Expanding Our Depth, Breadth, and Reach - Fall 2022 - Advances Magazine - School of Public Health

Center for Public Health Systems
The School of Public Health launched the Center for Public Health Systems (CPHS) to add to its portfolio of public health workforce initiatives. CPHS conducts field-defining public health systems research and provides direct service to health departments across the U.S. with technical assistance and evaluation work. Affiliated faculty and staff also conduct innovative research on public health workforce, finance, infrastructure, and policy both on the national level and in collaboration with Minnesota’s public health system.

Consortium for Workforce Research in Public Health (CWORPH)
The SPH Center for Public Health Systems is leading CWORPH, a unique collaboration of six U.S. universities, including Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University, that conducts rigorous, practice-oriented research to help government health departments identify and understand how to fill their workforce gaps. A first-of-its-kind joint $4.7 million cooperative agreement from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supports the consortium.

Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH)
UMASH is an invaluable resource for the health, safety, and wellbeing of agricultural workers, owner-operators, and communities in the Upper Midwest. A collaboration of the School of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Farm Medicine Center, Migrant Clinicians Network, and the Minnesota Department of Health, UMASH was recently renewed for a third five-year cycle with $9.29 million from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

TRaining in Informatics for Underrepresented Minorities in Public Health (TRIUMPH) Consortium
The School of Public Health and School of Nursing are leading TRIUMPH, a five-school consortium to advance health equity by creating pathways to careers in public health informatics and technology for underrepresented students and individuals already in the public health workforce. Funded with a $7.9 million grant from the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, TRIUMPH plans to train more than 600 students and public health professionals at universities that have historically served Black, Latinx, and Native American people.

New education opportunities

Minnesota Public Health Corps
The School of Public Health is partnering with AmeriCorps to provide training for the new Minnesota Public Health Corps to increase immediate capacity within the public health field and create a diverse pipeline of future public health employees. 150 members will deliver critical public health services through community engagement and community health needs assessment, with a priority on serving communities with the highest needs.

Public Health Data Science MPH
Many public health professionals need to glean meaningful insights and findings from a growing deluge of data, but lack the necessary computing and statistical analysis skills to do so. To address that problem, the School of Public Health introduced its Public Health Data Science MPH. This innovative new program — one of only a handful of such programs in the U.S. — offers students the opportunity to combine public health and data science into one degree.

Minnesota Prepared
Minnesota Prepared, a collaboration among the School of Public Health, the Minnesota Department of Health, and other governmental public health agencies across the state, was created to broaden the pathway to careers in public health agencies and provide training and education in emergency preparedness and response for current public health staff, public health students, and future public health workers. It’s funded via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Crisis Response Cooperative Agreement.