Florida University Wins $2.5 Million for Health Training

The University of Florida was one of ten public health schools to receive a 2011 Public Health Training Center Program grant to support public health workers. The program will fund 37 public health training centers providing high-level training to 500,000 public health and health care practitioners.

UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, jointly with Florida A&M University’s Institute of Public Health, will establish the Rural South Public Health Training Center. The center will serve counties in Florida where people do not have enough access to medical care. Rural northern Florida will benefit most. The money will support public health workers and internships for Masters of Public Health students. enhancing and improving public health services and community access.

The programs will focus on core public health skills, and skills about prevention and management of HIV/AIDS.

The center will provide free online continuing education for Florida public health workers. Up to 500 public health workers per year can receive continuing education credits for distance courses. It will offer certificates in public health foundations and prevention and management of HIV for professionals with a bachelor’s degree who want intensive training. It will include a series of online skill-building programs for public health workers.

According to Mary Peoples-Sheps, senior associate dean for public health at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, in a press release, this center will identify the needs of the residents and medical professionals tailoring the training and services required for those medically underserved with an emphasis related to HIV/AIDS.

The Rural South Public Health Training Center will assess residents’ health needs and conduct projects collaborating with state and community partners. The center will offer paid internships for UF and FAMU Master of Public Health students. The interns will conduct projects that help medically underserved people.

“By conducting annual needs assessments and developing ongoing and sustainable collaborative projects, the center will develop an infrastructure for student placements that promotes service-based student learning and addresses significant community needs,” said Peoples-Sheps in a press release.

In January, a collaborative project by UF and FAMU faculty and students and a community faith-based program in Gadsden County, Fla., will address the needs of people who have been in prison.