CDC Prevention Specialist - Epilogue

I had previously written about the ongoing process of recruiting an early career public health practitioner to come work for APCA through the CDC Prevention Specialist program. A few weeks ago, I traveled to Atlanta to interview one such Prevention Specialist. We had a nice discussion but I sensed that we were not her highest priority. I was right. In the end, she selected a different assignment. It was a game try on our part. APCA was one of a very few non-profit organizations in the running for one of the 25 Prevention Specialists. Almost all eventually chose to be placed at a state or local health department. I believe one chose a placement with a university, and another chose to be placed with a national health policy organization. We’ll give it some more thought before deciding to pursue this again next year.

- Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director

Prevention Specialist Update

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my impending trip to the CDC in Atlanta to interview a potential “Prevention Specialist” to join APCA for the next two years. Well, I am back and pleased to say that I had a nice chat with one of the candidates interested in working with APCA. She is bright, energetic and has a lot of relevant work experience as related to the projects we had outlined for the position. Now, it’s a bit of a numbers game and a waiting game. There were 60 or so agencies represented at the interviews – each competing for one of the 25 Prevention Specialists. Most of these organizations were state or county health departments, and a few were universities. Of the very few non-profit agencies represented, I suspect APCA was the smallest in terms of staff numbers and the most grass roots.

Each Specialist now ranks their top few organizations, and each organization ranks their top Specialist. This information is fed into a computer, and matches are then recommended. We’ll hear in mid-August about the results. Stay tuned!

-Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director

The Match Game

Community capacity to conduct population-based health improvement work is severely lacking in most parts of the country. Most of the expertise in public health resides within local and state health departments and is deployed at the community level with varying levels of success. Fortunately, there is a little known program out of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention known as the Public Health Prevention Service. This program places individuals known as “Prevention Specialists” in public health settings – both governmental and community-based – for two years. Prevention Specialists come at no cost to the participating agencies and bring Master’s level training and at least two years of public health experience, including one year at the CDC.