​The Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 17-18, 2013 in Washington, DC. During the meeting, the Council on Linkages will discuss the review and potential revision of the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies), consider its role in national public health workforce development activities, and revisit its Strategic Directions, 2011-2015, among other items.

The Council on Linkages reviews the Core Competencies every three years to determine if revisions are necessary and to ensure that the Core Competencies reflect evolving public health workforce roles, responsibilities, and functions. At its meeting on March 27, 2013, the Council on Linkages voted to begin reviewing the current version of the Core Competencies, adopted in 2010, for potential revision. That review process is now underway. At this meeting, the Council on Linkages will hear about the proposed timeline for the review process, discuss strategies for collecting feedback on the Core Competencies and the feedback received thus far, and vote on whether to authorize the Core Competencies Workgroup to begin initial revisions to the Core Competencies.

In addition to its consideration of the Core Competencies, the Council on Linkages will reflect on its role in public health workforce development more broadly. The Council on Linkages will base this discussion on the preliminary findings of its Workforce Development Inventory initiative, which aimed to learn more about Council on Linkages member organizations’ efforts to strengthen the public health workforce. This information can serve as a starting point for organizations to identify gaps and opportunities for coordination or collaboration in workforce development.

Finally, the Council on Linkages will reexamine its Strategic Directions, 2011-2015, which were adopted in June 2011. Now midway through the period covered by the Strategic Directions, the Council on Linkages will consider its accomplishments of the past two years, as well as changes in the field of public health, to ensure that its priorities continue to address the needs of public health professionals. To help frame this discussion, Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of the Trust for America’s Health, will share his thoughts on the public health workforce of the future and the evolving public health environment.