Public health experts from the University of Alabama at Birmingham will help determine what training the public health workforce across the eight states of Region IV need to address current priority health issues. The School of Public Health was funded to be a technical assistance provider for the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA)’s Region IV Public Health Training Center (PHTC), which is based at Emory University in Atlanta.

As a technical assistance provider, UAB will work with the state and local health departments across Alabama and seven other states to make sure employees are receiving proper training to increase knowledge and competence in needed strategic skills such as leadership, communication, systems thinking, and finance and budgeting. Lisa McCormick, DrPH, associate dean for Public Health Practice, will lead the center’s assessment activities and oversee all evaluation efforts for the center and its community-based training partners.

“I look forward to working with the Region IV PHTC and HRSA over the next four years to paint a better picture of state, local and tribal health department workforce development needs,” McCormick said. “This work will assist HRSA, the Region IV PHTC and its community-based training partners in developing a strategy to meet the region’s workforce development goals.”