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By Evette Brandon, Quality Improvement and Accreditation Director, Alameda County Public Health Department and Bonnie Mencher, Workforce Development Director, Alameda County Public Health Department

Alameda County, located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, is one of the most diverse counties in the United States. The county has a population of approximately 1.7 million people. The racial and ethnic composition is notably varied, and Alameda is home to a large immigrant population, with nearly one-third of residents born outside the U.S. The county also has a relatively young population, with a median age in the mid-30s, and a high level of educational attainment. Alameda County stands out nationally for its unique and relatively strong access to a variety of academic institutions. This demographic richness contributes to the county’s vibrant cultural, economic, and social landscape.

The facilitated two-way exchange of an academic health department (AHD) partnership enhances a local health department and academic institution’s capacity to address complex public health challenges while promoting innovation. Alameda County faces significant health disparities influenced by race, income, and geography with low-income residents, particularly from communities of color that experience higher rates of chronic illnesses and lower life expectancies due to a variety of systemic inequities. The Alameda County Public Health Department’s (ACPHD’s) pursuit of the AHD status is an innovative strategy to focus resources on programs and research that link cutting-edge best practices to the department’s effort to address inequities and improve health outcomes.

Today, ACPHD already has many features of an AHD partnership. There are over a dozen existing academic partnerships with institutions such as the California Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California State Universities, Samuel Merritt College, University of California, and Touro University, just to name a few. ​These existing partnerships facilitate various placements for students, opportunities for our staff to serve as lecturing faculty, joint research efforts, and even some joint programming activities. ACPHD is on the road, but we have a bit more to go in our journey to becoming an AHD.

Staged Model for Implementing Academic Health Department Partnerships

Through the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG), ACPHD secured technical assistance from the Public Health Foundation (PHF) to conduct an environmental scan to better understand areas of opportunity that come with being an AHD. This included 10 interviews with key informants from three academic institutions that are current partners: California State University East Bay; the University of California, Berkeley; and Touro University.

The environmental scan sought to gain a deeper understanding of academia’s experiences and expectations regarding formal partnerships with local health departments. Topics covered during the interviews included past and existing partnerships, challenges and future partnership opportunities, and ways the academic institution and ACPHD can work together to strengthen the public health workforce.

PHF included several detailed recommendations as a result of the scan to consider as potential next steps to support ACPHD’s goal in becoming an AHD. These recommendations included establishing priorities to focus on to identify aligned academic institutions to then develop shared goals, explore key opportunities, and areas for growth within the partnership. Additionally, creation of a dedicated team within ACPHD to engage with academic institutions, ensuring that engaged staff are included that have contracting experience to navigate the bureaucratic hurdles along with staff that can make decisions. A full list of the recommendations from the environmental scan is included in the Executive Summary.

ACPHD is also committed to gaining a deeper understanding of our own experiences by assessing the perspectives of current and former interns, preceptors, and those who have academic programmatic partners​. The Department is currently working to gather this information to better inform us of our next step in this process. ACPHD additionally plans to explore governance structure models that would best support and guide the Department in moving forward to becoming an AHD.

The quest toward becoming an AHD is about collaboration, continuous learning, and greater community impact; the extensive work required of those involved essentially shapes the designation of being an AHD. As Alameda County moves through the steps of building academic partnerships, aligning goals, and formalizing agreements, we are reminded that this is an investment in our team, our partners, and the public we serve. This process will take time and involve challenges, but the rewards, enhanced capacity, innovation, shared expertise, and the actual journey—will be well worth it. By committing to this path of becoming an AHD, Alameda County Public Health Department is taking a bold step toward shaping the future of public health in its community.

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