Our educational activities focus in two areas.

Workforce Development

The division supports the Public Health Bootcamp, an intensive five-day training program that aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of HIV prevention and care services in metropolitan Chicago by training HIV/AIDS organizational leaders in core concepts of public health science, theory and practice. We co-develop and conduct training and co-learning activities with public health entities.

The division implements the Community Scholars Program, low-cost workshops offered throughout the year, covering a range of public health topics. The primary aim of this program is to provide capacity-building support to public health organizations. Participants gain knowledge, skills, and resources that nurture their professional development and help their organizations flourish.

Educational Infusion

Our research activities focus on public health practice relevance. Through equitable partnerships, we collaborate with public health entities on investigations that prioritize their research questions. For example, at their request, we recently evaluated the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago’s Healthy Chicago 2.0 Seed Grant Request for Proposals (RFP) process. Our evaluation findings were used to strengthen this year’s RFP process. We anticipate further growth in our research activities, with a likely emphasis on public health practice-related dissemination and implementation.