Griffen Elected as PHEHP Chair

December 14, 2020

Dr. Adriane Griffen, AUCD's Senior Director of Public Health and Leadership, has been elected as a Chair for the American Public Health Association (APHA), representing the Public Health Education and Health Promotion (PHEHP) section. Beginning her role this fall, Dr. Griffen will serve a one-year term with APHA.

APHA is the leading organization for public health professionals, championing the health of all people in all communities while working to create the healthiest nation in one generation. As APHA's largest section, PHEHP focuses on promoting and supporting health education for all individuals, groups and communities, as well as maintaining ethical principles and practices of disease prevention and health promotion.

As Dr. Griffen shares, "It's an honor to serve as PHEHP Chair this year. I'm excited to bring my leadership experiences in the Disability Section to this role to encourage accessible health promotion and health education efforts."

Her three priority areas for PHEHP section for this year include: Encouraging linkages with other Sections across APHA as we all need to be excellent health educators right now; Moving the norm on how we communicate with communities that we serve, by practicing cultural humility and offering the same time access to everyone as a standard to share information in accessible manner; and Practicing self-care for yourself as a public health practitioner. An annual workplan process is underway with these priorities in mind.

PHEHP has become an especially important section for the organization amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as the promotion of public health and safety has taken on even greater importance than before. For more information on the APHA PHEHP Section, please visit: https://www.apha.org/apha-communities/member-sections/public-health-education-and-health-promotion.