Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108964

Linda Neuhauser, DrPH¹, Julia Walsh, MD, DTPH¹, and Ellie Schindelman Schindelman, MPH². (1) School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 140 Warren Hall MC 7360, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, 510-643-9177, lindan@berkeley.edu, (2) DrPH Program, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 140 Earl Warren Hall, UC-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, 140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360

Established in 1996, the UC Berkeley School of Public Health's school wide DrPH Program was envisioned as a national model of an interdisciplinary and community- focused doctoral level program which would place a heavy accent on diversity and authentic partnerships between schools of public health and the world of practice. Among the Program's key elements are that each student has a community, as well as an academic mentor, and that bi -directional learning takes place through which students undertake residencies in the field and community partners are regularly invited into the classroom to share their expertise and engage in co-learning. Finally, each DrPH student participates in a nine month "Dr.PH- in -Action" module through which each new cohort identifies a health disparity of particular concern to a local health department or agency, studies the problem within a broad ecological framework, and meets with multiple stakeholders to further understand the many dimensions of the problem. This rich collaborative learning experience culminates in the students' presentation of a substantive report, with recommendations for action, which the health department or agency then may use to help address the health disparity issue of concern. This accent on real world problem solving, together with its emphasis on cultural humility, community capacity building, ethics, and community based participatory research, has helped the new DrPH Program, and the larger School, attract growing numbers of students from underserved communities.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, audience members will be able to

1.Identify and describe three key elements of Berkeley's inderdisciplinary DrPH Program
• Describe the Program's "Dr.PH-in-Action Program" and how it funds to help link the program to the world of public health practice
• Describe the Program's community mentoring approach including two opportunities and two challenges it was encountered.

Keywords: Teaching,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.