Undergraduate public health education and future support for public health

The Consensus Conference on Undergraduate Public Health Education initiated a partnership between public health and arts and sciences educational organizations to operationalize the Institute of Medicine's 2003 recommendation that “…all undergraduates should have access to education in public health”. The Consensus Conference, sponsored by ASPH, APTR and the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) recommended that all colleges and universities offer introductory course work in public health (“Public Health 101”) and epidemiology (“Epidemiology 101”) satisfying social science and science distribution requirements respectively. These should be offered as part of general education in order to develop an educated citizenry. Students introduced to public health as part of undergraduate education are more likely to pursue careers in public health and to support public health programs and infrastructure. Public health practitioners and local and state health departments should be integrated into this effort through case studies, guest lecturers, and service-learning experiences. Curriculum frameworks and learning outcomes for these courses were included in the reports of the conference. Minors in public health were encouraged including a focus area such as global health. To support these efforts web sites should be developed to provide information on undergraduate public health and to share curriculum materials. Faculty development efforts should assist colleges and universities in developing new introductory public health courses including participation by public health practitioners. Panelists will discuss the development of these recommendations and plans for implementations in the over 1900 colleges and universities without Schools or Programs in public health.