Report on Public Health partnerships

Posted by on November 18, 2005

The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) has recently released a report on the Trans-Association Partnership Project (TAPP), a unique set of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) planning grants that paired accredited Schools of Public Health (SPH) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) that offer graduate degrees in public health.

The report is available at http://www.asph.org/UserFiles/trans_assoc.pdf

Two of the projects described involved community-based research.

TAPP was the brainchild of a group of academic public health leaders seeking innovative ways to cultivate research in health disparities, particularly through partnerships between academic public health institutions. Through the efforts of Dr. Stephen Gehlbach, former Dean of the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Dr. Susan Scrimshaw, Dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Chair of the ASPH Diversity Committee, and Dr. Harris Pastides, former Dean of the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and past-chair of the ASPH Diversity Committee, ASPH worked with the Minority Health Professions Foundation to obtain funding from the CDC for this unique project that partnered faculty from minority-serving schools with faculty from accredited SPH. The funds were used to visit and forge relationships with minority-serving schools, as well as provide planning grant funds to support partnerships between researchers from CEPH-accredited SPH and HBCU that offer a graduate degree in public health. Ms. Ruth Harris, CDC Office of Workforce and Career Development, was instrumental in the realization of TAPP.

The five CDC-funded projects described in the report are:

Preventing Eye Injuries in Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in Florida project with co-PIs Dr. Linda Forst (University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health) and Dr. Cynthia Harris (Florida A&M University Institute of Public Health)

African Americans and HIV: Knowing Partner Risk/ project with co-PIs Dean Donna Richter (University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health) and Dr. Melva Thompson-Richardson (Florida A&M University Institute of Public Health).

Comprehensive Environmental Exposure Risk Profile of African Americans in the State of Florida-Partnership between University of South Florida School of Public Health and the Florida A&M Institute of Public Health.

Partnership to Address Asthma Prevention in the Lower Mississippi Delta-Partnership between Tulane University School of Public Health and Jackson State University School of Public Health.

From Haircuts and Soap Operas to Health Disparities-Partnership between University of Alabama School of Public Health and Jackson State University School of Public Health.