A new partnership program between the U of M School of Public Health (SPH) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) provides scholarship assistance to students seeking a master of public health (MPH) from SPH. Funded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the “Public Health Traineeship” scholarship program focuses on addressing inequities in our public health system, improving emergency preparedness and response, and increasing the size of the public health workforce.

The COVID-19 pandemic both hastened the shrinking of the public health workforce and revealed long-term disparities in our nation’s public health system. A key goal of the Public Health Traineeship scholarship program is to address both of these issues, says SPH professor and associate dean Elizabeth Wattenberg.

“The pandemic showed us that we need more people in our governmental public health workforce, and we need to address the historic inequalities and disparities that plague our public health system,” Wattenberg says. “The two main themes of this scholarship program are health equity and emergency preparedness; this funding from HRSA will allow SPH and MDH to directly address both challenges.”

Wattenberg said SPH received the grant because the school has an outstanding public health educational program, exceptional faculty and staff to support public health trainees, and a long-standing relationship with MDH that will allow students to work directly in governmental public health — participants in the program are required to complete a three-month, applied-practice internship at MDH.

SPH administrators estimate that 45 scholarships covering tuition and fees will be awarded during the initial, three-year, $1.5 million grant. Students who have been admitted to a residential SPH MPH program will be eligible to apply for the next round of scholarships. New applicants to the program must be students who will begin their MPH programs in Fall 2023. Incoming students will be notified when the application opens.