The End of the Federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 – What Does it Mean?  

Event

Start Date and Time: Thu, May 4, 2023, 3:00 pm ET

End Date and Time: Thu, May 4, 2023, 4:30 pm ET

Location:

Online.

Note: This Webinar has ended, you can watch a recording of the livestream below.

With the COVID-19 Federal Public Health Emergency (FPHE) scheduled to end on May 11, 2023, there are still many unanswered questions around how this transition will impact everyone. For example, what is the plan for vaccination across the general population? What happens if a new variant or subvariant emerges that causes a surge in hospitalizations? Will there be continued availability and affordability of tests?

This webinar is an opportunity to hear from and ask questions to leading experts from the NYC Pandemic Response Institute, New York State Department of Health, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NY State of Health, Strategies for High Impact / Long COVID Justice, and KFF, who have been directly involved COVID-19 pandemic response. Each member of our panel will present a brief overview of what to expect with the ending of the FPHE and what issues need to be considered. After the presentations, we invite you to ask questions to any and all of our panelists.

Key questions and topics to be explored during the webinar include:

  • How can I access testing and will testing remain affordable?
  • Will I still be able to receive treatment?
  • Are telehealth and telemedicine going to remain in effect?
  • How will people with Long COVID-19 receive treatment?
  • How should I go about getting vaccinated in the future?
  • Will the spread and impact of COVID-19 continue to be tracked?
  • What will happen if there is a sudden surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations in my community?

Join us for this informative and engaging webinar on the end of the Federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 and the implications for you and your communities.

Welcoming Remarks

Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA

University Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine, Director of ICAP at Columbia University and Columbia World Projects
Lead, New York City Pandemic Response Institute (PRI)

Moderator

Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA

PRI Chief Technical Officer
Professor, CUNY SPH
Executive Director, Center for Advanced Technology and Communication in Health at CUNY SPH
Senior Contributor, Forbes

Bio & Links

Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA is a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, AI/computational and digital health expert, and entrepreneur. Since 2007, his PHICOR Team has assisted with the response to nearly every major infectious disease threat to the U.S., including being embedded in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, assisting Congress during the Zika outbreak, and existing work with the current Covid-19 pandemic. As a Senior Contributor for Forbes, he has covered the Covid-19 pandemic and monkeypox outbreak extensively. He has appeared on TV and radio and in print media on numerous occasions as a pandemic, epidemic, and outbreak expert.

CUNY | Forbes | Twitter | Website

Panelists

JD Davids

Co-Director and Chief Strategic Officer, Strategies for High Impact / Long COVID Justice

Bio & Links

JD Davids, co-founder and Chief Strategic Officer, Strategies for High Impact / Long COVID Justice, is a health justice strategist for networks of disabled and chronically ill people. A queer and trans person living with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), Long COVID and other complex chronic conditions, he writes and hosts conversations for The Cranky Queer Guide to Chronic Illness and is a member of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative. He’s served on the leadership team of the Radical Communicators Network and board of MEAction, and as an advisor to many groups, including the U.S. Caucus of People Living with HIV, NIH, CDC, and health departments. He was the founding executive director of CHAMP, a national mobilization force on HIV prevention justice. Prior to that, as co-founder of Health GAP and member of ACT UP Philadelphia, he collaborated on pivotal efforts for HIV prevention, treatment and care, including global HIV treatment access. 

Bio

Danielle Holahan, MPH

Executive Director, NY State of Health

Bio & Links

Danielle Holahan was appointed Executive Director of the NY State of Health, New York’s Health Plan Marketplace, in September 2021 after serving as Deputy Director since April 2011. One of the nation’s most successful marketplaces, NY State of Health provides consumers a one-stop shopping experience to enroll in high-quality comprehensive coverage, including Medicaid, Child Health Plus, Essential Plan (New York’s Basic Health Program) and subsidized and unsubsidized Qualified Health Plans. Since the Marketplace opened in 2013, NY State of Health has seen a dramatic increase in enrollment, reaching 6.6 million enrollees in September 2022, and a commensurate reduction in the state’s uninsured from 10 percent to 5 percent in 2019.

From 1999 to 2011, Danielle worked at the United Hospital Fund of New York, where she was Co-Director of the Health Insurance Project. Her work focused on analysis of health insurance coverage issues, options for coverage expansion, and public program enrollment and retention. From 1994 to 1997, she worked at AARP’s Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Danielle holds a Bachelor of Arts from Franklin & Marshall College and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health.

NYS Announcement

Jen Kates, PhD

Senior Vice President; Director, Global Health & HIV
KFF

Bio & Links

Dr. Jen Kates is Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy at KFF, where she oversees policy analysis and research focused on the U.S. government’s role in global health and on the global and domestic HIV epidemics. She has also helped to lead KFF’s work on the COVID-19 pandemic. Widely regarded as an expert in the field, she regularly publishes and presents on global health and HIV policy issues and is particularly known for her work analyzing donor government investments in global health; assessing and mapping the U.S. government’s global health architecture, programs, and funding; and tracking and analyzing major U.S. HIV programs and financing, and key trends in the HIV epidemic, an area she has been working in for close to thirty years. 

Bio

Johanne Morne, MS


Deputy Commissioner Health Equity and Human Rights
New York State Department of Health

Bio & Links

Johanne Morne is Director of the New York State Health Department’s AIDS Institute.  The AIDS Institute was created in 1983 to coordinate the State’s overall response to the HIV epidemic.  The AIDS Institute has broadened its mission by integrating hepatitis and STD services, surveillance, opioid overdose prevention, and non-HIV LGBT services into its structure.  The Institute formulates HIV, hepatitis, and STD policy; initiates, develops, and evaluates programs for the delivery of HIV, hepatitis, and STD prevention, health care and supportive services; establishes clinical standards and oversees quality management; educates health care providers and the public; and guides regional and statewide planning.  In its more than 30-year history, the AIDS Institute has provided leadership in New York State, at the national level, and internationally.  Most recently, Ms. Morne has worked closely with community stakeholders in implementing the Governor’s plan to end AIDS as an epidemic in New York State by the end of 2020.  The AIDS Institute is a $500 million public health program with a staff of more than 400.  Ms. Morne has been with the AIDS Institute for more than nine years.

Bio

Rima Oken, JD, MPH

Director, Policy, External Affairs, and Priority Populations
Division of Disease Control
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Bio & Links

Rima Oken is the Director of the Office of Policy, External Affair, and Priority Populations within the Division of Disease Control. The office houses the Policy, Communications, Community Health Promotion, and Program Development and Implementation units, and leads policy, communications, and outreach initiatives for the Division. Rima worked extensively on the Ebola, measles, COVID-19, and mpox emergency responses. Before joining the Health Department, Rima was a litigation attorney, with a focus on the health care industry. 

Bio