Global and Local Engagement

Our faculty and students are actively engaged with communities locally, nationally, and globally, preventing disease and improving lives.

Community Engagement

SPH students Mac McCullough and Liz Hackenmueller.

A student-run clinic where it’s needed most

In 2003, the University opened the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) to help serve residents of one of the state’s poorest neighborhoods. Students from five of the Academic Health Center’s seven schools entirely staff, run, and govern the clinic, which operates out of a church basement two nights a week. University faculty members and community practitioners donate their time to oversee the students.

This year, two public health students are co-chairing the board for the first time and the clinic itself is becoming more concerned with public health issues, like affordable care, access to care, and emergency preparedness. More about this student-run clinic

Team D Super Sleuths

Team Diarrhea

For almost two months in the summer of 2008, federal health officials were stymied in their hunt for the source of a salmonella outbreak responsible for making more than 1,200 people sick.

After more than 25 people who ate at the same Twin Cities restaurant became ill, Team Diarrhea (aka “Team D”) joined the hunt for a culprit. In just two weeks, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) disease detective team, made up largely of SPH students, solved the mystery. More about Team D

Real-life learning

Team Delivering mosquito nets in Uganda.

In summer 2009, SPH students Amber Koskey (Environmental Health) and Tyler Weber (Maternal Child Health) headed to Mulobere, Uganda.

With the University of Minnesota chapter of Engineers Without Borders, they worked to improve access to safe water in this rural village.

The engineers implemented a groundwater supply and sanitation system, and Koskey and Weber conducted a community health assessment to guide future phases of the water project. More about Real-life Learning