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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Lillian U. Smith, DrPH, MPH, CHES, Director, SC Public Health Consortium, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, 800 Sumter Street, HPEB, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-4788, smithlu@gwm.sc.edu, Joe Kyle, MPH, Director, Office of Performance Management, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, Mills/Jarrett Complex--Box 101106, Columbia, SC 29211, Lisa Waddell, MD, Deputy Commissioner for Health Services, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, Mills/Jarrett Complex--Box 101106, Columbia, SC 29211, and Donna L. Richter, EdD, FAAHB, Dean, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208.

This panel will present the innovative academic/practice partnership of the SC Public Health Consortium (Consortium) and its efforts to improve the workforce and public health infrastructure. The Consortium was started under the Academic Health Department grant program of the Association of Schools of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen the partnership between the Arnold School of Public Health (A-SPH) at the University of South Carolina and the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). When funding for the Academic Health Department grant ended, the practice and academic partners in SC decided to continue the collaboration through the Consortium.

Using the findings from the initial program, the partners developed and jointly funded a director's position for the Consortium and retained strong leadership from the academic partner through the direction of the dean of the school of public health and through the practice partner through the direction of the deputy commissioner of health services. The Consortium also retained its guiding body, the Consortium Advisory Committee, a multi-disciplinary group of DHEC and A-SPH representatives.

Building on the long history of collaborative efforts between the two institutions and their individual missions to improve the health of all South Carolinians, the Consortium has thrived and developed several innovative programs incorporated into an overarching Memorandum of Agreement, including a joint research agenda, a public health practice post-doctoral program, and a comprehensive professional development program.

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