Region IV Public Health Training Center

On the Road Across the Lifespan Note: This is a live webinar on December 15, 2025, from 10:30 am-12:00 pm ET. Participants will use Zoom to join. This webinar is in partnership with the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory University (IPRCE) and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). Training Overview: Join us for an insightful webinar focused on transportation safety across all stages of life. From the earliest years to aging adults, ensuring safety on the road is a shared responsibility that evolves with age and experience. This session will highlight key aspects of transportation safety, providing valuable information and practical strategies for everyone involved in travel, whether as passengers or drivers.   About the Presenters: Maneesha Agarwal, MD, is an associate professor in pediatrics and emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and an attending physician in pediatric emergency medicine at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. She completed her undergraduate and medical school degrees at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill followed by pediatrics residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.  Dr. Agarwal is a grant-funded injury prevention researcher whose work spans poisoning prevention, child passenger safety, teen driving, firearm safety, consumer product safety, and adverse childhood experiences. She is the co-founder of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Injury Prevention Program (CHIPP) and serves as a pediatric injury prevention expert for the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory.  Dr. Agarwal serves on national committees for the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, where she has helped shape policy and educational initiatives to reduce childhood injuries.  She is a sought-after speaker at national conferences and has contributed to technical reports and policy statements on helmet use and injury prevention. Through her leadership and advocacy, Dr. Agarwal works to advance evidence-based strategies that keep children safe in vehicles, on bikes, and in all aspects of daily life.  Elizabeth Head, MPH, specializes in aging and injury prevention. As deputy director for Injury Prevention at the Georgia Department of Public Health, Elizabeth manages staff working on injury prevention across the lifespan. She also coordinates Georgia’s CDC BOLD project. This project aims to incorporate public health into dementia work happening in the state. Ms. Head works with national, state, and local partners to achieve equitable and sustainable approaches to Injury Prevention.  Jonathan Rupp, PhD, MS, is a Professor in the Emory Department of Emergency Medicine, Director of the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE), and Vice Chair for Innovation and Discovery in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Rupp’s research incorporates aspects of engineering, epidemiology, and behavioral science to further knowledge on the causes of injury and violence and to develop, test, and implement interventions to prevent injury, violence, and overdose.  His research involves (1) monitoring rates of seat belt use and distracted driving in the State of Georgia, (2) characterizing the factors that influence injury in motor-vehicle crashes, (3) developing tools that safety engineers can use to assess the performance of occupant protection systems, (4) leading surveillance of adverse and positive childhood experiences in the Georgia, and (5) studying ED based methods to reduce suicide.  Lin Snowe, CPST-I, is Senior Program Coordinator at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and serves on the state office team of Safe Kids Georgia. Her work focuses on supporting over 30 local statewide coalitions with programming and coalition development/management with the goal of preventing unintentional injuries in children. Her primary areas of work have been with underserved communities and building partnerships with key stakeholders to effectively disseminate injury prevention education and safety equipment where needed. She is an executive member of the Georgia Child Passenger Safety Board and is a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor, with active involvement in Georgia’s occupant safety task teams. Lin graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a B.S. in Business Administration and has spent most of her professional career in medical devices and technology sales. CERTIFICATE:  The course contains two modules: a module to access the webinar and an evaluation module. After accessing these modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Read more

Note: This is a recording of a webinar held on January 20, 2021. Training Overview During this webinar, we will review how the COVID pandemic has detrimentally affected HIV care and the steps that have been taken to mitigate these effects. The course contains two modules: a content module and a resources and evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard. This recording is approximately 90 minutes. There are no prerequisites. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact [email protected]. About the Trainer Dr. Overton is a member of the UAB Infectious Diseases faculty and serves as an Associate Scientist in the UAB Center for AIDS Research working with like-minded scientists who were interested in developing translational research to prevent complications of HIV disease. He currently serves as the Chair of the End Organ Disease/Inflammation Transformative Science Group for the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, addressing various aging-related metabolic complications of HIV, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia as well as novel approaches to treatment strategies. He has been very involved with the response to the COVID pandemic at UAB, including clinical trials and addressing clinical needs of special populations. This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Read more

Note: This is a recording of a webinar held on July 21, 2020. Training Overview This webinar is co-sponsored by the Alabama Fire College Workplace Safety Training Program and the Deep South Biosafety Worker Training Program. The COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges for EMS including out-of-hospital management of patients and PPE use by EMS personnel. Dr. Lekshmi Kumar will discuss the operational changes that have been adapted by Grady EMS during the COVID-19 pandemic including changes to personnel and PPE for patient and personal safety, airway management, resuscitation, and cessation when responding to a cardiac arrest patient. Dr. Isakov will discuss best practices in protecting EMS healthcare personnel and strategies for overcoming PPE resource challenges and complacency in the use of PPE by EMS personnel. The course contains two modules: a content module and a resources and evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard. This recording is approximately 90 minutes. There are no prerequisites. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact [email protected]. About the Trainers Lekshmi Kumar, MD is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and an emergency medicine physician for Emory Healthcare. Dr. Kumar currently serves as the medical director for 911 EMS systems serving the metro Atlanta region, providing guidance, leadership and contributing to quality improvement. She also serves as medical director for the Peachtree Road Race and the Publix Atlanta Marathon. Her focus is on clinical operations, care and education in the pre-hospital arena.  Alexander P. Isakov, MD, MPH is a professor of emergency medicine and the director of Emory's Section of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and of the Academy of Emergency Medical Services. He is also the Executive Director of Emory's Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR). Dr. Isakov is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Read more

Note: This is a recording of a webinar held on September 23, 2019. Training Overview The current opioid epidemic exists in the context of unique drivers and circumstances including pharmaceutical marketing, business decisions of illicit drug distributors, stigma, inadequate medical and behavioral health systems, social determinants of health, among other factors. Response to this public health crisis has mobilized release of new guidance materials, legislation, funding, and policy change to address prevention, treatment, and recovery. Response to opioid use as a public health concern, however, is not new. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the history of opioid crisis and response, and the policy and programmatic response to the current crisis, including how the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act) is guiding current federal response.  A systems mapping framework will be used to describe how specific policy actions fit into the overall response effort, and the populations affected.  The course contains two modules: a content module and a resources and evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard. This recording is approximately 90 minutes. There are no prerequisites. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact [email protected]. About the Trainer Brigitte Manteuffel, PhD, a senior fellow at Mathematica, has more than 30 years of experience in research, evaluation, and behavioral health. She is a national expert in the evaluation of behavioral health systems of care and has special expertise in the opioid epidemic and youth substance use disorders. Her work focuses on Mathematica’s state and federal behavioral health portfolio with a special interest in improving the infrastructure to address substance use problems, particularly the opioid epidemic. Prior to joining Mathematica in 2019, she has led studies on state opioid response needs, best practices for integrating mental health and substance use services in Ireland, evidence-based guidelines for juvenile drug courts, and implementing an evidence-based intervention to reduce fetal alcohol exposure in sexually transmitted disease clinics; and worked closely with Georgia’s Department of Public Health to develop and launch Georgia’s opioid strategic plan.  This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Read more

Note: This is a recording of a webinar held on January 29, 2018. Training Overview In order to address the opioid misuse crisis, public health needs examples of prevention strategies at multiple levels from opioid tapering to bio-psycho-social-spiritual approaches to manage chronic pain. This webinar will describe ways to assist in determining if an opioid taper is appropriate for a given patient, in performing the taper, and in incorporating whole health strategies into a new care plan. Additionally, we will discuss the creation process and outcomes of the Empower Veterans Program developed at the Atlanta VA which engages an interdisciplinary team to deliver an integrated, intensive, self-care training program for restoration from chronic pain. The course contains two modules: a content module and a resources and evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard. This recording is approximately 90 minutes. There are no prerequisites. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact [email protected]. About the Trainers Dr. Cantrell graduated from Mercer University Southern School of Pharmacy and completed a PGY1 Residency at the Atlanta VA. In 2003, Heidi began working as an ambulatory care Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Pain Management. Heidi started her current position in Academic Detailing in March 2016. Dr. Saenger is a clinician, teacher and system re-designer. He has taught evidence-based primary care, major depression care, and chronic pain management. For the last seven years, Dr. Saenger has led inter-professional teams for health system opioid safety at Grady Health System and the Atlanta VA. He is a national speaker regarding improved chronic pain management safety and care. In 2014, Dr. Saenger completed an advanced fellowship in quality improvement and system redesign with the VA National Quality Scholars Program. For the Southeastern VHA Region, Dr. Saenger is the Physician Lead for Pain Management and faculty for IHI/Samueli Institute’s Chronic Pain Breakthrough Collaborative. This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Read more

Note: This is a recording of a webinar held on April 28, 2021. Training Overview The epidemic of opioid use and related harms has been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Mitigation strategies for COVID-19 have led to disruption in the delivery of healthcare, increased social isolation, and rapid release of individuals from jails and prisons- all of which may increase the risk of overdose. Gaps in the continuum of care including access to mortality-reducing medication treatment for opioid use disorder have become more evident. In response, the federal government has made significant changes intended to provide more flexibility in how and where care is delivered for both methadone and buprenorphine treatment. Providers have welcomed these changes, and we will discuss several of these practice changes including how to utilize telemedicine and new long-acting injectable formulations to initiate and help retain patients in care.   The course contains two modules: a content module and a resources and evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard. This recording is approximately 90 minutes. There are no prerequisites. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact [email protected]. About the Trainer Michelle Lofwall, MD, DFAPA, DFASAM, is a Professor of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research. She is the Bell Alcohol and Addictions Endowed Chair and medical director of the First Bridge clinic, which provides comprehensive outpatient opioid use disorder treatment to patients discharging from emergency rooms and inpatient medical/surgical services.  Her research has been funded by NIH and industry and has recently focused on evaluation of long-acting buprenorphine formulations, including CAM2038/Brixadi.  She was an expert panel member on SAMHSA’s Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP 63) for Medication Treatment of OUD, a past board member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and President of the KY Chapter of ASAM, an invited speaker to the National Academy of Medicine, and recipient of several medical student teaching and mentorship awards.   This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. Read more