In response to the widespread scarcity of well being care professionals throughout the nation, quite a few greater schooling establishments over the previous yr have opened new schools and colleges to teach and practice the following technology of well being trade professionals — and they’re prioritizing the ideas of range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) as a part of their efforts to deal with well being care inequities and workforce issues. Under are just some examples of those new applications.
George Mason College, Faculty of Public Well being
The Faculty of Public Well being at George Mason College (Mason) launched in November. Going ahead, the multidisciplinary school will make the most of public well being schooling, analysis, and observe to eradicate well being care disparities in underserved communities and develop a various workforce by means of graduate and undergraduate applications. It’s the first school in Virginia to focus totally on public well being.
The faculty was renamed and reorganized from the previous Faculty of Well being and Human Companies. Sixty p.c of Mason’s Faculty of Public Well being scholar physique are from traditionally underrepresented teams and 38 p.c of undergraduates are first technology. Diploma applications are targeted on world and neighborhood well being, well being administration and coverage, nursing, vitamin and meals research, and social work.
Since its formation, the faculty has drawn help from notable policymakers, nonprofit leaders, and teachers within the public well being area.
“In some ways, Mason’s Faculty of Public Well being represents ASPPH’s [Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health] imaginative and prescient for the way forward for public well being schooling — one targeted on [DEI] and social justice,” says Laura Magaña, PhD, president and CEO of ASPPH. “Mason’s longstanding dedication to inclusive excellence fosters an atmosphere the place numerous views are welcome and nurtured to thrive. The interprofessional nature of the faculty additional strengthens collaboration and evokes new approaches to inquiry.”
Georgetown College, Faculty of Well being
In July, Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., opened its Faculty of Well being, an interdisciplinary program as soon as a part of the previous Faculty of Nursing & Well being Sciences, from which Georgetown’s new Faculty of Nursing was additionally launched. The Faculty of Well being will largely deal with coverage and public well being issues with an emphasis on addressing historic inequities and disparities in underrepresented communities.
“The elements that form the well being of people and populations are each advanced and intersectional,” says Christopher King, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Well being. “It can take unconventional practices and insurance policies to undo a historical past of harms and really foster a society the place all individuals can obtain their full well being potential. This dedication is very vital on this second of intense social change. I’m enthusiastic about unifying our collective strengths below this new umbrella and getting mobilized for significant and sustainable influence.”
The varsity presents bachelor’s levels in world well being, well being care administration and coverage, and human science in addition to grasp’s levels in well being methods administration and world well being. As a part of their program, college students have entry to hands-on, culturally competent analysis work. For instance, two undergraduate public well being college students have been researching reproductive and sexual well being in Ghana all through the autumn 2022 semester.
College of La Verne, Faculty of Well being and Neighborhood Effectively-Being
The College of La Verne (ULV), a Hispanic-Serving Establishment (HSI) in Los Angeles County, Calif., opened the Faculty of Well being and Neighborhood Effectively-Being in July, with a holistic imaginative and prescient that features using information and the examine of the consequences that inequities, social determinants, and cultural agility have on neighborhood and particular person well being. By putting a major emphasis on DEI, the faculty hopes to coach, recruit, and help a culturally competent and numerous scholar inhabitants and future workforce that will likely be educated and consultant of the communities they work in.
“As a proud [HSI], we perceive not solely the altering dynamics of well being care however the want for more and more numerous college and graduates who mirror the inhabitants of the larger Southern California area,” says Devorah Lieberman, ULV president.
Undergraduate levels are provided in well being administration, nursing, kinesiology, and psychology, and graduate applications embody a doctoral diploma in scientific psychology in addition to grasp’s levels in athletic coaching, little one life, marriage and household remedy, and doctor assistant observe. The faculty additionally companions with neighborhood suppliers and nonprofit organizations to offer college students entry to hands-on studying experiences, analysis alternatives, scientific coaching, and internships.
Bryant College, Faculty of Well being and Behavioral Sciences
The Faculty of Well being and Behavioral Sciences at Bryant College in Rhode Island welcomed its first courses in June. The varsity implements an interdisciplinary method to well being care schooling by incorporating information analytics and enterprise with well being, cognitive, and behavioral sciences. The first aim is to make sure college students are ready to fulfill the calls for of the data-heavy well being and STEM fields.
As a part of its mission, the varsity can be dedicated to the concept of social duty by selling DEI amongst college and college students and fascinating in analysis and schooling that addresses historic inequities and environmental safety.
“Well being care is a data-intensive trade,” says Kirsten Hokeness, PhD, director of the Faculty of Well being and Behavioral Sciences. “Specialists who can remodel information into significant insights for quite a few and numerous stakeholders are urgently wanted and
in excessive demand.”
Together with present undergraduate applications within the well being care subject, reminiscent of biology, well being sciences, and psychology, the varsity presents new levels in well being care analytics and train and motion science. The varsity additionally homes the college’s doctor assistant research graduate program.
Webster College, Faculty of Science and Well being
Webster College in St. Louis launched the Faculty of Science in Well being in June to deal with the vital scarcity of well being trade employees within the area. The college goals to enroll roughly 1,750 college students, or about one-third of its scholar inhabitants, within the well being sciences subject by 2027.
Undergraduate applications embody biology, chemistry, train science, nursing, and psychology. Grasp’s diploma applications embody biomedical sciences, counseling, environmental administration, gerontology, human providers, and science administration and management. The faculty additionally presents a doctoral diploma in nurse anesthesia observe.
By a $1 million grant from the St. Louis County Division of Public Well being, the faculty is working to enhance psychological well being providers for sufferers from underserved and immigrant communities. The funding is getting used to coach college students in culturally responsive counseling by means of the Webster College Institute of Medical Scholarship.
“We now have to ensure we now have counselors serving these communities utilizing counseling approaches which can be culturally acceptable,” says Muthoni Musangali, PhD, the Webster College counseling professor overseeing the grant. “We are going to bridge the divide between individuals and providers and construct these vital connections to assist handle the underlying psychological points earlier than they manifest into one thing far more severe.”●
Erik Cliburn is a senior workers author for INSIGHT Into Range.
This text was printed in our December 2022 difficulty.
