McMahon highlights county, Upstate collaboration at public health conference

A county partnership that already helped track West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis in Cicero took center stage at Upstate Medical University, where leaders pointed to public health work that can reach from laboratory testing to neighborhood protection.

County Executive Ryan McMahon highlighted the growing collaboration between the Onondaga County Health Department and Upstate’s Public Health Program during the Resilience and Action in Central New York: Uniting Public Health Conference, held May 13 on the Upstate Medical University campus in Syracuse. Upstate described the daylong gathering as the first annual conference of its kind, and organizers said nearly 200 health leaders, researchers, educators, students and community advocates were expected to attend.

The conference was co-hosted by the county health department and Upstate’s program in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Organizers said the goal was to push coordinated public health action across Central New York, with sessions aimed at practical problems that residents feel in daily life: gun violence in Syracuse neighborhoods, food access for immigrant families, breastfeeding disparities, air quality monitoring, caregiver loneliness, drug overdose mortality and health misinformation.

Onondaga County Health Commissioner Kathryn Anderson was scheduled to take part in opening remarks, alongside Upstate leaders, county officials and public health experts. Stephen Thomas, MD, was listed as the keynote speaker, and Randy Wolken of MACNY was scheduled to deliver an afternoon keynote focused on leadership and regional partnership. Conference planning committee chair Telisa Stewart, DrPH, said it was the first gathering of its kind and stressed the value of bringing experts together to generate practical ideas and partnerships that can lead to action.

The event fit into a larger county strategy built around shared planning with local health systems. On Jan. 21, the county released its 2025-2027 Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan, developed with Crouse Health, St. Joseph’s Health and Upstate University Hospital and informed by direct feedback from more than 1,900 county residents. The plan targets nutrition security, chronic disease prevention and control, and prevention of infant and maternal mortality. County health officials said the earlier 2022-2024 plan drew on feedback from more than 3,600 residents, while a 2016 assessment process also included Upstate, Crouse and St. Joseph’s.

That collaboration has already shown up in mosquito surveillance. In 2025, Upstate and the county worked together on dead bird testing and other monitoring meant to detect and prevent mosquito-borne disease. The county reported its first human West Nile virus case since 2019 on July 16, 2025, in an elderly adult in Cicero, and officials later identified additional human cases. Upstate also said mosquitoes collected in Cicero tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, underscoring why county and hospital data-sharing matters when public health threats move quickly through neighborhoods.