Public health scholarship program - the covid-19 pandemic has exposed a weak and lagging public health workforce in the united states

In addressing existing health disparities and preparing for the next public health emergency, IT will be important to have a well-trained and experienced public health workforce. Our goal is to build physician leaders in the public health workforce capable of executing the core public health functions and the ten essential public health services using a prevention and social determinants of health framework in varied public health-related settings. Objective 1: to enhance and strengthen the existing relationships that ucla preventive medicine fellowship program has with 1) LOS angeles county department of public health, 2) LOS angeles county department of health services, 3) southern california addiction medicine consortium and provide scholarships to allow 6 physician trainees each year a) to exercise their knowledge and hone their skills related to the core public health functions and ten essential public health services in varied public health settings, b) to significantly engage in prevention and recovery activities related to covid-19 and other public health emergencies, c) to actively explore public health employment opportunities in varied settings. Objective 2: to develop the competency of physicians at various levels of training (medical students, residents, fellows) in implementing concepts of prevention and social determinants of health to improve public health by offering workshops and/or field experiences to at least 50 physician trainees each year. Objective 3: to strengthen physician trainees' involvement in public health preparedness and recovery activities through community-based partnerships, by offering workshops and/or field experiences to at least 10 physician trainees each year. We propose to provide scholarship funding to six physicians accepted into the ucla preventive medicine program to pursue their master degrees in public health in health policy and management track. We aim to retain physicians in the public health workforce by offering them at least three months of public health field experiences in varied settings, helping them develop scholarly products, encouraging national public health conference attendance and exposing them to various job opportunities in public health. We will set up an evaluation process to understand the health disparities of the population served, the cultural and linguistic needs of the population served, the educational needs of the trainees, the quality of the rotation experiences offered and to continuously improve the training experiences offered. We are requesting for the funding preference of this opportunity based on US training at least 20% of our trainees from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and graduating 50% trainees who work in under-served settings.