Succeeding in this New World Order: Curricular Innovation Leads in AJPH

A long-anticipated special online supplement of the American Journal of Public Health entitled "Innovations in Public Health Education," was published on Tuesday, featuring perspectives on the need to re-invigorate public health by making sustained changes to the way it delivers an education. Mailman School Dean Linda P. Fried served as guest editor, recognized for her role leading the implementation of a pioneering curriculum for the School’s signature Master’s in Public Health, which launched in 2013.

In an editorial subtitled "A Case for Seizing the Moment," Dean Fried points to demographic shifts like urbanization and aging, as well as growing appreciation of the importance of prevention, as grounds for looking closely at public health pedagogy. "Public health educators must develop a new education model," she writes, "that provides students with the grounding and skills to succeed in this new world order."

The Mailman School core, which unites students from all departments in a common interdisciplinary learning experience, has succeeded in equipping graduates with the capacity to enter a range of challenging professional environments. Six months after the first MPH graduates completed studies under the new curriculum, 96 percent were working in public health or continuing their education for an additional degree. The MPH class has grown in numbers since then, with the Class of 2016 the largest in the School’s history.

Other education topics covered in the special issue, which received financial support from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, include service learning, educating for social change, and an essay by Roberta Ness of the University of Texas School of Public Health on the pedagogy of innovation. Arguing that public health education should reflect as much context as content, Ness seeks a pedagogy to "open young minds to novel possibilities and at least ensure that when they encounter some uncomfortably disruptive new idea, they will give it the respectful consideration it is due."

A number of Mailman School authors enjoy bylines in the issue, including Prof. Linda Cushman, associate dean for Field Practice, who together with colleagues, explains the Self, Social, and Global Awareness curriculum that was introduced into the core to ensure students recognize the importance of their biases in devising public health interventions.

Another article was contributed by the Mailman team that developed the MPH core, including Sandro Galea, Julia Walker, Melissa Begg, and Dean Fried. Outlining the process that led to the new curriculum, the authors point to the importance of "broad ownership," a robust sense that the new core reflects the entire School’s understanding of educational imperatives for the future of public health.

Of course, public health students are the real beneficiaries of educational innovation. Alissa Nulsen, a dual degree student at the Mailman School and School of Social Work, is enrolled in her second semester in the MPH. Nulsen feels the core cultivated a familiarity with areas of inquiry that will make her a more complete public health leader.

"As our specialties become more interwoven with one another, it’s important to have a holistic view of the field," she says. "In the core, I developed confidence about having both the skills and the vocabulary to interact with professionals in other disciplines, and to understand how their research relates to my research."

The full issue of the journal is available online at the American Journal of Public Health website.