Major Grant Helps UB Train Next-Gen Public Health Practitioners

SPHHP has received $1.3 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency, through its public health scholarship program. The program funds graduate tuition for Master of Public Health (MPH) program and Advanced Public Health Certificate students from underrepresented backgrounds from Western New York. The emphasis is on creating a path to graduate education for these students by helping finance their public health education.

SPHHP has a strong track record of training public health professionals, graduating 95% of its students and placing 99% of job-seeking graduates in jobs. Still, the country and Western New York suffer from a severe shortage of public health workers exacerbated by the pandemic.

“This funding is a big deal for our school and the university, and especially Western New York, which will benefit tremendously from an influx of much-needed public health practitioners in the coming years,” says Jean Wactawski-Wende, PhD, SPHHP dean. “The scholarship program incentivizes individuals to pursue careers in public health and removes an important financial barrier.”

“HRSA’s scholarship program paves the way for a new generation of public health researchers, activists, health promoters, health educators and practitioners,” says Gregory Homish, PhD, chair and professor in the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior and principal investigator on the grant. Co-investigators include Heather Orom, PhD, associate professor and director of graduate studies; and Sarahmona Przybyla, PhD, assistant dean, director of undergraduate public health programs, and assistant professor.

Equally important, the new generation will comprise students from backgrounds that previously lacked opportunities to pursue graduate education.

“HRSA grant funds provide pathways to public health careers for those from economically, educationally and environmentally disadvantaged or racially and ethnically underrepresented backgrounds who often do not see a clear path forward,” said Kim Krytus, PhD, SPHHP director of graduate public health programs and program director for the HRSA grant.

“Key to this program is training future practitioners to prevent pandemics and other public health emergencies and eliminate health disparities in medically underserved communities, which our graduates will be well-prepared to do,” Krytus said. 

Twenty students joined the program this spring, 17 of whom are enrolled in the MPH program and three who are in one of the graduate certificate programs the school offers. Just over half of the first cohort of HRSA-funded students are the first in their family to attend college.

Trainees get extended field training for in-depth exposure to public health practice, a certificate in Public Health Leadership from Coursera, and increased community engagement with SPHHP’s Western New York partner organizations. Training includes core public health competencies, strategies to eliminate health disparities, and emergency and pandemic preparedness response.

“We are educating the future of public health to be adaptable to changes in our populations and environment, while being prepared for public health crises that emerge across the globe,” says Homish.

Naike Belizaire, a second-year MPH student who grew up in Haiti, is one of those future professionals. The HRSA funding is critical to her ability to pursue a graduate degree in public health.

“I would not have been able to graduate on time if I didn’t receive the scholarship…as a full-time independent student who works part time, I wouldn’t be able to pay for school and my living expenses at the same time,” she says.

Belizaire is exploring the possibility of becoming a public health program manager focusing on refugee health, Black maternal child health and predicting pandemics and epidemics in underserved communities, or possibly following a research path.

For Andy Canizares, HRSA funding “definitely relieves some stress and anxiety” as he enters his final semester of the dual master’s program in public health and social work.

“I felt a sense of relief when I learned I was accepted into the HRSA cohort,” says Canizares, a Cuban immigrant whose family relocated to Buffalo from Havana when he was an infant. “I come from a low-income background, and I moved into an apartment with my partner for the first time in my life before this school year started. Financial stress has been a constant in my life and, for the first time, I think I can experience some peace with my financial situation, thanks to this grant,” he says.

Canizares is currently doing his field placement training at CCNY, a Buffalo-based nonprofit.

The HRSA program “is a great opportunity for our school to help train the public health workforce,” says Homish.

“We’re on the forefront of graduating students who possess the in-depth skills that public health employers need to improve health outcomes. Our graduates are sought after by employers because of this, and through the HRSA program, we’ll now graduate a larger number of highly skilled candidates for the workforce,” Homish says