Since its inception, the MPH Program has been dedicated to working hand-in-hand with public health organizations to support their needs. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed health departments across the state, national assessments showed that many public health agencies would benefit from more formal training and support. “It has long been known that the public health system in the U.S. was under strain,” says the Cornell MPH Program’s associate director, Dr. Gen Meredith. “Our Program developed a community-engaged approach because research shows it can build up the capacity—and impact—of our public health partners on the ground.”

In the middle of the second wave of COVID-19 across New York State (NYS), Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office reached out to Cornell. The governor wanted help recruiting and training an expanded public health workforce across the state that could not only support pandemic response efforts, but also help prepare more New Yorkers for the future—recognizing that while COVID-19 is the immediate crisis, the effects of climate change and new emergent infectious diseases will continue to pose an existential threat. It is crucial that New Yorkers be prepared to protect their health and that of their communities.

Partnering with eCornell and the NYS Department of Health, Meredith led the development of two new online training programs for the state—the NYS Public Health Corps, and the NYS Citizen Public Health Leader Training. “Many of our MPH faculty and partners across campus have contributed to the modules for these trainings,” says Meredith.

The NYS Public Health Corps will train 1,000 Public Health Fellows, recruited in partnership with local health departments across the state. Fellows engage with many areas of public health theory and methods, including COVID-19 education and awareness, vaccine demand and distribution, and disease prevention. The lessons and activities train Fellows to engage with community members, collaborate with existing programs and services, identify risk factors, connect with vulnerable populations, work with community gatekeepers, set up “pop-up” education sessions, and gather and report key data.

In addition to the Public Health Corps, The NYS Citizen Public Health Leader Training is preparing an additional 100,000 New Yorkers in the basics of public health. Interested New Yorkers can simply sign up online. The goal of this training is to have at least one Public Health Leader in every community who understands key public health knowledge and how to identify and respond to public health needs. The Citizen Training’s four units cover preventing and addressing COVID-19, health literacy, public health for community resilience, and public health preparedness. Each unit concludes with a call to action.

“So many people around the world have stepped up to help in little ways during the COVID-19 pandemic—to prevent someone from becoming infected, or to connect someone with a service they needed,” says Meredith. “That is public health, and that is what we are trying to teach.” Both of these training programs help learners appreciate and understand the social, structural, and environmental determinants of health. These include how personal, social, and physical environments can “limit or facilitate access to health, education, wealth, and success.” In addition to helping NYS have “the infrastructure, policies, relationships, and trust to better prevent and respond to future public health issues,” Meredith hopes these trainings will “play a role in undoing racism, and building a more equitable society” in communities across the state.

Written by Audrey Baker