Funded Projects

Problem:

Transformations in health care, financing, and public health systems are driving unprecedented challenges to the public health workforce. Continued MCH advancement requires adaptive leaders, trained in the sciences of implementation, quality improvement, and systems. The ability to lead the development of policies and practices that affect access to and quality of services for diverse MCH populations requires training exposures that enable graduates to become effective leaders of interdisciplinary teams.

Goals and Objectives:

Goal 1: To train and mentor diverse trainee cohorts to excel in MCH competencies. 1.1. Recruit and mentor a diverse student body, in terms of race/ethnicity, first to attend college, prior work experiences, and other characteristics associated with an appreciation of population health disparities. 1.2. Award four 1st year Master's, two doctoral MCH traineeships, and 2 post-doctoral fellowships. Goal 2: To develop interdisciplinary MCH adaptive and technical leaders, prepared for a dynamic public health environment that requires mobilization of diverse partners for collective impact. 2.1 Provide and assess leadership experiences in the classroom, the department, the school and beyond. 2.2 Collaborate with the UNC MCH Leadership Consortium where trainees from the Department of MCH, LEND, and Social Work training programs, as well as Family fellows and Title V practitioners, engage with MCH trainees in interdisciplinary leadership training. Goal 3: To improve workforce capacity through targeted learning opportunities through the National Center for MCH Workforce Development. 3.1. Offer online courses based on the 4 primary core health transformation skills promoted by the Center 3.2. Collaborate with all Centers of Excellence, clinical interdisciplinary training programs and the MCH Navigator to develop and offer contemporary courses to MCH trainees and workforce. Goal 4: To advance the evidence base for MCH practice through dissemination of faculty and student research and in the applied implementation of fidelity-based interventions to scale. 4.1. Continue our successful efforts to obtain research funding from federal, state, foundation, and contract sources to sustain capacity for impact, through translation into practices and policies. Goal 5: To provide technical assistance through Title V community engagement. 5.1. Provide requested technical assistance to local, state, regional and national Title V programs. 5.2. Facilitate/supervise/assess field practicum experiences for master's students in Title V programs and through doctoral and post-doctoral research initiatives in health transformation. Activities Undertaken to Meet Project Goals The Department of MCH will offer three graduate degrees, the MPH, the MSPH, PhD, with a master's to doctoral pathway. Recruitment of diverse, interdisciplinary cohorts will be advanced through MCH and SPH initiatives. An MCH junior faculty pipeline will be strengthened with post-doctoral fellows. We will serve the field through engaged scholarship with Title V.

Coordination:

The Center of Excellence will coordinate activities and collaborate with the National MCH Workforce Development Center, state/territorial Title V/CSHCN Programs, MCH Navigator, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and the Association of Teachers in MCH (ATMCH).

Evaluation:

Process, outcome, and impact will be assessed for individuals, as well as the extent to which the CoE meets national performance measures for MCHB training programs and long-term trainee impact. Strengthening an MCH career path for scholars will be advanced through a post-doctoral program.