Public health leadership education in North America

Abstract

Correspondence: Hideo Uno Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-50P University Terrace, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2T4, Canada Tel +1 780 492 1907 Fax +1 780 492 0364 Email hideo@ualberta.ca Abstract: Public health leadership is one of the priority disciplines public health professionals need to learn well if they are to deal with demanding public health issues effectively and efficiently. This article looks at the trends in public health leadership education by reviewing the literature and using the Internet to explore the public health leadership programs offered in various parts of the world, and suggests several principles to be taken into account for the development of public health leadership education in the future. A variety of educational programs in public health leadership are classified into several types in terms of their formats: degree programs offered by schools of public health or other programs of public health, those offered in partnership with public health agencies, and so on. All of these programs have important implications for the overall effectiveness of public health leadership education. For public health leadership education to be effective, the partnership between academia and public health agencies is vitally important. Programs should provide opportunities to learn on the basis of practical public health experience, a commitment to life-long learning, flexibility in design, and recognition of the diverse needs of individuals and communities. The application of distance learning methods is one of the options to make this possible.