2026 APHA CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
2025 APHA Final Program
Selected Past Events
Reportbacks & Attendance Analyses

2026 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

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Released: December 8, 2025

SPIRIT OF 1848 THEME:

“In solidarity we thrive — health justice across ‘borders’ and generations!”

*** due date for abstracts: March 31, 2026 ***

submit at: https://apha.confex.com/apha/2026/spt1848.htm

The official theme for APHA 2026 is: “Together We Thrive: Health Across the Lifespan.” Our Spirit of 1848 rendition is: “In solidarity we thrive — health justice across ‘borders’ and generations!”– an activist stance core to the mission of the Spirit of 1848 Caucus. Evidence, action, accountability, sharing our knowledge, and being grounded in the histories of generations of struggles for health justice: these are the watchwords of our sessions – all to strengthen our collective task, in solidarity, of creating a world in which everyone – and all life on our planet — can thrive.

Spirit of 1848 sessions (APHA 2026) – by day, name, and LIKELY time, and whether an OPEN CALL for abstracts or INVITED ONLY
Monday, Nov 2, 2026Activist session8:30 am to 10:00 amOPEN CALL + invited
Social history of public health10:30 am to 12 noonINVITED ONLY
Politics of public health data2:30 pm to 4:00 pmOPEN CALL + invited
 
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026Integrative session10:30 am to 12 noonINVITED ONLY
Student poster session12:30 pm to 1:30 pmOPEN CALL + invited
Progressive pedagogy2:30 pm to 4:00 pmOPEN CALL + invited
Labor/business meeting6:30 pm to 8:00 pmN/A

Below we provide: (1) the specific instructions for each session; and (2) the APHA instructions about preparing abstracts, with regard to word limits, membership & registration requirements, and information required to enable the session in which a presentation is included to qualify for continuing education credits.

Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session.

Instructions for what we are seeking for each session (listed in chronological order) are as follows:

1. Activist Session (Mon, Nov 2, 2026, 8:30 am to 10 am) – open call and invited speakers
TITLE: In solidarity we act: organizing for health justice across “borders” and generations
CALL: This session will focus on Texas-based activist work on health-related justice issues relating to the current political landscape. Presentations could include, but are not limited to, immigrant protection, access to healthcare, policing/incarceration, reproductive health, social and economic justice, LGBTQ health justice, political participation, and/or environmental justice.
— If you have any questions, please contact Catherine Cubbin (ccubbin@austin.utexas.edu)
2. Social History of Public Health (Mon, Nov 2, 2026, 10:30 am -12 noon) – invited speakers  
TITLE:  In solidarity we remember: Histories of struggles for health justice across ‘borders’ and generations
CALL: This session explores a range of past health justice efforts in such areas as environmental organizing, transnational solidarity, and health-related movements for Indigenous and racial justice, with the aim of bringing current struggles into both sobering and motivating historical perspective. Invited presentations may address one or more of the following topics:
              — US/Mexico “borderlands” & health justice
              — Intergenerational fights re: Big Oil, Cancer Alley, AI (water & land use, etc.) & health justice
              — Resurfacing Indigenous histories of Texas/Mexico & health justice
              — Transnational struggles for climate, biodiversity, and health justice
              — Health justice in sociocultural and intellectual “borderlands” (engaging with Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of a borderland as a vibrant intersectional space of identities, classes, and cultures).
 
This session will be developed by the history subcommittee: Charlene Kuo, (charlene.cl.kuo@gmail.com) Marian Moser Jones (email: marianmoserj@gmail.com );  Anne-Emanuelle Birn, (email: ae.birn@utoronto.ca), Maria K. John ( Maria.John@umb.edu) and Luis A. Aviles (luis.aviles3@upr.edu)
 
Note: all abstracts for this session will be SOLICITED (due: March 31, 2026). Per Spirit of 1848 policy, we will include presentations that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods.
3. Politics of Public Health Data (Mon, Nov 2, 2026, 2:30 – 4:00 pm) – open call and invited speakers
TITLE: In solidarity we thrive: evidence, fixing missing evidence, & accountability for health justice
CALL: This session will focus on our current data landscape, namely evidence, fixing missing evidence, and accountability for health justice. Presentations could include, but are not limited to:
              — Data preservation for health equity and challenging authoritarian erasure
              — Reimagining and building new data infrastructure, technologies, & policies for health justice
              — Research using all the banned words: still fighting for health justice and evidence for accountability
              — Weaponizing the US census and other data sources vital for health justice research & monitoring
              — Who is being classified how, by whom, and why – and how does that affect data for health justice?
— If you have any questions, please contact Zinzi Bailey (zinzib@gmail.com)
4. Integrative Session (Tues, Nov 3, 2026, 10:30 am – 12 noon) – invited speakers
TITLE: Solidarity Forever: Health Justice, Thriving, & Everything Everywhere All at Once, continued!
CALL: This session will build on our session last year, whose theme was “Making Health Justice: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” — and extending it to make clear the links between solidarity and thriving. Invited presentations will engage with Spirit of 1848 foci regarding critical public health histories, data, activism, pedagogy, and the ongoing intergenerational work for health justice – including from critical Indigenous perspectives.
5. Student Poster Session (Tues, Nov 3, 2026, 12:30 – 1:30 pm) – Open call and invited speakers
TITLE: Spirit of 1848 Social Justice & Public Health Student Poster Session Call for Abstracts
CALL: For the APHA Annual Meeting 2026, the Spirit of 1848 Social Justice & Public Health Student Poster Session is issuing an OPEN CALL FOR ABSTRACTS for posters that highlight the intersections between social justice and public health from a historical, theoretical, epidemiological, ethnographic, and/or methodological perspective.
This session will have an OPEN CALL for submissions by students (undergraduate or graduate) who are focused on work linking issues of social justice and public health. This can include, but is not limited to, work concerned with the Spirit of 1848’s focus for APHA 2026 on “In solidarity we thrive — health justice across ‘borders’ and generations”
Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of this session, i.e., student posters on links between social justice & public health.
The submitted work can address one or more of many interlocking types of justice (e.g., racial, Indigenous, political and/or economic, gender and/or sexuality-related, environmental, restorative, etc.) We are interested in submissions not only from students in schools of public health and other health professions (e.g., nursing, medicine) but also from students in schools & programs focused on law, political science, public policy, social work, government, economics, sociology, urban planning, etc., and also from non-traditional students in other community settings! For examples of abstracts selected in prior years, see our annual reportbacks.
Abstracts will be evaluated on the following criteria: (1) Relevant to the Spirit of 1848’s broader mission and our APHA 2026 theme (“In solidarity we thrive — health justice across ‘borders’ and generations”); (2) The rigor of the research methods and theoretical foundation; (3) Originality; and (4) Scholarly or practical importance
 NOTE:
(a) Students who submit to our session have a high success rate in getting your abstracts selected!
(b) to address the on-going problem of student uncertainty about funding, which has led to students with accepted posters withdrawing their submissions, we will continue with the successful approach we implemented in 2016, whereby we will: (1) accept the top 10 abstracts (the limit for any poster session); (2) set up a waitlist of all runner-up potentially acceptable posters (ranked in order of preference); and (3) reject abstracts that either are not focused on issues of social justice and public health or are not of acceptable quality. If any accepted poster is withdrawn, we will replace it with a poster from the waitlist (in rank order).
— For any questions about this session, please contact Spirit of 1848 Student Poster Coordinating Committee member Charlene Kuo (charlene.cl.kuo@gmail.com).
6. Pedagogy Session (Tues, Nov 3, 2026, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm) – Open call and invited speakers  
TITLE: Teaching for Solidarity Across “Borders” and Generations for Health Justice
CALL: Overall, we seek submissions for practical presentations on pedagogy that enhance capacity for teaching and organizing for solidarity with a focus on making health justice. This includes the pedagogies that are being (re)developed through decolonizing epistemologies and other ways of re-framing knowledge and voice, Indigenous methodologies outside of Western frameworks, and learning that happens outside of traditional academic settings, across “borders” and generations. We call for work that shows how such pedagogy can be carried out, in both: (1) training programs for community and workplace activists, organizations, and members and (2) diverse academic settings, e.g., universities and colleges (including community colleges), health professional schools (public health, nursing, medical, dental, veterinary, etc), high schools, elementary schools, and across the age span, highlighting intergenerational and lifelong learning. We also welcome student-led presentations focused on how to bring such pedagogy into their educational programs and communities. 
Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session.
If you have any questions, please contact the session organizers, who are Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee members: Vanessa Simonds (email: vanessa.simonds@montana.edu), Lisa Moore (email: lisadee@sfsu.edu) Moore (email: lisadee@sfsu.edu), Rebekka Lee (email: rlee@hsph.harvard.edu), and Nylca Muñoz (email: nylca_munoz@pucpr.edu)

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APHA ABSTRACT REQUIREMENTS & CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS:

NOTE: it is important that our Spirit of 1848 sessions be approved for CE credits, so that public health & clinical professionals can get CE credits in sessions focused on the links between social justice & public health! – so please be sure to read these instructions carefully!!!

 1) APHA ABSTRACT REQUIREMENTS

  • Abstracts should be no more than 250 words
  • All presenters must be Individual members of APHA in order to present.
  • All presenters must register for the meeting.
  • Abstracts cannot be presented or published in any journal prior to the APHA Annual Meeting.

 2) CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS

 APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators, veterinarians, and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.

 For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter must provide:

  • An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names (and this includes the names of any books you have published!)
  • At least one MEASURABLE outcome (DO NOT USE “To understand” or “To learn” as objectives, they are not measurable).
  • Examples of Acceptable Measurable Action Words:  Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define or List.
  • A signed Conflict of Interest (Disclosure) form with a relevant Qualification Statement. See an example of an acceptable Qualification Statement on the online Disclosure form.
  • Examples of Acceptable Biographical Qualification Statement:

“I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on the epidemiology of drug abuse, HIV prevention and co-occurring mental and drug use disorders. Among my scientific interests has been the development of strategies for preventing HIV and STDs in out-of-treatment drug users.”

 “I am qualified because I have conducted research in the area of maternal and child health for the past 20 years and have given multiple presentations on this subject.”

 Please note that I am the principal investigator of this study is NOT an acceptable qualification statement. Nor it is acceptable to state: “I am qualified because I am a professor at XYZ University.”  

Contact Mighty Fine at mighty.fine@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education credit. Please contact the program planner for all other questions.

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