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HRSA


Principal support for the Public Health Training Center (PHTC) is provided through a grant from the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA), United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

 

NE ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT


New England's Newest Training Centers

Thanks to new funding released from the federal Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act (national Health Reform legislation), the BUSPH-led New England Alliance for Public Health Workforce Development (“Alliance”) will now be one of four Public Health Training Centers (PHTCs) based in New England.

Since 2000, Boston University has been the academic center of the Alliance, one of a national network of PHTCs funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).  The Alliance has been a partnership of schools and programs of public health (Harvard, Yale, UMass, Tufts) working together to assess the training needs of local and state practitioners, and deliver relevant training programs to improve the practice of public health throughout all of New England. 

The additional funds have allowed selection of 10 new PHTCs, now totaling 37, to address the public health workforce needs in 49 states, and to provide highly skilled training to nearly 500,000 additional public health and related health care practitioners (see: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/08/20110831a.html).  According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “These funds will help health departments around the country maximize the impact of the essential services they provide every day, and build the public health workforce to ensure we’re ready to meet the public health challenges of tomorrow.”

In New England, HRSA’s recent awardees include Dartmouth University to address the needs of the public health workforce in New Hampshire; Yale University (with Brown University) to cover Connecticut and Rhode Island; and University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which will focus on diabetes and related diseases in three underserved locations in Western Massachusetts. 

Due to the presence of the new PHTCs in New England, HRSA has recently approved the Alliance's request to refocus its activities to address the needs of Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine.  Our academic partners now include the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of New England (Portland, Maine). 

Dr. Anne Fidler, Director of the Alliance and BUSPH’s Assistant Dean for Public Health Practice, sees the increase in funding as an excellent opportunity to improve the work the Alliance has been doing.  “Over the years, the Alliance has made great strides in providing much-needed training to practitioners in under-served areas throughout New England, with relatively modest funding.  We are excited that the funding of these new Centers will allow us to focus our resources to further our efforts in Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont.” 

The four PHTCs plan to meet in early 2012 to discuss how best to collaborate and coordinate activities to maximize the benefit to the public health workforce and the practice of public health throughout New England.