Meeting the Need for Expertise: CDC Undergraduate Pathway Program Offers a Model of Success at Columbia Mailman and Beyond

Across the country, public health agencies at every level are understaffed, largely because they lack qualified applicants. While the number of undergraduates majoring in public health has grown, only 10 percent of graduates have taken government jobs in public health. By training and mentoring a diverse cohort of future public health leaders, CDC’s John R. Lewis Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Program is a model solution to fill this gap, according to authors of an editorial published in a special issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Since 2011, Lewis Scholars programs have cultivated the academic and professional success of students across the country at seven coordinated sites, including Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health’s Summer Public Health Scholars Program (SPHSP). Over eight to eleven weeks, Lewis Scholars learn in the classroom and through internships, supported by intensive mentoring, professional development, and networking opportunities. A series of articles details how the programs function and what they have accomplished.

In total, the programs have accepted roughly 2,000 students out of a pool of more than 40,000 applicants—a sign of their high demand and competitiveness. More than half of alumni have since enrolled in advanced degree programs, including MPH, PhD, and MD programs; 45 percent work or have worked in public health or biomedical science roles; and 20 percent work in other health care careers. Alumni serve in health departments, advocacy organizations, community-based nonprofits, tribal health programs, and academic research centers.  

So far, 25 SPHSP grads have gone on to study for a master’s degree at Columbia Mailman since 2023, when the School took over leadership of the program from Columbia VP&S. For the story of one such Columbia Mailman and SPHSP alum who now works in government, read on.  

Filling the Gap

The editorial details how attrition during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an existing public health workforce shortage, which now needs an estimated 80,000 full-time workers to provide basic community services. Undergraduate public health degrees awarded have increased from 1,480 in 2001 to 18,289 in 2020, surpassing the number of public health master’s degrees conferred for the first time in spring of 2020. However, only one in ten with an undergraduate public health degree reports government agency employment.

“The Lewis Scholars Program is a powerful model for how cultivating the talents of young public health students can open new ways to fill the need for public health careers—particularly in government and in service of local communities,” says Michael A. Joseph, PhD, MPH, Columbia Mailman Vice Dean for Education and co-author of the editorial.

“We intentionally recruit first-generation college students and individuals who are members of groups that have been underrepresented in public health and biomedical science careers. The intention is to build a public health workforce that reflects the diversity of communities across our country—public health professionals who are deeply connected to the communities and populations most in need,” Joseph adds.

Mentoring

Troy Hoffman, MPA, director of SPHSP and Educational Initiatives at Columbia Mailman, is the first author of an article on the Lewis Scholars programs’ approach to mentoring. The programs offer scholars a “web of support” to cultivate their academic and professional development. Scholars are paired with one or more internship mentors, who engage trainees to strengthen their public health experience and knowledge as they work with real-world public health challenges across a variety of domains. These include governmental agencies, academic institutions, and community-based organizations. In 2025, across all seven sites, programs recruited and trained 190 professionals as mentors.

Scholars are also supported by advisors, preceptors, coaches, and near-peer mentors.

“We take a holistic approach. We make sure our scholars get support where they are and when they need it,” says Hoffman. “And mentorship doesn’t end when they complete the program. We create career-long connections with program staff, researchers, faculty, and community-facing public health professionals—all of whom shape our alumni’s futures in public health.”

One Alum’s Pathway to Public Service

In 2023, Kennedy Wade, MPH ’26, applied to SPHSP as a rising senior at Xavier University of Louisiana, an HBCU. A public health major, she was drawn to the opportunity to do hands-on work in the field. After she was accepted, she expressed an interest in environmental health and housing, and SPHSP placed her in an internship with a researcher studying smoke-free policies in public housing in New York City. “It was my first time doing community-based public health work, and the experience furthered my interest in environmental health,” Wade says. “I grew a lot as an aspiring public health professional.”

After graduating with a Columbia Mailman MPH in Epidemiology earlier this year, Wade is now a CDC/CSTE Injury Epidemiology Fellow at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she works in the Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy. Since starting the job over the summer, she has had the opportunity to explore a different side of environmental health, with work ranging from traffic-related injuries to falls among older adults. In November, she will present her work on the impact of greened vacant lots on adolescent victimization and perpetration at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting.

Three years after graduating, the program remains influential. Wade recalls: “The program gave me so much in terms of learning, hands-on experience, and a feeling of community. I’m still close with everyone in my cohort. Troy and Dr. Joseph have been in my corner from day one. It’s no exaggeration to say this program changed my life.”