Transforming the public health workforce: reporting back from APHA
But how can I report back when I wasn't even there?
This week, several thousand of my closest colleagues in public health met in Atlanta for the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. I have attended the APHA Conference many times before, but this year I was unable to be there in person. My team was honoured to present findings from our research on the topic of the Public Health Workforce.
Please see below for the recording of our presentation, delivered remotely.
There’s lots more to say but I’ll save it for future episodes. I welcome conversation and questions in the comments, and please watch out for opportunities to continue the discussion.
Thank you so much Dr. Schenk. I absolutely love you saying what has been on my mind for years like you ALWAYS do. I see so many LLCs in the author list - this is a side effect of people leaving the profession to freelance (like me) because we were driven out. I always thought it was ironic that we would study and promote workplace wellness, yet our public health workplaces were absolutely toxic - "trauma inducing" rather than "trauma-informed". I especially agree with your point about outdated technology - I set up an online mentoring program just to "retool" public health practitioners (e.g., statisticians!) into "data scientists" so they can have more opportunity. And I mean opportunity outside (or adjacent to) public health, so again, it's a workaround rather than a strategy to solve the problem. I agree so much with you about the abusive hiring process - many of my customers have suffered this. I hate to say it, but I am so mad at APHA because I feel like they "let this happen" through their lack of strategic advocacy and bias toward industry, but of course, it's not only their fault. Obviously, they have failed in their advocacy for adequate funding. So it's ironic you are presenting there remotely by video. You are very brave and courageous. Thank you for speaking truth to power so eloquently.