Forming an academic health department: a case example.

The disconnect between public health practice and its academic base has major implications for training and hiring the future public health workforce, for practice-based research, and ultimately for improving the public's health. To bridge this disconnect, the University of Tennessee Department of Public Health and the Knox County Health Department established an academic health department in early 2011 through a memorandum of understanding. This action followed a long history of informal collaborations, built on mutual trust. The memorandum of understanding identified the scope of academic health department activities, clarified responsibilities of each organization, and created a shared coordinator position. Accomplishments during the first 18 months include improving the efficiency and effectiveness of student field placements; establishing collaborative learning sessions delivered jointly by University of Tennessee Department of Public Health faculty and Knox County Health Department staff; and exploring opportunities for practice-based research. The shared coordinator position and an active steering committee are considered fundamental to achieving sustainable academic-practice linkages.

Ozone and PM2.5 exposure and acute pulmonary health effects: a study of hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

To address the lack of research on the pulmonary health effects of ozone and fine particulate matter (

The Local Public Health System Assessment of MAPP/The National Public Health Performance Standards Local Tool: a community-based, public health practice and academic collaborative approach to implementation.

The Local Public Health System Assessment (LPHSA) in Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP), and the Local Tool of the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (LT/NPHPSP)--which are one in the same-attempt to assess the capacity to provide the essential public health services. Both tools have been utilized in various public health practice settings; however, users have been challenged with the complexity of the tools and time and human resource investment necessary to complete them. The recent Journal of Public Health Management and Practice issue focus on MAPP provided several examples of LPHSA implementation, both as a component of MAPP and as a stand-alone activity in the context of performance standards. The uniqueness in our approach involved a collaborative between a community-based organization, a public health academic program, and a governmental public health agency which conducted the LPHSA in a manner that did not require actual modification of the tool itself, was practical and feasible, and was of benefit and value to all partners.

Students in the community: MAPP as a framework for academic-public health practice linkages.

The importance of establishing and sustaining academic-public health practice linkages has been a point of emphasis in the Institute of Medicine reports on public health in 1988 and in 2003. One likely barrier to fostering such linkages is the absence of a clear framework that matches academic requirements to practice realities. This article describes how an academic-public health practice collaborative has used MAPP in a health planning course for Master of Public Health students over a 3-year period, allowing students the opportunity to work in communities with public health practitioners. The specific focus for each of these 3 years has varied, but underlying the work has been a consistent approach to teaching and working in communities with MAPP as the frame of reference. The outcome of this work has been of value to students and faculty, to public health department staff, and, most important, to the communities where this work has taken place. This suggests that there is great potential for using MAPP as a framework for establishing and strengthening academic-public health practice linkages.