Let's Talk Public Health - Blog

Introducing the Health Communication Incubator: An Annual Workforce Development Program

Fri, 15 May 2026 17:44:38 GMT

The Health Communication Incubator by Let's Talk Public Health is an annual workforce development program designed to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world impact. Each year, we will convene a new cohort of professionals to tackle a specific, timely challenge in the health communication and marketing landscape.

The 2026 Topic: Precision Metrics & The Trust Divide

The Annual Cycle

Our commitment to workforce development.

The health landscape changes rapidly. To ensure the public health workforce stays ahead of the curve, our four-week micro-incubator will focus on a new topic every year.

Yearly Themes: We select one timely, high-impact area to ensure our participants are mastering the most relevant tools of the moment.
Alumni Network: Every year, our graduates join a community and network of health communicators.

The 2026 Focus

Measuring Effectiveness: Beyond Vanity Metrics.

For our inaugural 2026 cohort, we are focusing on the most critical challenge in modern public health communication: Measuring Effectiveness. Participants will work through three core pillars:

Pillar 1: Meaningful Data & Precision: Learning to combine social sentiment, clinical outcomes, and behavioral proxies for a 360-degree view of campaign success.
Pillar 2: The Equity Lens: Technical training in digital accessibility, low-bandwidth optimization, and plain language to ensure no community is left behind by the digital divide.
Pillar 3: The Trust Divide: Developing strategies to measure and build credibility within skeptical or underserved populations.

Empowering the public Health Workforce. FOUR WEEKS. Every Year.

Be Part of the Inaugural Cohort

Connect with us as we launch our first year.

The 2026 Application Cycle
We are preparing to launch our first annual cohort. If you are a public health professional looking to sharpen your data skills as they relate to health communication and marketing and join a community of practice, let's connect.

Get Notified
Sign up for our monthly newsletter for general updates from our company, including the 2026 Health Communication Incubator Call for Applications with a more detailed breakdown of this year's content, activities, and requirements.

Stay Informed

Meet-Up & Mixer [FREE] - 2026 Spring Public Health Meet-Up & Mixer (Date: 4/23/2026)

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Join our Spring Meet-Up & Mixer for networking, career connections, and community vibes. Don't miss out—let's talk public health!

Date and Time: Thursday, April 23 · 4:30 - 6:30pm EDT
Location: Mission Dupont Circle, 1606 20th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20009

Event Overview

Looking to grow your public health circle in the DMV?
Whether you are a seasoned expert, an early career professional, an entrepreneur, or a student finishing up their semester, the 2026 Spring Public Health Meet-Up & Mixer is designed for you. Hosted by Let’s Talk Public Health, this event is more than just a happy hour. It’s a space to spark partnerships, make career connections, discuss the future of our field, and enjoy the company of other public health people during Earth Month.

What to Expect:

Vibe Check: A survey of the room to identify who has open roles, who’s looking for roles, who’s open to mentorship, and who's just here to vibe.
Targeted Activities: A Public Health Scavenger Hunt to break the ice.
Free Food & Prizes: Light bites (while supplies last) and a chance to win a prize.

Who Should Attend?

Public Health Professionals
Public Health Students

Agenda at a Glance:

4:30 PM: Arrivals, Name Tags & Mingling
5:00 PM: Welcome Remarks & Vibe Check
5:30 PM: Scavenger Hunt & Open Mixer
6:15 PM: Prize Drawings & Closing Call to Action

Transportation:
In honor of Earth Month, we encourage you to walk, bike, or take the Metro (Red Line to Dupont Circle - North Exit) to the venue! For parking near the venue, there are limited metered street parking spots (with payment available through the ParkMobile App) and three parking garages:

Colonial Parking: 1919 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
One Parking: 1666 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009
SP + Parking: 11 Dupont Cir NW, Washington, DC 20036

A Note on Attendance: Please register in advance so we can ensure the space is adequate. If you are no longer able to attend, please cancel your registration as soon as you know. Thanks!

ELP Experience: Roshini Selvakumar (Fall 2025)

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:08:55 GMT

Tell us about you…

My name is Roshini Selvakumar, and I am a senior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. I was drawn to the Experiential Learning Program (ELP) because it offered a unique opportunity to explore health communications and the critical role it plays in public health and healthcare systems. I was especially interested in learning how complex public health information can be communicated clearly, ethically, and effectively to different audiences. Additionally, I was excited to connect with like-minded individuals who share an interest in public health and communication. My primary goal for the ELP was to gain hands-on experience in health communications while developing skills that would help me better understand how messaging influences public health outcomes.

Tell us about what you worked on…

During my time in the ELP, I worked on the marketing and communications efforts for Let’s Talk Public Health (LTPH). I contributed to creating promotional materials for various LTPH products and services and developed content for Instagram and LinkedIn targeted toward health communicators and public health professionals. Much of my work focused on translating public health topics into communication-focused content, such as sharing strategies for addressing vaccine myths and highlighting elements of diabetes awareness campaigns. Through these projects, I learned how to tailor messaging not only to educate but also to support other professionals in effectively communicating health information.

Tell us what you learned…

Throughout this experience, I gained a deeper understanding of health communication strategies, particularly through researching public health organizations and reviewing public health communication research papers. I learned how messaging needs to be adjusted depending on whether the audience is the general public or fellow public health professionals. Rather than focusing solely on a health topic itself, I learned how to frame content around how professionals can communicate that topic effectively. I also developed skills in content creation through tools like Canva, professional communication, and research synthesis, which strengthened both my analytical and creative abilities.

Tell us what the best part was…

The best part of my ELP experience was the mentorship I received from LTPH’s CEO, Monique, as well as from my fellow interns. Our weekly check-in meetings were especially valuable, as they allowed for thoughtful discussions on how to make content more relevant, authentic, and impactful. One example was a post addressing vaccine myths. After discussing it with Monique, I refined my approach to focus more on the role of personal relationships with healthcare providers rather than relying solely on large health organizations as messengers. These conversations helped me better understand the field of public health by learning from individuals at different stages of their careers and across various public health roles.

Tell us about your future…

In the future, I hope to pursue public health or a related field at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am particularly interested in gaining further experience in health communication and working with underserved communities that face barriers to accessing healthcare. My participation in the ELP reinforced the importance of clear, empathetic, and audience-centered communication in improving health outcomes. For prospective ELP participants, my advice would be to stay curious, ask questions, and take advantage of the mentorship opportunities.

Roshini's Social Media Posts

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Let's Talk Public Health (@letstalkpublichealth)

By: Roshini Selvakumar

ELP Experience: Susan Karoubi (Fall 2024)

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Tell us about you…

I’m Susan Karoubi, and I will be graduating in May 2025 from the University of Arizona in the College of Public Health with an M.P.H. in Health Behavior Health Promotion. I decided to participate in the Experiential Learning Program after following Let’s Talk Public Health on LinkedIn and Instagram over the summer of 2024, while researching sites where I could complete my internship. I could see the importance and joy in being able to combine public health information with graphic design and marketing, and being able to provide the general public with the reasons why public health is so important!

Tell us about what you worked on…

For my ELP project, I categorized peer-reviewed and grey literature from Google Alerts into the types of audiences that would be attracted to the important public health topics being discussed. Then, I assisted with an FAQ resource answering the top 10 public health questions. I presented one of those questions in a blog and a Canva presentation. By using Canva, I learned a lot about graphic design, how to adapt materials and messages to different audiences, and pick the right images and visual presentation tools. Lastly, I created a dissemination plan to market these products and show their importance and purpose for public health.

Tell us what you learned…

The skills that I picked up were how to combine visual presentation with public health, and rather than just talking to the camera, letting the questions, topics, and visuals guide the topic and information for all to understand. The new knowledge I gained was really seeing how we can make social media platforms more informative, so they can start serving as both educational tools and entertainment. This is the beginning, in the hope that people do not just see social media as a place to scroll through entertaining videos without learning vital information, such as how vaccinations are administered.

Susan's Presentation

By: Susan Karoubi

Letter from the CEO - 11/20/2025

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 03:11:02 GMT

It’s been over a year since my last letter. Like many public health professionals and organizations, I’ve been pivoting to adapt to the whirlwind of changes at the federal level. Over the past year, I’ve had to triple down on business development to strengthen Let’s Talk Public Health’s financial footing as public health funding continues to decline. That meant taking on more contract work – and honestly, that’s why you haven’t heard from us/me in a while. Anything that was not client work had to wait.

Our financial future remains uncertain, and I expect the same is true for many other public health professionals, organizations, and businesses. We’ll do what we can to keep producing free resources to help you creatively and effectively engage with communities, partners, and policymakers, and to continue offering opportunities for professional growth, development, and collaboration.

How We’re Thinking About Public Health and Health Communication Going Forward

I’ve always had a holistic view of health, which to me includes the Eight Dimensions of Wellness (physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, financial, occupational, and environmental) and the One Health approach (the understanding that the health of people, animals, and the planet is interconnected). I’ve been putting together a concept map of what holistic and interconnected public health looks like to me–and it’s finally ready. This map will guide all Let’s Talk Public Health operations and work moving forward.

Click below to download a PDF version of the Let's Talk Public Health Holistic Interconnected Public Health Concept Map.

ltph-holistic-interconnected-public-health-concept-map_11-20-2025.pdf
File Size:	361 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

The foundation of holistic interconnected public health is the Social Ecological Model — another favorite theoretical model of mine — because it demonstrates how our health is shaped by multiple layers of influence, from our personal choices to the larger systems and global forces around us.

Each layer affects the decisions we make about our health:

Individual: What we know, what we believe, how we feel, and the skills we have all influence the choices we make about our health.
Interpersonal: The people around us — our partners, family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and even online influencers — can support or change the choices we make.
Organizational: The places we spend a lot of time, such as schools, workplaces, religious spaces, and healthcare facilities, have policies and environments that shape our options and behaviors.
Community: Our neighborhoods and local communities have shared norms, cultures, resources, and physical conditions that shape our chances for health, safety, stability, and connection — and our access to services, support, and healthy environments.
Public Policies: The laws and rules created by governments — along with global relationships that shape trade, labor, migration, security, the environment, and public health — determine which resources, protections, rights, and opportunities we do or don’t have.

Threaded throughout these layers are various determinants of health, including:

Social determinants: Conditions that determine whether we can live healthy, fulfilling lives, such as access to housing, education, transportation, food, and social support.
Commercial determinants: Activities by businesses, corporations, and other private sector/commercial entities that determine whether we can live healthy, fulfilling lives, including creating and marketing unhealthy products or paying employees low wages.
Political determinants: Political decisions, policies, and systems by voters, policymakers, and governments that determine whether we can live healthy, fulfilling lives, such as electing government officials who enact significant staff and budget cuts to agencies protecting public health.

Public Health Needs to Communicate the Bigger Picture

If we’re going to talk about public health issues, we have to expand our scope beyond the physical and emotional well-being of humans and social determinants of health to also address the other dimensions of wellness and the commercial and political determinants of health. We need to help people understand the forces shaping their health and what they can do, individually and collectively, to influence change. We also need to help them see how their day-to-day choices and behaviors affect the health of not only other people around the world, but also animals and the planet. That whole picture is essential if we want to build systems that truly protect and promote health.

Our current economic system prioritizes profits over people, animals, and the planet, pushing industries toward continual growth at any cost. Industrial production and shipping consume vast natural resources, produce large amounts of waste and byproducts, and release pollutants into our air, water, and soil. Additionally, global industrial supply chains often rely on low wages and unsafe working conditions.

These same industries don’t just influence our environment and labor systems — they also shape our information, choices, and political landscape. Large corporations and industry groups use targeted marketing, political lobbying, and strategic philanthropy to influence policy (laws), academic research, and public discourse — shaping what we buy, how we live, and even what we believe.

Federal, state, and local government decisions about funding, regulation, and rights determine what businesses, corporations, and other commercial interests can do —and by extension, whether public health can thrive.

When public health funding is cut, we lose the capacity to educate, prepare, prevent, and respond — leaving communities vulnerable.
When antitrust enforcement is weakened, monopolies grow unchecked, allowing corporations to dominate markets, set prices, limit choice, extract wealth, and shape the flow of information.
When policies prioritize deregulation and profit, industries face fewer limits on environmental pollution, harmful marketing, exploitative labor practices, and unsafe products — shifting the risks and costs onto the people in communities where they source their materials and labor.
When consumer protections and safety regulations are rolled back, harmful products reach the market faster, injuries and illnesses increase, and accountability becomes harder to enforce.
When labor protections are weakened or wages stagnate, workers face unsafe conditions, chronic stress, and economic instability, all of which worsen health outcomes.
When housing policies favor investors over residents, displacement, homelessness, and overcrowding rise — eroding the basic stability required for physical and mental health.
When healthcare regulations favor consolidation, local access shrinks, prices rise, and communities lose control over their health systems.
When digital and media policies prioritize corporate interests over public interest, algorithms, misinformation, and censorship shape what health information people can or cannot access.
When environmental protections are rolled back, pollution increases, climate threats worsen, and low-income communities bear the brunt of the harm.
When global health partnerships are weakened or politicized, countries become less prepared for pandemics, climate impacts, supply chain shocks, and humanitarian crises.
When education and social service programs are underfunded, the social determinants of health get overlooked — affecting everything from nutrition and safety to literacy and lifelong wellbeing.

What We’re Doing — and Why

So what is Let’s Talk Public Health doing about this? We’re looking ahead to 2026 and focusing on the tools, resources, and spaces we can build to help public health students, professionals, and organizations navigate what’s coming next, particularly as it relates to how they inform and engage the communities they serve and the partners they collaborate with.

🌐 Updated Public Health FAQs — We’re tracking the federal-level changes shaping the field and breaking them down so you can stay informed without overwhelm.
🧩 Specialty Public Health Products — We’re creating joyful, enriching products you can use during much-needed breaks from the doom and gloom — because rest and play are part of health, too. Check out our first public health puzzle book.
📧 Newsletters — We’re revamping our newsletters to keep you informed, inspired, and connected — with direct-to-you, algorithm-free content. Make sure you’re signed up.
📅 Free & Paid Events — We’re hosting more events for community building, skill development, and algorithm-free connection and conversation. Check out our first webinar on pivoting your public health communication.
👩🏽‍🎓 Experiential Learning Program (ELP) — We’re hosting two ELP cohorts per year, supporting students and early-career professionals with hands-on experience and mentorship. Apply for the Spring 2026 cohort by November 30, 2025.
📱 2026 Digital Media Trends Report — We’ll be providing data-informed insights and practical suggestions for navigating the changing media/technology landscape. See how we did this after COVID-19.
🎓 Courses & Coaching — We’ll be covering the essentials of health communication and professional branding to support the many public health workers navigating freelancing, consulting, or self-employment. (Coming in 2026 to the Let’s Talk Public Health Academy).

We’re also being more intentional with our attention, time, and dollars, giving them only to businesses and organizations that prioritize the health of people, animals, and the planet over profits. Over the past year, I’ve been making these adjustments in my personal life (cancelling subscriptions and purchases from companies that don't pass the vibe check, switching to conflict-free, environmentally-friendly brands, shopping way less, and shopping small, local, and secondhand). If you're interested in more of my individual journey — of trying to be a better citizen of the world — stay tuned. I plan on sharing more of that content in the new year.

How You Can Help Us Help You

If you love using our free resources, consider:

Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting this work. We’re in this together!

Sincerely,
Monique Thornton, MPH
Founder & CEO, Let’s Talk Public Health

P.S. – Remember to give grace to yourself, us, and to others in public health who are doing work under immense pressure. Funding is tight, needs are growing, and one organization or person can’t do everything.