemics of HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and overdose. By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to identify common challenges that affect this work and identify strategies local health departments can use to address HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and overdose.
Learning Objectives
- Define the term “syndemic” and describe the value of a syndemic approach for local public health
- Identify strategies local health departments can use to address HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and overdose as a syndemic approach, and reference CDPH’s syndemic approach as a concrete example of syndemic implementation
- Describe common challenges that affect local health department’s ability to advance syndemic approaches.
October 29, 2024. In this one-hour webinar, which is part of the Hot Topics series, Peter Rabinowitz MD, MPH, a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Family Medicine, Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington, and Heather Hill, RN, BSN, the Deputy Director to the Health Officer at Benton-Franklin Health District, will discuss how one local health jurisdiction has created a One Health Team and uses its concepts to connect work across all programs within the agency and community. They will cover both local applications and global developments of the One Health concept. The presentation will include a brief background on this initiative and some potential challenges to its efforts. The presenters will then share some ways to overcome these challenges and offer steps you can take to explore greater use of One Health.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the One Health concept and how it is relevant to public health practice in this region
- Describe three steps to implement One Health concepts at the local health jurisdiction level
- Describe statewide and regional applications of the One Health approach
September 24, 2024. In this one-hour webinar, which is part of the Hot Topics series, Gretchen Armington, MA, the Deputy Director of the Center for Innovative Diagnostics for Infectious Diseases (CIDID) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Program Director for I Want The Kit (IWTK), along with Alicia Edwards, MPH, CHES, the HIV/STI Communications Manager in the Syndemic Support Department at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB), and Cody Knight MPH, CPH, Program Manager on the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board will tell the story of STIs in Indian Country. The presentation will include a brief historical background of American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) in the United States, social determinants of health, the rates and locations of STIs in Indian Country, and the IWTK intervention. The presenters will also share some preliminary data on uptake to date, information on successes, limitations, and practical next steps.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss elements of the historical background of AI/AN populations in the United States, especially regarding health care.
- Identify rates and locations of STIs in Indian Country.
- Explain IWTK as a service and how it works for clients and health practitioners.
August 27, 2024. In this one-hour webinar, which is part of the Hot Topics series, Dr. Kristie Ebi, a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health and the founder of the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHaNGE) at the School of Public Health, will explain how health adaptation and mitigation can reduce the current and projected burdens of climate-sensitive health outcomes over the short term, and examine potential emission and development scenarios into the next century. The presenter will also discuss sustainable development pathways, which could delay but not eliminate associated health burdens. By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to explain some of the health benefits associated with the key policies that aim to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the major health risks of climate variability and change, including the sources of vulnerability to those risks
- Identify highly vulnerable populations domestically and globally
- Identify key interventions to promote climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health systems
- Outline the health benefits of mitigation policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
