NACDD unveiled a new leadership opportunity, ECHO Clinics, for state Chronic Disease Directors to engage in peer conversations on emerging topics: Adverse Childhood Effects (ACEs) and Public Health Linkages and Housing. NACDD collaborates with the University of New Mexico ECHO Project on these virtual peer-learning sessions using the ECHO Platform and Zoom technology. These clinics provide a “case management” focus to these topics and allow for in-depth discussion by the participants. The clinics leverage ECHO hub-and-spoke connectivity technology and are founded on principles that support communities of practice and peer mentoring. The clinics are meant to create a facilitated discussion and to engage creative thinking about emerging issues impacting public health practitioners working in chronic disease.  

Linda Scarpetta, MPH, Director, Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Control, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Jodi Spicer, MA, Consultant, Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Control, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, kicked off the first ECHO Clinic, providing information on the impact of ACES on chronic diseases and sharing their Michigan state case story—particularly how they leveraged funding to create a position that supports and collaborates with other partners on ACES. Additionally, they shared their success at the 2019 NACDD Chronic Disease Academy in Atlanta. 

Gabriel Kaplan, PHD, MPA, Colorado Chronic Disease Director and NACDD Board President, along with Cassandra Dove, MPH, Chief Program Officer, Office of Preventive Health and Director, Delta Health Collaborative, Mississippi Department of State, and Tameka Ivory Walls, PhD, MS, Community Clinical Linkage Director, Mississippi State Department of Health –Delta Health Collaborative, shared the importance that housing can play in improving health of the community, particularly on hypertension screening during the second ECHO Clinic.

Two additional ECHO Clinics are planned for this summer. More information will be forthcoming once dates are finalized for the remaining two clinics.