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JCTC Pathways to UofL Initiative
The University of Louisville (UofL) School of Public Health & Information Sciences (SPHIS) received a $300,000 grant to educate the next generation of diverse undergraduate public health professionals from Genentech's Health Equity and Diversity in STEM Innovation Fund. The project, led by Tammi Alvey Thomas, PhD, MSSW, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Public Health Practice, and Undergraduate Education, runs until December 31, 2025.
Objectives
The Genentech-funded project at UofL SPHIS is designed to strengthen pathways to public health undergraduate education for students enrolled in the Jefferson Community & Technical College (JCTC), Kentucky’s largest two-year, comprehensive community and technical college. The aim is to introduce public health degrees and careers to JCTC students with an emphasis on STEM areas of biostatistics and epidemiology. JCTC has a student population that is approximately 35% underrepresented minorities (URM). Thus, connecting with their community college students also supports the larger goal of having a more diverse and representative workforce in public health.
Format
Interested transfer students from JCTC will enroll in the undergraduate public health degree program at UofL SPHIS. Upon program entry, students will be assigned a practice mentor from the community and an academic mentor from SPHIS in biostatistics or epidemiology, in addition to their academic advisor. The mentoring team will work collaboratively to enhance students’ experiences and provide additional learning opportunities within the field (e.g., job shadowing, experiential learning, etc.). Students will also participate in proactive academic advising and a focused student success program to enhance their degree completion.
Interested students should email the project director, Dr. Tammi Alvey Thomas, at tammi.thomas@louisville.edu.
Background
The program will assist in addressing the public health personnel shortage and the diversity of the public health workforce. A 2021 report by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Public Health National Center for Innovations found that “state and local governmental public health departments need an 80% increase in their workforce to provide a minimum set of public health services to the nation.”1 This equals 80,000 employment positions nationwide to maintain essential health department functions, without a pandemic. There is a need to continue to increase enrollment in public health degree programs to support the national workforce shortage.
Diversity is a key indicator of workforce development.2 More diverse and representative workforces are better able to serve diverse populations and be responsive to cultural values, environmental concerns, beliefs and community practices.3 Yet most employees at federal, state, and local health departments are non-Hispanic White.4 Parity in workforce composition was also one of the four overarching goals of Healthy People 2020.5 A diverse workforce is better positioned to address health disparities, create innovative public health approaches, and improve public health outcomes.6
References
1 Staffing Up: Workforce Levels Needed to Provide Basic Public Health Services for All Americans (Research Brief) https://debeaumont.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Staffing-Up-FINAL.pdf
2 Gebbie KM, Rosenstock L, Hernandez LM. Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2002.
3 Satcher D. The importance of diversity to public health. Public Health Rep. 2008;123(3):263.
4 Leider JP, Harper E, Shon JW, Sellers K, Castrucci BC. Job satisfaction and expected turnover among federal, state, and local public health practitioners. Am J Public Health. 2016;106(10):1782–1788.
5 Coronado, F; Beck, AJ; Shah, G; Young, JL; Sellers, K; Leider, JP. Understanding the Dynamics of Diversity in the Public Health Workforce, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice: July/August 2020 - Volume 26 - Issue 4.
6 Coronado F, Beck AJ, Shah G, Young JL, Sellers K, Leider JP. Understanding the Dynamics of Diversity in the Public Health Workforce. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2020 Jul/Aug;26(4):389-392.
