Edward Ehlinger, MD, will be the featured speaker at the 2023 Berggren Lectureship. Dr. Ehlinger will speak on “Public Health in the Space Between ‘No Longer’ and ‘Not Yet’” at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 7.
Dr. Ehlinger will discuss how COVID-19 and the racial justice protests precipitated by the murder of George Floyd have demonstrated that policies and systems are inadequate and detrimental in addressing today’s societal challenges.
With traditional public health and clinical care approaches “no longer” effective in achieving optimal health for all, and their inadequacies leaving too many people in the place of “not yet” thriving, Dr. Ehlinger’s discussion will explore public health’s current place in the space between “no longer” and “not yet” and how current approaches must change to achieve optimal health for all.
The event will take place in Room 3013 of the Maurer Center for Public Health on the UNMC Omaha campus. Lunch will be served for attendees beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the third-floor commons of the building. The event is open for no charge, but registration is required.
Dr. Ehlinger is a public health metaphysician who has spent his professional career working in various settings to advance health equity and optimal health for all. He has integrated the values, practices and approaches of medical care, public health, community building and social justice in his work. He has worked with the National Health Service Corps, as the director of maternal and child health at the Minneapolis Health Department, as director and chief health officer at Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota, as commissioner of health at the Minnesota Department of Health and as chair of the HHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Infant and Maternal Mortality.
He received his bachelor’s degree in English and his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also earning a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is a fellow of the American College Health Association, a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical scholar and a Bush Fellow.
He is board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He is a past president of the Minnesota Public Health Association, the North Central College Health Association, the Twin Cities Medical Society, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and was the first board chair of CityMatCH.
The Berggren Lectureship was endowed by Carol Swarts, MD, to honor the work of Gretchen Glode Berggren, MD, and the late Warren Berggren, MD. After graduating from the UNMC College of Medicine, the Berggrens spent a lifetime pioneering and implementing community-oriented primary care interventions in Africa and Haiti.