Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Education & Training
The 2024 AEC offered the largest num- ber of educational and training opportu- nities to date for the environmental pub- lic health professionals who attended the conference. Attendees were able to choose the education and topics they needed or were interested in from 14 preconference workshops and trainings, nearly 300 sessions, 6 plenary sessions, and more than 20 posters. Overall, our nearly 1,300 attendees—in person and virtual—had a wide variety of environ- mental health topics to choose from. As one attendee stated, the AEC has “a broad variety of subject matter in which to choose from and a great environment to network with public health colleagues from all states.” The goal of the AEC is to foster a col- laborative environment where environ- mental and public health professionals can come together to share innova- tive ideas, best practices, and emerg- ing trends. By providing a platform for dialogue and networking, the conference aims to inspire participants to enhance their professional development, enrich their instructional strategies, and ulti- mately, improve environmental health outcomes. Through our plenary sessions, single lectures, and panel discussions, attendees are encouraged to engage with diverse perspectives, reflect on their own practices, and leave equipped with actionable insights that can be applied within their educational contexts. The breakout educational sessions started up on Tuesday July 16, and pro- vided attendees with 19 different educa- tional session rooms throughout the day. Along with sessions on climate and health, data and technology, emergency readi- ness, focused populations, food safety, general environmental health, infectious and vectorborne diseases, water quality, and workforce and leadership, we had learning lab sessions and presentations related to the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model (RFFM) Grant Program and the uniformed services. Continuing on Wednesday, July 17, the breakout sessions again ran throughout the day and offered more than 21 dif- ferent educational session rooms for attendees to choose from. A special track focused on environmental health issues in Pennsylvania was offered on this day,
safety, general environmental health, healthy communities, infectious and vec- torborne diseases, water quality, and workforce development. Sessions related to the NEHA-FDA RFFM and uniformed services rounded out the full educational schedule for this day.
as well as a session room for some pre- recorded sessions from speakers who were not able to attend the conference in person. Again, we offered a broad spec- trum of environmental health topics that included climate and health, data and technology, emergency readiness, food
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November 2024 • Journal of Environmental Health
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