by Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH

---

“Combatting and Preventing Preemption” by Michael Bare and co-authors leads this March/April issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. Preemption is a tactic used by commercial interests to counter local public health initiatives such as those aimed at tobacco control and use of sugar-sweetened beverages. Bare outlines a 4-part strategic model with associated tools to counter preemption, helping stakeholders to preserve local control and counter restrictive legislation at the state level.

“Choosing Stone, Moving Mountains,” a commentary by John Dreyzehner Tennessee State Health Official, and Bruce Behringer, begins “A new health official of any size jurisdiction, anywhere, will face a mountain or two.” (1) The article describes a method of leadership applying the Baldridge Performance Excellence framework. This is a systems approach to improve an organization’s performance, stressing innovation, valuing people, managing by fact and visionary leadership. JPHMP recognizes leadership as an indispensable element in improving the health of the communities. One method to focus on leadership is the case study format that provides narratives describing real situations and naming individuals who have played important roles in complex challenges to the health of communities. (2) Currently being developed is a new series of cases featuring decision making by state health officials. Encouraged by Mike Frazier, Director of ASTHO, Carole Novick and Lloyd F. Novick (Editor) have just completed a leadership case with Celeste Philip, former SHO of Florida, on combatting Zika. It will be published this spring. Also under development is a case on the Safe Syringe Exchange (SSE) program in North Carolina, illustrating the role of Danny Staley, former health director.

Two articles on global warming are included in this issue. Greg Kearney and Ronny Bell write of the high vulnerability of the southeastern United States to climate change. Elena Grossman and colleagues describe the results of a CDC grant program in their article “Minigrants to Local Health Departments: An Opportunity to Promote Climate Change Preparedness.”

Reproducibility of scientific work is a mainstay of inquiry. Now a unique article addresses this issue in public health. Jenine Harris and colleagues have authored “Examining the Reproducibility of 6 Published Studies in Public Health Services and Systems Research.” Their findings are noteworthy. There was consistency between the original articles and the reproduced results but also identified were incorrect transcription of results and omission of detail in some instances.

Accompanying the March/April issue is a supplement issue entitled Public Health Workforce Needs and Interest Survey 2017 (PH WINS 2017) http://www.phwins.org. This follows the first WINS supplement published in November/December 2017, also sponsored by ASTHO and the de Beaumont Foundation. As Paul Halverson points out in his lead editorial, PH WINS is one of the best resources to monitor and evaluate the state of the public health workforce. The research in PH WINS 2017 examines workforce characteristics, emerging trends, working conditions and incentives. Workforce is the primary public health infrastructure issue. Of note and appropriately, at 187 pages, this is the largest supplement ever published by the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

The March issue recognizes the contribution of 273 reviewers in 2018. Reviewers are the most essential element in bringing quality content to our readers. Their reviews are thoughtful and comprehensive. We are indebted to them for their assistance.

References

1. Dreyzehner, JJ, “Choosing Stones, Moving Mountains: Performance Excellence, Primary Prevention and Culture Change in a State health Department, JPHMP, 25(2) page 104
2. Novick, LF, Morrow, CB, Novick, C. JPHMP’s 21 Public Health Case Studies on Policy & Administration, Wolters Kluwer, Philadelphia, 2018

---

Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Public Health at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University. Previously, he was chair of this Department. He has served as the Commissioner of Health and Secretary for Human Services of Vermont, Director of Health Services for Arizona, and Director of the Office of Public Health for New York State. Previous academic positions include Professor and Director of the Preventive Medicine Program for SUNY Upstate Medical University, Professor and Chair of Epidemiology at the University of Albany School of Public Health, and Clinical Professor and Director of the Teaching Program in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine. [Full bio]