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

Abstract #114775

Ian Lapp, PhD, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10032, Ngina Lythcott, DrPH, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, Suite 1030, New York, NY 10032, and Destiny Q. Ramjohn, BA, Mailman School of Public Health, Center for Applied Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th St., 12th Floor Suite 1206, New York, NY 10032, 212-305-7433, dqr1@columbia.edu.

To improve the process of creating the next generation of effective leaders in public health, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and an accredited school of public health are engaged in a three-year pilot program. This pilot, a first of its kind, is testing how students, faculty, administrators and practitioners can work together in a joint education and leadership development effort. The goal of this initiative is to develop a model for leadership development that can be expanded nationwide to other academic institutions. This unique program involves an exchange of CDC leadership and faculty along with tuition scholarships for a select group of MPH students. These scholarship students complete their MPH in two years including a six month extended practicum with the New York State Department of Health and other public health agencies. The graduates of this program then move on to four years of full time employment with the CDC.

This pilot project provides valuable insight into designing effective partnerships for leadership development between public health institutions and schools of public health. An ongoing evaluation has assessed the first two years of this initiative and the process that went into the development of the program. Through in-depth interviews of students, faculty, practitioners, and stakeholders along with focus groups with the general student body we have generated a model for addressing the challenges of institutional culture, consensus building around essential competencies, clarifying misperceptions about government health agencies, and the effective design of long-term practicum.

Learning Objectives:

• Outline the major challenges for collaborative leadership development initiatives between public health institutions and schools of public health;
• Describe the role that consensus building plays in achieving shared competencies;
• List the steps needed for the smooth exchange of faculty and practitioners between public health institutions and schools of public health;
• Explain the learning components needed to successfully integrate into a two-year MPH curriculum a six-month practicum in multiple public health agency;
• Develop plans for a leadership development initiative between students, faculty, and practitioners.

Keywords: Leadership, Curricula

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.