Incorporating Practicing Physicians into the Public Health Academic Milieu: A successful academician practice learning initiative

In 2010, a Family Physician and Health Authority for a rural Texas county decided to earn a Masters of Public Health. Like many rural health authorities, he had no formal schooling in Public Health beyond his Family Practice Residency. In one of his courses, the Family Physician was paired with a graduate student to work on an asthma research project. As part of their inquiry, data was developed around issues of health care and access to care in the rural county. Under the instructor's guidance, the pair has prepared presentations for local health boards and coalitions. These presentations stimulated inquiries by the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, and local health boards and coalitions. Advantages of pairing graduate students with practicing physicians are the cross fertilization of ideas, and the making available of academic tools and assets. The synergy developed from this linking of academia, public health and private practice is an example of what opportunities are available to creative health care practitioners. A key to the process was the availability of on-line educational opportunities. These pairings and opportunities are limited by available time of the practicing physicians and the availability of distance learning and communications suites that will allow the partnership to develop. We believe these limitations are not insurmountable when public health entities commit to support workforce development through distance-based education. Pairing private physicians and academic units has the potential to distribute educational opportunities and advantages to parts of the nation where no such opportunities currently exist.