The Region IV Public Health Training Center (PHTC) has received a $4.4 million award from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agency. These funds will be used over the next four years to improve the ability of the public health workforce to meet national, state, and local needs under the direction of Principal Investigator Melissa (Moose) Alperin, EdD, MPH, MCHES.
The new round of funding begins in July 2022. The mission of the Region IV PHTC is to build the capacity of the current and future public health workforce to protect and promote the health of communities in the Southeastern United States. The Region IV PHTC is committed to equitably advancing this mission by: providing priority competency-based trainings and technical assistance to the public health workforce; engaging public health and health profession students in experiential learning opportunities within local communities and medically underserved areas; developing an inclusive learning community with regional partners; supporting a culture of learning within public health agencies; and contributing to the work of the national PHTC program. The Region IV PHTC mission aligns with the HRSA PHTC program’s goals to increase the supply/diversity of public health professionals; enhance the quality of the public health workforce through student field placements; and provide tailored quality training to address current and emerging public health needs.
The Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) at Emory University has been funded by HRSA as a public health training center since 2010 — first, as the Emory PHTC and then, in 2014 as the Region IV PHTC. The Region IV PHTC, headquartered at the RSPH, includes seven community-based training centers (CBTs) at partnering institutions (Alabama Public Health Training Network, Alabama Department of Public Health; University of South Florida; Kentucky Population Health Institute; Mississippi Public Health Institute; North Carolina Public Health Association; Medical University of South Carolina; and East Tennessee State University) and two technical assistance partners (University of Alabama at Birmingham and the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at the University of Georgia). Together the Region IV PHTC network serves eight southeastern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Nine additional Public Health Training Centers also received funded by HRSA to serve other HHS regions across the U.S.
