Heartland Public Health Education
and Training Center (HETC)

The HETC is one of fourteen public health training centers (PHTC) based at accredited schools of public health covering forty-five states and the District of Columbia.  This National PHTC Network is a unique initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, providing fundamental education and training in public health that is:

1. Crucial for a well-prepared workforce to respond effectively on the population’s daily health needs; and,
2. Necessary as the basic foundational training needed before acquiring skills in emergency and disaster preparedness.

Core HETC academic and practice partnerships include the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the Saint Louis University School of Public Health, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Department of Preventive Medicine, the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health, and the Oklahoma State Department of Health.  Regional partnerships have expanded and evolved to new levels of development based on the fundamental HETC mission to “expand partnerships and critical linkages among state and local practice and academic partners in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma to provide improved access to education and training for the current and future public health workforce to strengthen competence, performance and capacity to improve the nation’s public health system.”

Development of the HETC over the past 5 years has involved critical priorities of practice based and academic partners, and collaboration with PHTC Network partners to meet local, state, regional and national workforce development objectives to improve capacity to perform essential public health services.  A broad audience of health professionals is targeted for development including nurses, physicians, dentists, veterinarians, health educators, health administrators, sanitarians, community health workers, policymakers and those serving in medically underserved areas.  HETC objectives include:

• Develop, strengthen and sustain public health workforce competence to perform essential services through implementation of programs for life-long learning.
• Continue to utilize workforce development needs, assets and capacity assessment data to prioritize education and training objectives, methods and strategies
• Develop and implement certification and competency-based education programs and products to strengthen workforce competence to perform essential public health services
• Identify and utilize distance learning, technology mediation, and learning management system capacity to improve access to competency-based workforce development programs and products within the HETC region PHTC Network
• Expand use of evaluation and research methods to determine impact and outcome measures and disseminate and publish findings and best practice demonstrations
• Share expertise and resources across local, state, regional and national jurisdictions to contribute to National PHTC Network objectives for public health workforce development

The Emerging Leaders Institute is sponsored by the UIC-SPH Center for Public Health Practice and the Heartland Centers at St. Louis University, School of Public Health. The Institute is part of a continuum of training programs that strengthen the public health workforce through coordinated training and organizational development. The Emerging Leaders Institute builds public health practice by combining cutting edge face-to-face training with individual infrastructure improvement projects. As the conclusion of the program, Fellows will be prepared to assume leadership positions within their agencies, and will have the skills necessary to lead collaborative initiatives that characterize public health practice.

Kick-Off Conference
May 14-16, 2008
UIC-SPH in Chicago, IL

Dates and locations for the six and twelve month meetings will be announced soon! For eligibility and fee information, contact Rani Saxena at
312-996-7919 or at rmishra@uic.edu