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Abstract #145622

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Buffy Bunting, MPH, CHES, Community Health Education Section, San Francisco Department of Public Health/San Francisco State University, 30 Van Ness Ave, Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-581-2429, buffy.bunting@sfdph.org, Isabel Auerbach, MPH, CHES, Community Health Education Section, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 30 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94102, Norma Martinez-Rubin, MPH, MBA, CHES, Evaluation Focused Consulting, 1517 Buckeye Ct, Pinole, CA 94564-2108, and Virginia Smyly, MPH, CHES, Community Health Promotion & Prevention, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 30 Van Ness Ave, Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94102.

Dialogue with students and changing demographics in the San Francisco Bay Area have moved the Health Education Training Center (HETC) at the San Francisco Department of Public Health to develop an ongoing mentoring event emphasizing the benefits of mentoring and assisting with preparing new health education professionals to enter and lead in the field. Interactions with practitioners accelerate the practical learning curve for new professionals, enhancing the conceptual appreciation of academic skills. Further, the general and student populations in the Bay Area now include increasing numbers of people from a wide range of racial and ethnic groups who experience higher rates of poor health outcomes than the general population. The commitment to address these health disparities is an important focus in public health. Few opportunities exist for new and established professionals to share experiences of health education practice, including cultural competence. To address these circumstances, the HETC, working with local graduate and undergraduate health education programs, has integrated “Mentoring, Networking, and Inspiration for Health Educators” into its semiannual programming. More than 100 attendees have participated in the series. The HETC models the importance of cultural competence by inviting faculty, graduates of local programs, and other speakers who represent a range of racial and ethnic groups. This presentation will describe the event, its replication, and sustainability. It further will challenge the audience to take action to develop similar programs among their own local health agencies and institutions of higher learning.

Learning Objectives:

• To present an argument for mentoring as an essential component to initiatives addressing health disparities
• To discuss mentoring opportunities in the field of public health education for graduating students and new graduates
• To identify characteristics of mutually beneficial relationships between mentors and mentees

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Slides (pdf) or Handout