$1.2 Million Grant Will Enhance Public Health Services in Western New York

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University at Buffalo will receive $1.2 million from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration over the next five years to help launch a training center for New York State's public health work force.

UB partnered with the University at Albany School of Public Health to apply for the $3.25 million grant to establish the Empire State Public Health Training Center. Albany will receive $2 million. Only 24 grants were awarded this year and only one per state.

Donald Rowe, PhD, head of the UB public health school's Office of Public Health Practice, will manage UB's portion of the grant.

"The purpose of the grant is to enhance public health services in the state by increasing the technical, scientific, managerial and leadership competencies of the current and future public health workforce, " says Rowe.

"We need to enhance training opportunities for the practicing public health workforce to help them upgrade their skills so they can better serve their communities," says Rowe.

Underserved areas of Western New York are the primary targets of the UB portion of the grant, with plans to expand the initiative to a broader audience as capacity grows.

"With an estimated 40 percent of the current workforce eligible for retirement," notes Rowe, "training programs are essential to meet the public health needs of our communities, now and in the future."

The UB/Albany collaboration has four major objectives: assess annually the training needs and assets of the state's public health workforce; create new training programs; develop collaborative projects involving faculty, students and public health agencies across the state to improve public health services in medically underserved areas, and strengthen field placements for public health students.

Training programs, including webinars, online courses, workshops, seminars and other programs, will help support the existing workforce. UB public health students will undergo 240 hours of field training to prepare them to enter the field.

The program also will work to increase the number of student mentors in local health departments, laboratories, the state health department, health maintenance organizations and

not-for-profit organizations that can provide field training opportunities for UB's master's of public health students.

Mentors are unpaid, but will receive adjunct faculty appointments, campus parking permits and access to university libraries on both campuses.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.