Public Health Institute

10/01/2025

Registration is now open for the 4th Annual Rural ACEs Summit, hosted by PHI's Population Health Innovation Lab and its division, Northern ACEs Collaborative. This event will bring together change makers, partners, practitioners and community members from diverse backgrounds to share insights, discuss challenges and collaboratively explore and understand the ecosystem of care that supports youth and families in rural Northern California.

This year’s theme, “It Takes a Village: Building Systems of Care that Center Youth and Families,” will focus on strengthening behavioral health and justice systems for youth through cross-sector learning, collaboration and integrated approaches that expand collective understanding of systems of care. Early bird and group discounts are available, and this year a limited number of scholarships are available to support attendance. Learn more and register:

Join PHI’s Population Health Innovation Lab (PHIL) and its division Northern ACEs Collaborative (NAC) for the fourth annual Rural ACEs Summit, It Takes a Village:…

10/01/2025

PHI's Cypress Resilience Project provides training to support the inherent resilience of individuals and communities who are managing trauma, experiencing grief and navigating mental health challenges. Their October Lunch & Learn series features workshops on a variety of topics including our connection with animals, youth-centered communication, setting boundaries, de-escalation, and planning for the end of life.

Explore all their upcoming opportunities:

Register here for classes that are currently available and open to the public. Please use the registration links provided below.

09/30/2025

A new study published today in BMC Public Health has found that the use of chlorpyrifos — an organophosphate (OP) pesticide commonly used in agriculture that has been linked to many negative health conditions when pregnant people are exposed to it — sharply dropped in California following a statewide ban in 2020, and overall OP pesticide use more than halved. However, OP pesticides were still applied near tens of thousands of pregnant Californians in 2021, meaning additional policies are needed to protect pregnant Californians from harmful chemicals. The study was led in collaboration by PHI's Tracking California, an independent public health consultant and researchers from UC Berkeley.

Read more:

Oakland, CA — A new study published in BMC Public Health has found that the use of chlorpyrifos — an organophosphate (OP) pesticide commonly used…

09/26/2025

On their podcast, "Flipping the Table," PHI's Roots of Change presents dynamic and enlightening conversations with people who are creating new ways to feed the world. On episode 11 of this season's series, PHI's Michael Dimmock speaks with Anna Claussen, Ash Hanson and Matt Jorgenson—three innovative social entrepreneurs working at the intersection of art, culture and enterprise. They tell their stories of how they are uplifting the creativity of rural people and communities. Listen:

Michael Dimock's Flipping The Table · Episode

09/26/2025

Looking for resources to help make your communication more accessible? This online course from PHI's Center on Disability teaches participants how to rewrite information in Plain Language and Easy Read. This course, designed for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, equips learners with real-world communication skills. Learn more:

These guides from PHI’s Center on Disability provide information and tools to help state and local governments, businesses and nonprofits improve their written communication. These…

09/19/2025

PHI’s Improving the Wellness of Asian Youths 2 (IWAY2) program works to spread awareness and educate communities about mental health for Asian youth and families in Alameda County. Next Wednesday, September 24, IWAY2 is hosting their first free training on su***de ideation among Asian American & Pacific Islander youth. Join this virtual training to understand how cultural factors influence emotional expression among Asian youth and identify strategies to assist youth in overcoming potential risks of engaging in suicidal ideation. Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZdkBJTy7F8N3ee8vqsYuxmgRTG0hWFvAcM2JGK8Kv7Me9GA/viewform

09/19/2025

Thanks to UCLA Health for highlighting a recent study co-authored by PHI's CA Bridge to Treatment, demonstrating the program's success in scaling their evidence-based model for opioid use disorder treatment in more than 80% of emergency departments (EDs) in California. The study indicates the critical role EDs can play in addiction treatment when provided proper funding, training and patient navigation support. "CA Bridge has helped transform emergency care throughout California to include low-barrier buprenorphine for opioid use disorder," said Dr. Elizabeth Samuels, lead study author and researcher at UCLA. "The program has developed a successful model for scaling ED addiction care across diverse practice settings, with high adoption and services provision." Read more:

California program successfully implemented opioid use disorder treatment services across more than 80% of the state's emergency departments, reaching over 165,000 patients and providing nearly 45,000 treatments from July 2022 through December 2023 alone.

09/18/2025

Emergency departments (EDs) in the US treat large numbers of people with opioid use disorder (OUD), but most health systems do not equip EDs to provide OUD care. CA Bridge has supported the implementation of low-threshold, ED-initiated medications for OUD bundled with harm reduction and patient navigation in more than 80 percent of California EDs.

In their new paper featured in this month’s issue of Health Affairs, Elizabeth Anne Samuels and coauthors from UCLA Health, Public Health Institute, RAND Corporation, and UC Davis Health used grant reporting and California controlled substances prescribing data to assess CA Bridge implementation from July 2022 through December 2023, as well as 2022 California statewide ED buprenorphine prescribing. The authors' findings suggest that EDs can reach large numbers of people with opioid use disorder OUD, and buprenorphine uptake is high.

Read the full article: https://bit.ly/45X5hAD

09/18/2025

New Jobs | New PHI Study on Sickle Cell Trait and Long-term Health Outcomes | Action and Empathy to Prevent Overdose Deaths | From Data to Action: Leveraging Strategic Mapping to Mobilize | Building Support Systems During Emigration | all that and more in our latest updates:

New Study from PHI's Tracking CA Examines Long-term Health Outcomes for Individuals Born with Sickle Cell Trait Sickle cell trait (SCT) is a hereditary blood disorder and carrier status for sickle cell disease that can cause devastating long-term health impacts, including episodes of severe pain, li

09/16/2025

As a founding member, PHI's Roots of Change will be at the 2025 Terra Madre Americas international food and wine event in Sacramento, September 26-28. This free weekend celebration will feature food and drink tastings, live music, celebrity chef demonstrations, educational panels, artisan vendors and more. Stop by their centrally located pavilion and connect with Roots of Change at this first-of-its-kind gathering of ranchers, producers, policy leaders and food system innovators. Learn more:

Roots of Change will have a big presence at Terra Madre USA with a regenerative meat pavilion celebrating regenerative ranchers and meat.

09/16/2025

ICYMI—last month, PHI's Dialogue4Health hosted this powerful conversation with the National Overdose Prevention Network on how street medicine outreach teams are working together to prevent overdose and save lives. Speakers presented community-driven care models being utilized across California that are grounded in trust, peer engagement, and direct outreach to people who use drugs. Watch the recording:

Join us for a powerful conversation to hear how street medicine outreach teams are working together to prevent overdose and save lives. Watch Recording

09/16/2025

How we address alcohol and substance use disorder is changing, thanks in part to public health experts and research that provides a greater understanding of what successfully treats addiction. Last month, PHI's Sarah Zemore, PhD—senior scientist at PHI’s Alcohol Research Group (Public Health Institute)—spoke with Public Good News about a recent ARG study which found that people who have issues with alcohol and attend support groups see similar benefits in their recovery, no matter which type of group they choose. "The bottom line is that all of these groups are highly effective," said Sarah. "We found that there was a highly significant relationship between greater mutual-help group involvement and better alcohol outcomes, regardless of which mutual-help group you attended."

Read more:

Learn more about the benefits of different peer-led and mutual-help groups.