Leveraging Academic-Public Health Partnerships to Establish and Support the Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship Program

In the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, public health workforce gaps had been well-documented. Epidemiologic capacity, particularly at the local health department (LHD) level, had dwindled with limited funding to hire and retain new talent. Expansion of academic-public health partnerships is one evidence-based way to bolster local health district (LHD) capabilities, but few programs exist that directly leverage academic resources to support early career epidemiologists embarking on careers in public health practice. In 2020, Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) established a two-year fellowship program in partnership with the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) to recruit, hire and support early career Master’s-level epidemiologists across Georgia. As the director of the Emory COVID-19 Response Collaborative and a part-time consultant for the Fulton County Board of Health, this presenter is intimately familiar with the diverse organizational cultures within academic and applied public health practice. The presenter’s own “pracademic” story informed the design of the fellowship program, relationship building, evaluation processes, and reporting of findings. The panelist will discuss strategies for building, evaluating, and sustaining authentic, mutually beneficial partnerships to create and sustain a successful public health fellowship during and beyond a public health emergency.