Session # 2017.0

Sunday, November 1, 2026 from 2:30-4pm

Ron Bialek, MPP; Kathleen Amos, MLIS; and Mayela Arana, MPH

Partnerships between health departments and academic institutions—known as academic health department (AHD) partnerships—have long helped bridge the gap between public health practice and academia and are playing a critical role in strengthening workforce capacity. For more than 15 years, the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice and the Public Health Foundation have championed AHD partnerships, including through ongoing support of the AHD Learning Community. This national community brings together more than 1,400 members to share knowledge, exchange experiences, and learn from one another through webinars, meetings, peer discussion, expert technical assistance, and a growing library of resources and tools.

AHD partnerships have proven instrumental in enhancing health department activities, educating and training both the current and future public health workforce, advancing community-based research, improving performance, supporting accreditation, and delivering services to communities. The historic investments made through the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) Program have further accelerated this work—spurring the development of new AHD partnerships across the country and strengthening those already in place.

As PHIG funding draws to a close, sustainability planning and preparing for what comes next are essential to continuing to build on the gains these partnerships have made. Whether you’re a PHIG recipient or not, join this session to hear directly from AHD Learning Community members about how their partnerships have been strengthened and discuss what lies ahead. Participants will also learn about tools and resources available to support their AHD partnership efforts.

Session # 4060.0

Tuesday, November 3, 2026 from 10:30am-12pm

Ron Bialek, MPP; Kathleen Amos, MLIS; and Mayela Arana, MPH

How can academic public health and public health practice work together to ensure that the current and future workforce is prepared for the realities of protecting and improving the public’s health?

Presented by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), and Public Health Foundation (PHF), this interactive session invites public health practitioners and academics to engage in a facilitated discussion about how we can work together better.

Through three fast-paced conversations, participants will explore the connections among education for public health, workforce development, accreditation, and academic and practice partnerships. Each segment will begin with a brief framing talk and quickly transition to a facilitated discussion designed to surface participants’ experiences, challenges, and ideas.

The first conversation begins by framing how Council on Education for Public Health foundational competencies are intended to prepare graduates for practice, with practitioners invited to respond: How well do those competencies translate to the realities of your work? What are graduates ready to do—and where are the gaps?

The second conversation shifts to PHAB accreditation and the public health workforce, examining how health department accreditation expectations intersect with workforce capacity, performance, and ultimately community health outcomes. Participants will explore what academic institutions need to know about the environments in which their graduates will work and how they can better support the needs of accredited and accreditation-seeking health departments.

The final conversation brings education and practice together through the lens of academic health department (AHD) partnerships. Participants will consider how academic and practice organizations can move beyond episodic collaboration toward genuinely reciprocal partnerships that support educating and developing the public health workforce.

This is not a panel of experts providing all the answers. The expertise is in the room. Practitioners, educators, students, workforce leaders, and partners are invited to bring their experiences, challenge assumptions, ask questions, learn from one another, and leave with a clearer understanding of what the public health workforce needs—and what academic and practice partners can do better together.