Event Details:
DATE: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
TIME: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
LOCATION: Online Zoom Event |  (attendees will receive link upon registration)

Through Cooperative Extension and Cornell’s One Health Initiative, research extends beyond classrooms, laboratories, and academic journals to improve health and well-being in communities where people live, work, and learn.

Join Professor of Practice, Gen Meredith, Associate Director of Cornell Public Health, and Adam Hughes, MPH, State Extension Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension and a national leader in health and well-being initiatives, for a conversation about the powerful connection between Cooperative Extension and public health. Together, they will highlight the role universities play in strengthening communities through research, education, and partnership.

Drawing on their collaborative work across Cornell Public Health, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the One Health Initiative, Meredith and Hughes will discuss how research is translated into action through trusted local partnerships and community-based education. Meredith will share lessons from her work supporting New York State’s COVID-19 response and strengthening the public health workforce, while Hughes will discuss how Cooperative Extension advances community health and well-being and highlight its longstanding, yet often overlooked, impact. He will also share how innovative approaches emerging from his work are helping shape health and well-being initiatives across the national Cooperative Extension system and influencing efforts at land-grant universities nationwide.

Participants:

• Adam Hughes, National Health Program Manager, Extension Foundation; State Extension Specialists, Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Gen Meredith, Associate Professor, Department of Public & Ecosystem Health; Associate Director, Cornell Public Health 

About the speakers:

Adam T. Hughes, MPH, is a public health leader with more than 20 years of experience across higher education, healthcare, nonprofit, and government sectors. His work focuses on strengthening public health systems, building organizational capacity, developing collaborative partnerships, and translating research into practical strategies that improve population health and community well-being.

Adam currently serves as [National Health Program Manager with Extension Foundation], providing national leadership, coordination, and strategic direction for public health and health-related programming across the Cooperative Extension System. In this role, he leads implementation of the National Framework for Health and Well-Being, coordinates national initiatives and communities of practice, and works with Extension professionals, universities, federal agencies, and national partners to strengthen Extension’s role in advancing health and well-being.

Adam also serves as a [State Extension Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension], where he leads statewide Community and Public Health programming and provides organizational development, capacity building, and technical assistance to Extension associations throughout New York. His broader leadership includes serving as Co-Associate Director for Community Engagement and Advocacy with the Cornell Center for Health Equity and as Board President of the Rural Health Network of South Central New York. Throughout his career, Adam has held leadership positions addressing community health, healthcare systems, organizational development, harm reduction, and services for vulnerable populations. His areas of expertise include public health leadership, health equity, strategic planning, community engagement, organizational development, program evaluation, workforce development, coalition building, and board governance. Adam holds a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Gen Meredith, Associate Professor, Department of Public & Ecosystem Health; Associate Director, Cornell Public Health] is a public health researcher-practitioner with experience across local, clinical, state, and international communities. Gen uses community-engaged methods to develop and enhance public health systems to achieve positive health impacts, particularly through systems, process, and workforce development. Gen’s applied research focuses on engaged pedagogical practices for workforce development; optimized public health systems utilization through data-informed decision making; and community capacity building for collective impact. This work is topically focused on extreme weather resilience (heat, floods, wildfires), infectious disease prevention and control (VBD, respiratory, STI), and wellbeing (food and nutrition security, health care access, local agriculture). 

Event Questions? Contact Quentara Johnson
Registration Questions? Contact Lizeth Jaimez