My dear friends and colleagues. It is my honour and pleasure to invite you to attend the 17th World Congress on Public Health in Rome, Italy from 02-06 May 2023. After a delay of this event due to Covid-19 pandemic, we are delighted to finally be able to host the Congress in Europe and in Italy.

The WCPH coinciding with my ASPHER Presidency presented the opportunity to bring ASPHER as a Partner to the Congress with the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SItI). This partnership brings prominence to the Association on a global scale while also providing opportunities for our members to attend the event at a discounted rate and to gain visibility through ASPHER organised sessions.

ASPHER together with the Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH) will host five sessions during WCPH. Each of these sessions will demonstrate the purpose and impacts of academic public health and schools' associations around the Globe. The five sessions will focus on:
(1) Global collaboration in academic public health and GNAPH (including signing of the GNAPH constitution);
(2) Ethics and academic public health;
(3) Innovations in academic public health – where do we go next?;
(4) Capacity building and professionalization of the public health workforce – Part 1 (global agenda); and
(5) Capacity building and professionalization of the public health workforce – Part 2 (regional initiatives).

ASPHER is also co-organising a session on Advancing the Glocal Public Health Advocacy along with the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) to advance public health advocacy built on evidence-based best practices and raising awareness at all levels - bridging the ASPHER and EPHA represented communities.

In addition, ASPHER will assist WFPHA to organise a next generation/young professionals forum for the afternoon of Friday 06 May and we hope ASPHER members will encourage and support students, post-docs and junior faculty to attend the forum and the Congress.

I was pleased to learn that ASPHER workshop submissions from the Covid-19 Task Force, Climate and Health, Diversity and Public Health Education, and from the ASPHER-led UCCAIDE Project were accepted to the programme. I have also heard back from several of you whose work was accepted — be sure to inform the Secretariat so they can include you in the ASPHER schedule for the Congress.

And while at the Congress, be sure also to stop by the ASPHER booth in the exhibition hall. We will have early registration sign up and information there for the 2023 Deans' & Directors' Retreat in Dublin. There are always possibilities for you to share part of the booth or drop off materials from your school for added visibility - contact ASPHER office at office@aspher.org to see what could work best.

Finally, but not least of all, the ASPHER General Assembly will be held in the context of the WCPH on 03 May for the first time again in person since 2019 in Erice. I look forward to a productive meeting with ASPHER member delegates there to take part in this critical event to guide the life of the Association. And if you wish to be more involved – don't miss the calls to stand for Executive Board elections or to be my successor as ASPHER President.

Carlo Signorelli
President, ASPHER

This message appears in the ASPHER Newsletter. Read the January-February ASPHER Newsletter here.