Greetings!

Happy Public Health Week! Below is a Council on Linkages Update for April 2025. Please feel free to share these opportunities in your organization's newsletter or other communications.

Upcoming Academic Health Department Partnership Webinars

In partnership with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Public Health Foundation will be sharing its expertise on academic health department (AHD) partnerships through two upcoming webinars. These webinars aim to help public health agencies understand what an AHD partnership is, discuss the importance of working with minority-serving institutions, and highlight successes and best practices for these partnerships.

Join these informative webinars and gain the tools to strengthen your AHD partnerships:

• Exploring Successful Academic Health Department Partnerships will be offered on April 24, 2025, from 2-3pm EDT. Learn more and register.
• Pathways to Academic Health Department Partnerships: Successes and Best Practices will be offered on May 1, 2025, from 2-3:30pm EDT. Learn more and register.

New Service Available: Academic Health Department Partnerships Environmental Scan

Looking to strengthen and expand partnerships between health departments and academic institutions? The Public Health Foundation is ready to assist with a new service offering an environmental scan to help you explore and improve your partnerships. This service can help lay a foundation to strengthen public health education, training, and research through effective academic health department (AHD) partnerships. 

The Alameda County Public Health Department (CA) recently shared its AHD environmental scan and how it is leveraging Public Health Infrastructure Grant funding to enhance AHD partnerships. Watch the recording from the February Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice meeting. 

New eLearning Service Coming Soon

Is your organization interested in developing innovative training or professional development resources? The Public Health Foundation is pleased to announce a new eLearning development service to help your team address today's public health challenges. Explore how PHF can support your organizational training needs.

Join the Partnership Workshop at the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Annual Conference 

The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) is excited to host a workshop at the 2025 CSTE Annual Conference entitled, Pathways to Partnership: Enhancing Collaborations between Health Departments and Academia, which will explore collaborations between state, Tribal, local, and territorial health departments and academic institutions as a means to enhance the workforce pipeline, train emerging epidemiologists, and strengthen the applied epidemiology workforce. CSTE will share relevant results from the 2024 Epidemiology Capacity Assessment and highlight how academic institutions can incorporate the Applied Epidemiology Competencies into their curricula. The workshop will take place on Sunday, June 8, 2025 from 8:30am-12pm EDT in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

National Public Health Week

Join the American Public Health Association and the Public Health Foundation April 7-13, 2025 for the 30th anniversary of National Public Health Week. This year's five priority areas are:

• It Starts Here: Your Health is Our Mission
• Climate Action Starts Here: Championing Resilience for Health
• Health Equity Starts Here: Optimizing Health for All
• Advocacy Starts Here: Amplifying Voices for Public Health
• The Future of Public Health Starts Here: Strengthening the Public Health Workforce ​

Let’s work together to create safe, interconnected, healthy communities for everyone. Find National Public Health Week events in your area or virtually, and learn more about this year's key topics.