REIMAGINING PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION FOR THE 21st st CENTURY A PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION THAT MEETS THE WORLD’S GROWING DEMAND FOR TRAINED EXPERTS NO LONGER ONLY MEANS ‘SIT IN A CLASSROOM, GET A DEGREE, AND BE DONE’. COLUMBIA MAILMAN SCHOOL IS EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEARNING WITH MORE FLEXIBLE, ACCESSIBLE OFFERINGS, ACROSS THE PUBLIC HEALTH CAREER SPAN AND BEYOND. By Paula Derrow
There’s a crisis in the field of public health, one that was brewing long before COVID-19 reared its head. At a time when the nation— and the world—most needs a robust public health workforce, there is a shortage in the number of public health professionals trained to confront 21st century problems like climate change or the epidemic of obesity, not to mention the next pandemic. An analysis from the de Beaumont Foundation and the Public Health National Center for Innovations found that for our nation’s minimum public health requirements to be met, we need an 80 percent increase in people hired in the field.
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COLUM B I A P U BLI C H E A LT H
Closing the gap starts with education, and Columbia Mailman School is continuing its tradition of leading innovation in public health education. In the fall of 2021, at the behest of Dean Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, the school convened a Lifelong Learning Taskforce of faculty and staff with a mission to shape the future of public health education. “We went into it saying, ‘The sky’s the limit!’” says Michael A. Joseph, PhD, MPH, vice dean for education and associate professor of Epidemiology. “It was exciting to discuss what comes next and figure out how to bring everything to fruition.” The first item on the Taskforce’s agenda was to document all the unconventional learning opportunities that the School already offered. When they added everything up, “it was clear that we already had excellent examples of cutting-edge courses in every department,” says Roxanne Russell, PhD, assistant dean of digital learning and Taskforce co-facilitator. The second objective was to continue to reenvision public health education. “As a school, we are constantly imagining new skills people will need, and thinking about how we can get people up to speed,” says Heather Krasna, PhD, Taskforce member and associate dean of career and professional development.
2023–2024 EDITION
