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Tech Leaders, Entrepreneurs, and Public Health Authorities Share COVID-19 Innovations and Challenges

April 01, 2021

ARLINGTON, VA—The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) hosted its inaugural TechXpo on Wednesday, the first national convening of state and territorial health officials with local and federal partners and private technology firms and tech entrepreneurs focusing specifically on the use of technology to support the COVID-19 response.

The TechXpo featured leaders from Amazon, Google, AM Trace, EagleForce Health, Chexout, Zebra Technologies, and more. More than 1,800 registrants have access to live plenary sessions and recorded workshops highlighting thought leadership and practical tools developed to support case reporting and surveillance, laboratory testing and reporting, contact tracing and case investigation, and the various ways technology can support this historic national COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

“While COVID-19 has shown some of the best attributes of the U.S. public health system, it has exposed the weaknesses of our data systems—wrought by chronic underfunding and further exacerbated by siloed, categorical funding and planning,” says J.T. Lane, ASTHO’s chief population health and innovation officer. “However, there is innovation and ingenuity happening. The participants of ASTHO’s inaugural TechXpo represent the collective individuals and sectors we will need to move public health data modernization forward. And, even more importantly, the effort will deliver the systems to protect our nation’s communities and families.”

Keynote speakers included Karen DeSalvo, chief health officer at Google, and Micky Tripathi, national coordinator for health information technology at HHS. For more information on the event and free press credentials to view program session for up to 30-days please visit the TechXpo login and registration page.

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ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and freely associated states, and Washington, D.C., as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.