Recent News

Note From The Commissioner: Safe Sleep Campaign

Dec 8th, 2017

Senator Barbara Mikulski likes to say that one should “Do what you’re best at, and what you’re needed for.” I was honored to be selected as one of Governing’s 2017 Public Officials of the Year and to be among a group of public servants who exemplify that sentiment. Other awardees included Governor Terry McAuliffe (Virginia), Mayor Greg Stanton (Phoenix, Arizona), and Sheriff Tom Dart (Cook County, Illinois). I am so proud to serve alongside the men and women of the Baltimore City Health Department to protect the most vulnerable and to deliver health – a human right – to all.

Public health’s primary duty is to help people where they are and to regard every person with dignity and humanity. Every day, I am inspired and filled with gratitude for my incredible colleagues who carry out these duties and “do what we’re best at and what we’re needed for.”

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Baltimore Health Officials Encourage Parents to Follow the ABC’s to Prevent Sleep Infant Deaths

Dec 5th, 2017

BALTIMORE, MD (December 4, 2017) – Baltimore health officials and B’more for Healthy Babies partner organizations today urged families to follow safe sleep practices in response to a spike in the number of sleep related infant deaths.

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Baltimore sees spike in sleep-related infant deaths (Baltimore Sun)

Dec 4th, 2017

Baltimore health officials are urging parents with infants to practice safe sleep practices after recording a spike in sleep-related infant deaths in the city. Twelve babies have died in their sleep so far this year, compared with seven last year. The new deaths prompted City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen and others to act on Monday.

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B'more for Healthy Babie

Baltimore City Commemorates World AIDS Day

Dec 1st, 2017

BALTIMORE, MD (December 1, 2017) – In recognition of World AIDS Day 2017, civic and religious leaders from across Baltimore City highlighted the successes and the interventions that are working in our community to fight the epidemic. 

About 15 percent of Americans with HIV don't know they're infected, CDC says (Baltimore Sun)

Dec 1st, 2017

Half of the Americans recently diagnosed with HIV had been living with the virus for at least three years without realizing it. People can’t get the drugs they need if they don’t know their HIV status, said Dr. Patrick Chaulk, assistant commissioner of the bureau of HIV/STD services at the Baltimore City Health Department.

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Note From The Commissioner: World AIDS Day

Dec 1st, 2017

On Tuesday, the Congressional House Oversight Committee held a Field Hearing at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I was invited to testify on Baltimore City’s work in combatting the opioid epidemic. Other witnesses included Governor Chris Christie (Chair of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis) and ONDCP Acting Director Richard Baum. Mayor Pugh and Governor Hogan gave remarks as well (the link to the full event is here).

Baltimore has done a lot with limited resources. In my testimony, I discussed Baltimore’s aggressive, three-pillar approach to combatting this epidemic: Save lives with naloxone, expand access to on-demand addiction treatment, and reduce stigma and prevent addiction. I also addressed four things the President’s Commission should have included in their recommendations: Substantial, additional federal funding; health insurance expansion; guaranteed access to treatment for addition; and evidence-based harm reduction practices, including needle exchange programs. Treating addiction as a crime is unscientific, inhumane, and ineffective. In order to save lives, we must also address the stigma surrounding addiction.

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Note From The Commissioner: Giving Thanks

Nov 22nd, 2017

There is much for me to be thankful this year, both at work and at home. This Thanksgiving will be my first celebrating with my newborn son, Eli, now 13-weeks old. He is happy and thriving, and I count my blessings as I celebrate the holiday with him and my family and loved ones.

Last week, I received notice that I have been selected as one of nine “Public Officials of the Year” by Governing Institute, which celebrates public service and public service leaders across the country. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with the dedicated, hardworking staff of the Baltimore City Health Department. The women and men of the Health Department wear many different hats and work under challenging environments as we strive to improve health equity and provide critical services to Baltimoreans every day. Governing recognized the Health Department’s work in addressing the opioid crisis and other pressing public health challenges facing our City. It is a privilege and honor to serve Baltimore under the leadership of Mayor Pugh, and to work towards the health and well-being of our residents with our team and our incredible community partners.

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Baltimore Confronts Enduring Racial Health Disparities (Nonprofit Quarterly)

Nov 22nd, 2017

Life expectancy in 14 of Baltimore’s predominantly Black neighborhoods is now lower than North Korea’s, notes Jim Grossfeld in the American Prospect. This is true even though, as Grossfeld points out, Baltimore is home to Johns Hopkins, which, Grossfeld observes, “Together with the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic…is part of the trinity of top-ranked US hospitals—a latter-day Lourdes to which sick people from around the world beat a path, hoping to find cures they’ll find nowhere else.” 

The Baltimore City Health Department, in its “Healthy Baltimore 2020: A Blueprint for Health” report, points out that “although 97 percent of health-care dollars are spent on the health-care system, only 10 percent of what determines life expectancy actually happens ‘within the four walls of a clinic.’ The other 90 percent is decided upstream, where people live, work, go to school, and spend their free time.”

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Wen to Social Workers: Addiction Stigma Must End (UMB News)

Nov 21st, 2017

These are the three guideposts to improving public health outcomes in the city, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana S. Wen, MD, MSc, FAAEM, told an auditorium of social workers Nov. 14 at the University of Maryland School of Social Work (SSW) Daniel Thursz Social Justice Lecture.

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