Partnering for success: A collaboration between three health departments and select academic public health institutions

Though schools of public health provide high quality classroom experiences for their graduate epidemiology students, it is often difficult for these students to gain applied research skills without hands on experiences in public health settings.  The Epi Scholars program, an innovative competency-based applied epidemiology summer internship program for graduate epidemiology students, fills this gap by providing paid epidemiological and surveillance internships at local health departments in New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle. Since 2007, this workforce development opportunity has bridged the gap between academia, public health practice, and research. This poster session will describe the successes and challenges of scaling up this training program.

 In 2012, we sent a survey to the 74 participants from 2007-2012. With 58 (78%) alumni completing the survey, key results include:

• Of the 68% of alumni currently employed or recently offered a paid position, 88% are employed in public health capacities at leading organizations including: NYC Health Department, CDC, NIH, EPA, and Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities.

 

• 55% have already presented/ plan to present Epi Scholars research at professional conferences or meetings.

 To date, the three program sites have successfully collaborated with each other and 15 select academic partners in a semi-formal arrangement without a memorandum of understanding or other contract. Though the program continues to be successful, it faces significant challenges as it expands to additional sites. Development of formal organizational linkages between health departments and academic public health institutions can address these challenges and result in mutually beneficial relationships.