Abstract
The Journey Pa’lante
APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo
A diverse public health workforce is essential to improve service delivery and targeted interventions for the underserved and enrich the pool of public health decision-makers to meet the needs of a diverse populace. However, the public health workforce is not representative of the population it serves. The US population is now made up of 18.7% Latina/o/x, however, of the 10,326 total US public health faculty 4% are Latino. Latinos represent only 5.4% of the NIH principal investigator pool and 6.2% of reviewers for the NIH Center for Scientific Review. The lack of representation in the public health workforce is preceded by the underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minority students; just 8.1% of doctoral degrees conferred at programs of public health were to Latinos. First-generation college students experience career barriers at higher rates due to factors such as a lack of support from faculty, an unwelcoming campus environment, and an underdeveloped career network. Among this group almost half identify as Latino. Underrepresented groups have difficulty moving through the educational pipeline as they may not have access to the same resources as those from other backgrounds who may have received advice on how to improve their CV, application, and test-taking and interview skills. Those that do matriculate may experience imposter syndrome, isolation, and loneliness as they may been one of the few of their racial/ethnic makeup in their institution. The lack of diversity among leadership makes it difficult to cultivate the careers of individuals who cannot find appropriate role models. Efforts to increase diversity in public health have generated recommendations on how to recruit and retain racial/ethnic minority trainees such as developing undergraduate public health training programs at minority-serving institutions to build communities of racial/ethnic minority students rather than recruiting individuals and providing racially/ethnically concordant role models and mentors. For nearly 50 years, The Latino Caucus for Public Health (LCPH) has served as an entry-point to the field of public health for Latino professionals and students. LCPH’s mission is to represent and advocate for the health interests of the Latino community, both within and outside the American Public Health Association, while providing leadership opportunities for students and young professionals to engage in research, policy, and advocacy efforts. Pa’LANTE (for Latino Advancement through Networking Training and Education) is a developing program within the Latino Caucus to identify and recruit talented Latinos in different phases of their education and careers and provide mentorship and career development.