Workplace of the Governor | ICYMI: Several Northeastern States and America’s Largest City Announce the Northeast Public Health Collaborative

TRENTON, NJ – Several Northeastern states and America’s largest metropolis have been collaborating since early 2025 and right this moment formally introduced the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, a voluntary regional coalition of public well being businesses and leaders, introduced collectively to share experience, enhance coordination, improve capability, strengthen regional readiness, and promote and defend evidence-based public well being.

The Collaborative’s shared function is to work collectively in new methods – optimizing the usage of shared sources, innovating and reimagining core companies – to make sure belief in public well being, reply to public well being threats, advance neighborhood well being and strengthen confidence in vaccines and science-based medication. The group’s shared purpose is to guard the well being, security and well-being of all residents by offering data based mostly on science, knowledge, and proof, whereas working to make sure equitable entry to vaccines, medicines and companies.

The regional partnership, which was informally established a number of months in the past, held its first in-person assembly in Rhode Island in August. The Collaborative has already fashioned interjurisdictional working teams to establish alternatives for collaboration and shared planning throughout a number of public well being disciplines together with public well being emergency preparedness and response, vaccine suggestions and buying, knowledge assortment and evaluation, infectious illness, epidemiology and laboratory capability and companies. 

Members of the Collaborative labored collectively on science-based steerage for well being care personnel (HCP) advising on precautions well being care staff ought to take to guard themselves and sufferers throughout respiratory virus season. Other examples of collaborative efforts embody sharing data on public well being emergency preparedness associated to 3 FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup host cities inside the collaborative, exploring workforce pipeline actions given the understaffing in public well being and coordinating state lab associated actions and companies. 

Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, M.D., stated, “In public well being, we’re at all times stronger collectively. Pathogens know no borders. Particularly within the northeast, folks cross borders day by day for work and faculty. In a time of serious change in public well being, we’ve benefited from the improved collaborations between our jurisdictions. We are assured that we’ll protect and defend core public well being ideas and companies as we navigate present adjustments collectively.” 

Maine CDC Director, Dr. Puthiery Va said, “The people of Maine are known for their resilience, neighborly support, and a collaborative approach to solving community challenges. This spirit is evident in the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, which serves as an incubator for solutions in public health. By working together, we can build more adaptable, sustainable, and resilient public health framework for the region.” 

Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health Robbie Goldstein, M.D., Ph.D., said, “When our states speak in concert, our voice carries farther, and our impact deepens. Those who work in public health are entrusted with a profound responsibility – a promise – to protect the health and safety of those in our states, to advance equity, and to ground every decision in data and evidence. Strong public health must stand high above ideology. Our region understands this, and we are moving forward, resolute, united, and guided by science.” 

New Jersey Acting Health Commissioner Jeff Brown said, “The interconnectedness of our populations and shared health challenges across the Northeast make this Collaborative a natural synergy and extension of our longstanding partnerships with peer health agencies to support the health of the people of New Jersey. Public health requires regular sharing of information, ideas, and best practices across jurisdictions and state lines. Whether it’s responding to a pandemic or an outbreak or preparing for a large-scale event such as the upcoming FIFA World Cup, with three host cities in the Northeast, working together helps keep our residents safe and healthy. We look forward to continuing to do so with our colleagues in the Collaborative.” 

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald, M.D., M.P.H., said, “Everyone benefits when we work together. I am excited about this collaborative; we all share the same goal of achieving health and well-being for our people. New York is proud to be part of the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. By working together, we are creating a more adaptable, sustainable and resilient public health system for our state and the region.” 

Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen said, “Protecting public health has always been a collaborative effort and that joint work has never been more important. Continuing to work with public health experts in other states allows us to exchange best practices, pursue improvements and efficiencies, and explore opportunities to better meet the needs of Pennsylvanians. We respect the role public health professionals play in keeping our Commonwealth safe, and will continue to back science in our efforts to ensure Pennsylvanians can make the best health care decisions for themselves and their families.” 

Rhode Island Department of Health Director Jerry Larkin, M.D., said, “Collaboration is the core of public health. We look forward to continuing to work with the Northeast Public Health Collaborative to improve information sharing, coordinate on public health initiatives, and develop policy that is grounded in science and data. This partnership will advance our work to prevent disease and promote the health and safety of the people in every community in Rhode Island.”

New York City Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse said, “As the oldest and largest native well being division within the nation, the New York City Health Department is proud to be a member of the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. We should at all times defend our public well being infrastructure, reject misinformation, and keep belief in science. The collaborative is working collectively to rebuild public belief, and supply factual data, so folks could make knowledgeable selections about their well being, and proceed our vital work to deal with well being inequities.”

While the Northeast Public Health Collaborative members share frequent public well being objectives and targets, they acknowledge that every state and metropolis is impartial with their very own numerous populations and distinctive units of legal guidelines, rules and histories. Members might select to take part in or adapt these particular initiatives in keeping with their explicit wants, values, targets, and statutory or regulatory necessities.