Kia James (left), USF assistant professor and MPH coordinator, talks with Barbara Garcia (right), San Francisco public health director, during the MPH launch events at USF on Oct. 19. More pictures.
The
University of San Francisco’s new master of public health (MPH) program received a ringing endorsement recently from Barbara Garcia, MPA '01, San Francisco’s
public health director, who called the program a much-needed training ground
for the next generation of public health leaders.
Garcia’s
comments came during the MPH official launch event on campus Oct. 19, where she spoke about her first year as director and the
challenges facing urban health care — including a dearth of up-and-coming
leaders.
With more
than 25 percent of government health workers from across the U.S. eligible to retire
by 2012, the creation of the MHP program puts USF in a strong position to
contribute leaders in the fields of biostatistics, health education,
environmental health, nutrition, and others.
USF’s MPH
offers advanced training and, critically, internships to build hands-on
experience for health professionals in a way that hasn’t been done before. It’s
a model that has worked well in nursing, another field facing large numbers of
retirees in coming years. “We have done a really great job on the nursing side
of health, I believe, and we have a lot of internship programs and teaching
programs in our San Francisco General Hospital,” Garcia said. “Our goal is to
do the same for public health students.”
It’s no
surprise then that USF MPH students are likely to be among the most
sought-after interns and, down the line, employees for organization like the
San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) — which provides affordable
health care to 55,000 uninsured residents.
Garcia’s
support is just the latest sign that USF is leading in the fields of nursing
and health care. The MPH program, which caters
to recent college graduates with at least a bachelor’s degree and professionals
from any field, emphasizes emerging health, critical needs areas of national
and global health, and areas that link education and health-related services.
“As
health care leaders retire, baby boomers age into their golden years and
require more care, and more people become health conscious, we believe the
health professions are a vital arena to train students in and also to serve the
greater good,” said Judith Karshmer, dean of School of Nursing and Health
Professions.
