Practice-Based Learning

As with our Collaborative Projects, a goal of the Southwest Regional Public Health Training Center is to provide opportunities for MPH students to participate in field placements at public or nonprofit health agencies and organizations in medically underserved communities. Our aim is to provide these students with experience and to build the competencies required to meet the needs of MUAs and MUPs once they graduate and enter into the public health workforce. Programs involving MPH students are built upon the goals of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH)’s Competency and Learning Outcomes Development Projects.

A 2008 ASPH policy brief, "Confronting the Public Health Workforce Crisis" suggests that the nation will experience a shortfall of more than 250,000 public health workers by 2020. This report emphasizes a critical need not only for educating more students in the field of public health, but also to “strengthen practice experiences for public health students” and “promote a more diverse public health workforce by offering financial incentives and training opportunities to underrepresented minorities and to students focused on reducing racial and ethnic health disparities.”

Through its Practice-Based Learning opportunities and Collaborative Projects, we believe we are helping to produce a future public health workforce that is better trained to meet the needs of medically underserved populations and areas within our region.