Abstract
Goals and objectives:
The health of women, children, and families is fundamental to the health and prosperity of populations broadly. However public health planning, programming, and research in this broad area requires integration of evidence and practice in a life course framework and focus on eliminating the persistent and ubiquitous racial/ethnic, economic, and geographic disparities in health outcomes in MCH populations. The capacity to be an effective leader in the face of such complexity requires recruitment of trainees who reflect the backgrounds and perspectives of the communities they seek to serve, interdisciplinary training, and development of leadership skills to engage complex and newly emerging challenges.
The Emory University Centers of Excellence in MCH Education, Science, and Practice Program proposes to build on past success in training a diverse and impactful cadre of future leaders in MCH public health. Through collaboration and partnerships with the Morehouse School of Medicine Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI), the Georgia Leadership & Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (GaLEND), and the Georgia Department of Public Health MCH and Title V programs, we aim to
i) expand the size, capacity, and diversity of the MCH workforce through the MCH Certificate program and Fellows program for MPH students; the MCH Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellows program, and the MCH Epidemiology Doctoral Fellows program;
ii) provide technical assistance to Title V and other MCH organizations in Georgia, the Southeast, and nationally;
iii) advance science and evidence in MCH through publication of faculty and trainee research in peer reviewed journals and presentation and regional and national meetings;
iv) support early stage MCH academic investigators (post-doc and junior faculty) through mentoring and pilot grants;
v) leverage Center of Excellence and local networks to carry out collaborative training and research including shared research and advocacy efforts with GaLEND and fellows from the SHLI; support for the Southeast MCH Scholars Collaborative of MCH Centers of Excellence and Catalyst Programs in the Southeast; and participation in the MCH Center of Excellence Justice-involved women project, policy and the political determinants of MCH health established in the Fall of 2019.