MPHA's popular "Public Health Matters" Policy Forum breakfast series at the Wilder Foundation s underway! Join us for our second session on February 13, 2026.
Check-in and a light breakfast begin at 7:30am. Forums begin promptly at 8:00am and conclude at 9:30am.
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The theme for this year’s breakfast forum series explores changes that have occurred around the topic of health and wellness. How has the national landscape changed? A response requires public health professionals to dig deep into our roots to ensure basic needs of people are met and sound policies exist to achieve optimum health for all Minnesotans.
February 13, 2026… Prevention therapies, healthcare treatment and drug approvals
Approval of innovative therapies such as treatments for hemophilia and heart disease, and the development of new oncology drugs has been accelerating. FDA has a current effort to expand safe options for pain management and a growing focus on combating the illegal import of counterfeit and illicit drugs. FDA is also working to streamline processes by promoting the real-time reporting of adverse events. The FDA is an essential agency—relied on not only by ALL healthcare providers to ensure drugs are available in the US, but also by other countries as a resource. Who is in charge of this essential health agency? Should AI be used to approve drugs? In what ways will global relationships and tariffs (particularly India and China, who are the MAJOR sources of drugs for the US) affect drug availability and costs? Are the efforts to reduce illegally imported drugs working?
Moderator: TBA Panelists: TBA
New location! The Policy Forum breakfast series will be held at the beautiful Wilder Foundation in St. Paul. Conveniently located near the Green Line and public transit options, free parking in the on-site ramp is also available.
View the full series flyer for more details. Forums will be held: November 21, 2025, February 13, 2026, and April 24, 2026. Sessions recordings will be uploaded on forum webpage.
Forum panelists info and bio can be found on the forum webpage. MPHA wants to ensure cost is not a barrier to participating; please email admin@mpha.net if you need registration help. It is recommended to attend in person to get the most out of these forums although a virtual option is also available as a registration option.