Peter Blank, MPP, State Assistant Administrator for Public Health Administration at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, provided an update on Michigan’s public health priorities and highlighted the importance of continued partnerships across the state to address emerging public health challenges.

The afternoon concluded with an engaging panel discussion, expertly moderated by Dr. Nike Shoyinka, where speakers explored current public health issues, discussed future opportunities, and answered questions from attendees. The discussion fostered thoughtful dialogue and reinforced the value of collaboration across academia, government, healthcare, and community organizations.

In addition to these exceptional presentations, the Summit provided opportunities to reconnect with colleagues, welcome new members to the public health community, conduct the Association’s annual business meeting, recognize accomplishments, and strengthen partnerships that will continue to advance public health throughout Michigan.

The Michigan Public Health Association also extends its sincere appreciation to the organizations and individuals whose generous support made this event possible. Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors, Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) and the Michigan Association for Local Public Health (MALPH); our Gold Sponsor, the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan; our Silver Sponsor, MiHIA; and our Bronze Sponsors, Naomi Ervin and Stephen Modell. Your partnership and commitment to advancing public health in Michigan helped make this Summit a tremendous success, and we are grateful for your continued investment in strengthening Michigan’s public health workforce and improving the health of our communities.

Finally, thank you to everyone who attended, presented, volunteered, sponsored, and supported this year’s Summit. Your enthusiasm, collaboration, and commitment made the day an overwhelming success. We look forward to building on the momentum created during this event as we continue working together to create healthier communities across Michigan.

Below is a summary of the day’s activities, along with photos capturing many of the memorable moments from this special event.

About the Summit:

The annual summit brings together public health professionals, educators, policymakers, students, and community partners from across Michigan to reflect on progress, address emerging challenges, and strengthen our collective impact. Through meaningful dialogue and shared learning, participants will explore current and future public health priorities while identifying actionable strategies to advance the health and well-being of communities across the state.

The Michigan Public Health Association Annual Business Meeting offers members important organizational updates and an opportunity to reflect on the work and accomplishments of the Association over the past year. The meeting includes officer and administrative reports, section and committee updates, and key discussions related to priorities, initiatives, and the future direction of public health in Michigan. Members are encouraged to participate, engage in discussion, and help shape the ongoing work of MPHA. Non-members are also warmly welcomed as an opportunity to learn more about MPHA and the important work being done to support public health across the state.

We are honored to welcome Nandi Marshall, President of the American Public Health Association, as our keynote speaker for the Summit. Dr. Marshall will share a national perspective on leadership, innovation, and the evolving public health landscape, highlighting the importance of collaboration, resilience, and sustained commitment in protecting and improving population health.

Whether you are a seasoned leader, emerging professional, student, or community advocate, this summit offers meaningful opportunities to connect, learn, and take action in support of healthier communities throughout Michigan.

Agenda

ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING: Free to all MPHA members
11:00 am to 12:00 pm	Annual Business Meeting
12:00 to 1:00 pm	Registration and Lunch for Registered Summit Attendees
SUMMIT

1:00 to 1:10 pm	Welcome, Marcia Ditmyer, PhD, MBA, MS, MCHES, President, MPHA
1:10 to 2:00 pm	Nandi Marshall, DrPH, MPH, CHES, CLC, CDE, President, American Public Health Association
2:00 to 2:30 pm	Anand Parekh, MD, MPH, FACP, Chief Health Policy Officer, University of Michigan School of Public Health
2:30 to 2:45 pm	Peter Blank, MPP, State Assistant Administrator, Public Health Administration, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
2:45 to 3:15 pm	Break, Networking, and Exhibitors
3:15 to 4:30 pm	Panel discussion – Moderator Dr. Nike Shoyinka
4:30 to 5:00 pm	Closing Remarks and Program Evaluation/Adjournment

Registration Cost Information

Information About Our Speakers

Dr. Nandi Marshall

Dr. Marshall is the current president of the American Public Health Association (APHA). She is a community-engaged scholar committed to maternal and child health equity and preparing the next generation of public health professionals with over 20 years of experience. She is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor at Georgia Southern
University’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health. She holds a BA from Spelman College, an MPH from East Stroudsburg University, and a DrPH from Georgia Southern University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist, Certified Lactation Counselor, and Certified Diversity Executive.

Dr. Marshall previously served as Chair of the American Public Health Association Executive Board, Science Board, Co-Chair of the Joint Policy Committee, and is active in the Georgia Affiliate as a journal and abstract reviewer, and previous abstract committee chair. She served as the Georgia Society for Public Health Education’s Education and Training Co-Lead and Co-Chair of the Student and New Professional Caucus for the Society for Public Health Education. With the United States Breastfeeding Committee, she is a member of the CRASH committee, nominations committee, and an APHA member representative. She is a board member for the Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition, Bulloch County Board of Health, Mayor’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion in Statesboro, GA, and Racial Equity and Leadership Savannah Taskforce in Savannah, GA.

Dr. Marshall has secured grants as PI/Co-PI and has contributed to community-based programming and participatory research, including a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018-present) Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health grant, as a contributor leading the breastfeeding continuity of care initiative, and a grant as PI from the Georgia Department of
Behavioral Health (2019-2023) to implement evidence-based programming in a Chatham County high school to prevent opioid use. Dr. Marshall secured $3.25 million in HRSA funding to help disadvantaged students finance their graduate public health degrees. She has published book chapters, handbooks, and peer-reviewed manuscripts, including a 2023 release on amplifying the voices of Black/African American women regarding breastfeeding barriers. She also received the 2021 Healthy Savannah Health Innovation Award.

Dr. Marshall is a proud Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. member, devoted wife and mother of two
children.

Dr. Anand K. Parekh

Dr. Anand K. Parekh is the Chief Health Policy Officer at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Senior Advisor at the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. In this capacity, he helps translate the care, practice, and research occurring at the university to policymakers to drive health impact. Parekh also serves as an adjunct professor in health management & policy.

Previously, Parekh served as the Chief Medical Advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) where he provided clinical and public health expertise across the organization. From 2015 to 2025, he led specific efforts tackling policy issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, future of public health, opioid crisis, and obesity epidemic & nutrition. His healthcare expertise was recognized by the Washingtonian in its listing of Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People.
Prior to joining BPC, he completed a decade of service at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As an HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the Senior Executive Service from 2008 to 2015, he developed and implemented national initiatives focused on prevention, wellness, and care management. Specifically, he played instrumental roles in the
implementation of the Recovery Act’s Prevention and Wellness Fund, the Affordable Care Act’s prevention initiatives, and HHS’ Multiple Chronic Conditions Initiative. He received the Surgeon General’s Outstanding Service Award for his efforts.
Briefly in 2007, he was delegated the authorities of the HHS Assistant Secretary for Health overseeing ten health program offices and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Earlier in his HHS career, he played key roles in public health emergency preparedness efforts related to pandemic influenza and bioterrorism as special assistant to the science advisor to the secretary.

Parekh is a board-certified internal medicine physician, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he previously completed his residency training in the Osler Medical Program of the Department of Medicine. He provided volunteer clinical services for many years at the Holy Cross
Hospital Health Center, a clinic for the uninsured in Silver Spring, MD.

He also serves as the incoming chair of the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions and past member of the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, special advisor to the Commission on Local Public Health Leadership convened by the de Beaumont Foundation, fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and chair of the Board of Directors of the Presidential Scholars Foundation.
He has spoken widely and written extensively on a variety of health topics such as chronic care management, population health, value in health care, and the need for health and human services integration. His book Prevention First: Policymaking for a Healthier America was first released in 2019 (2nd edition in 2024) and argues that prevention must be our nation’s top health policy priority.

A native of Michigan, Parekh received a B.A. in political science, an M.D., and an M.P.H. in health management and policy from the University of Michigan. He and his wife, Dr. Rinky Bhatia, a U-M cardiologist, are the proud parents of three children and reside in Ann Arbor.

Mr. Peter Blank

Pete Blank currently serves as the policy and operations senior advisor for the MDHHS Public Health Administration (PHA). In this role, he supports PHA executive leadership on numerous cross administration initiatives including public health communications, organizational performance management and quality improvement, data modernization, and strategic planning.
Prior to joining MDHHS, Pete served in several capacities at the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH), including as the Executive Deputy Secretary and Policy Director. Before his career in governmental public health, Pete worked in non-profits supporting early childhood education programs and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Peru focusing on environmental and public health issues. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Miami University (Ohio).

Dr. Richard Douglass

Richard Douglass is a social epidemiologist and gerontologist whose recent contributions have included publishing critiques and offering advocacy regarding the dysfunctional U.S. healthcare system. His government, academic, and research career extends from 1968. He is a health policy authority regarding the provision and evaluation of health care and public health services for underserved populations. He has held academic appointments at The University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Eastern Michigan University as well as the University of Ghana and Ashesi University in Ghana as a Senior Fulbright Scholar. He is actively involved with advisory board memberships and is a member of the Michigan State Advisory Council on Aging. He is currently a co-principal investigator for a research investigation of non-emergency medical transportation deficiencies in Iosco County, funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund through the Michigan Region 9 Area Agency on Aging. Richard Douglass lives in Tawas City, Iosco County on the Sunrise Side of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Dr. Nike Shoyinka

Dr Shoyinka currently serves as the Chief Medical Health Officer at Ingham County Health Department where she provides executive leadership and medical oversight to all public health program, operations, community incidents and planning and policy including the Ingham County Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center.

She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She also provides inpatient clinical care as an Infectious Disease consultant at community hospitals across the region where she treats a broad range of infectious disease complications. She has over 16 years of clinical and professional experience in internal medicine, infectious disease and public health and has practiced medicine in several settings including Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa. Her research and publications have focused primarily on global health and clinical outcomes of antibiotic resistant Staphyloccocal infections.

She graduated from the University of Ibadan Medical School and completed her Internal Medicine residency in Harlem Hospital at Columbia University in New York City and Infectious Disease Fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital/Wayne State University in Detroit. Throughout her career and training providing quality healthcare to vulnerable populations, domestically and internationally, has been and remains her utmost priority.

Dr Shoyinka is a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America and American College of Preventive Medicine and serves on committees and workgroups in both organizations

Hotels and Accommodations:

For those who need hotel accommodations, we have booked a block of rooms at:

Candlewood Suites Lansing
Lansing, MI 48910
3545 Forest Road
Phone : (517)-351-8181 Ext. 412
The room cost is $104
Book your room here.

To view the official MPHA event flyer, please download the following: