Partnerships between public health departments and academic institutions offer many benefits. For colleges and universities, these collaborations help align classroom learning with professional experiences that deepen student knowledge. For health departments, partnering with academic institutions can help build capacity, increase resources, and create a pipeline of future public health workers.
But these mutually beneficial partnerships don’t happen automatically. They require collaboration and planning to clearly define the roles of each party. Conversations around goals and expected outcomes are a must. Also critical are cultural alignment and the necessary infrastructure of dedicated staff and defined agreements to keep these partnerships on track.
A natural fit for collaboration
When the Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) in Madera, California wanted to expand its pipeline of public health nurses, the benefits of partnering with a local university were clear. The university needed opportunities for nursing candidates to gain field experience and MCDPH needed more public health nurses.
The agency partners with California State University, Fresno, to provide internships and field placements for nursing students — and for other undergraduate public health students.
“Public health nurses are hard to attract and retain, and there are a lot of recruitment efforts focused on that staff,” said Brayan Preciado, former health education specialist in the Public Health Accreditation and Workforce Development programs at MCDPH. “Our partnership has allowed students who come in for nursing internships or field placements to experience public health. The goal is that this partnership will attract some of those nursing students to public health nursing once they complete the program.”
That has been the case. Two or three of the agency’s current nursing staff had field placements with MCDPH, he said. “One of our staff members, a supervising public health nurse, has been a field preceptor with the program for 10 years,” Preciado said. “She’s had several students she’s mentored that have either come to this department or gone to work for other public health agencies.”
Preciado, who’s been with the agency for a little more than two years and was recently promoted to health education coordinator for the Mobile Health program, said MCDPH has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the university specifically for the health department to offer field internships or student learning placements as part of the curriculum. In addition to public health nursing, MCDPH has several programs that host students, Preciado said.
MCDPH also partners with the University of California, Merced, a local research university. “We have an MOU focused on a relationship with our community wellness division,” Preciado said. “That division provides health education to the community.”
The university has an internship program in tobacco control as part of its own Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center Tobacco Endgame Training Program. “We also have a tobacco control program within our community wellness division,” Preciado said. “We host students from the university to support tobacco control-related programming and activities in our agency.”
Identifying opportunities where such alignments are a natural fit is important. Partnerships allow academic institutions to offer students experiential learning and professional development opportunities. Health departments get critical support while exposing students to career options in public health.
These collaborations can also facilitate shared resources. Preciado said that as MCDPH was writing grant applications to fund work specific to its tobacco programming, the agency included UC Merced as an educational partner.
“Filling workforce gaps through interns and specific learners helps strengthen the diversity of staff in our day-to-day activities, in addition to giving learners the experience they need,” he said.
Building successful partnerships
Approaching academic institutions about potential partnerships may sometimes feel intimidating. But Preciado said it’s important to look at the big picture. “These relationships can be so mutually beneficial,” he said.
Preciado said employing an academic health department (AHD) framework can help. “The AHD model is a great starting point for those new to university partnerships,” he said. “It helps explain the potential benefits of partnering with universities and provides examples of collaborations with educational institutions. We’ve really leaned into that model.”
Preciado explained that an academic health department functions like a teaching hospital does for physicians. These formal partnerships are designed so that both the academic institution and public health department inform and learn from one another.
“It makes the health department a place of teaching the next generation of public health professionals,” he said. “Approaching potential partners with this model can help create buy-in from universities.”
Creating infrastructure
At MCPHD, the workforce development team reaches out to managers within the agency to ask about staff needs that could be met through university partnerships, according to Preciado. Then, the team approaches potential partners.
“The team intentionally works to formalize partnerships with universities, state agencies, and other external partners that will help bring in staff,” he said. “We’re trying to be more proactive in identifying potential workforce gaps.”
Also critical to successful partnerships are MOUs that define the relationship and expectations of each party. Contract teams, legal teams, and leadership often manage these agreements. “It can be a long process, but MOUs are a useful tool, especially when you’re trying to secure funding,” Preciado said. “If you can showcase that you’re working with diverse partners, including educational institutions, that can increase your credibility.”
Navigating partnership challenges
Challenges may sometimes arise from university partnerships, including staff capacity to manage students. Another challenge is ensuring that adequate internship and field placement opportunities exist for students. For example, Preciado said MCDPH previously had a partnership with a university that sought field placement sites for students training to become registered dietitians.
“Our department has a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program and staffs one registered dietitian,” he said. “The university wanted to provide field experiences in that program, along with hours for its registered dietitian trainees. But there just weren’t enough opportunities in that department.”
Preciado also said students may sometimes feel discouraged when employment opportunities don’t materialize after they complete internships or field placements. “Students want to do internships in places where they can potentially go from being an intern to a staff member after they complete their program,” he said. “Sometimes, we have to say, ‘We’re happy to place you, but we don’t currently foresee any openings.’ That can dissuade some students from choosing our sites.”
Competing priorities are always a challenge and they’re an important consideration for health departments considering university partnerships. Still, these partnerships remain beneficial for many health departments and can be invigorating for agency staff who work with students.
“We always want to mentor the next generation,” Preciado said.
Key Actions
- Define needs and goals. Identify what your department hopes to get out of partnering with a college or university and which potential partner institutions naturally align with those goals.
- Highlight mutual benefit. Partnering with your department likely offers specific benefits to area colleges and universities. Focus on mutual benefits and expectations when creating a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
- Clarify opportunities. Talk with supervisors and program managers about creating meaningful experiences for different students. Flexible MOUs allow health departments to train students studying in fields such as information technology and communications.
- Create infrastructure. Ensure agency staff have the resources and time they need to mentor and develop students.