The Leader We Wish We All Had Is YOU: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic with Dr. Amy Acton, MD, PhD

Add to Calendar: Add to Calendar: 2023-10-05 16:30:00 2023-10-05 17:30:00 The Leader We Wish We All Had Is YOU: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic with Dr. Amy Acton, MD, PhD Event Description Dr. Amy Acton's lecture will focus on leadership and lessons learned in her role as the Director of the Ohio Department of Health and as cabinet member and advisor to the Governor of Ohio during an unprecedented crisis. Acton will provide a behind the scenes look at what it was like to lead the COVID 19 response for 11.7 million patients and the leadership traits that are essential to all of us as we re-emerge and re-weave the fabric of our communities. Specifically for the Case Western audience, Acton will unveil the back story of making Ohio’s early policy decisions. She will also discuss and the legal and administrative challenges associated with issuing broad-ranging public health orders. Acton will also further address the unfinished business of intentionally mourning what we have lost, making meaning of our collective experiences, and memorializing all we have endured. She will help us better understand that we have faced not only the virus, but also a contagion of fear, loneliness, unmooring, and collective trauma. Acton will share her antidotes to our experiences of moral injury as well as her hopes and dreams for our future. Speaker Bio Dr. Amy Acton, MD, MPH, is a licensed physician in Preventive Medicine and Public Health with over 30 years of experience in executive leadership, philanthropy, public service, teaching, and advocacy. Among her many honors, Acton received the JFK Library Profile in COVID Courage Award for her leadership as Director of the Ohio Department of Health during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was recently named one of USA Today’s Women of the Year. She has also been featured in the NY Times, Glamour, and most recently, Smithsonian Magazine. Acton also received The Columbus Foundation’s 2020 Spirit of Columbus Award and is a recipient of Ohio State University’s highest alumni honor - The Ohio State Alumni Medalist Award. Acton’s passion is helping to create the community conditions in which all our citizens can lead flourishing lives and contribute to their fullest potential. Acton lives in Bexley with her husband, Eric, who has coached and taught in Bexley City Schools since 1987. CLE Reading Materials Additional Reading: The New Yorker’s How American Can Avoid Dual Cataclysms by Paige Williams (Nov. 2, 2020) The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide by John’s Hopkins physician and researcher Dr. Joshua Sharfstein The Pandemic Playbook the national strategy for pandemic response (George W. Bush Administration, 2005) The Great Influenza by historian and author John M. Barry Leadership On the Line by Harvard professors Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’ Case Western Reserve University School of Law George Gund Hall Room A59, Moot Courtroom 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44106 School of Law School of Law America/New_York public