Mentor engagement to encourage careers in public health: The Michigan mentored model

The Institute of Medicine reports, Unequal Treatment and The Future of Public Health, describe the need for public health to address health inequities and ensure a diverse workforce. Public health pipeline programs are designed to encourage students to consider careers in public health. Funded by the CDC, the University of Michigan School of Public Health established the Future Public Health Leaders Program (FPHLP) to introduce careers in public health and to explore health inequities for 50 undergraduate students each summer. During 10-weeks, undergraduates from across the U.S., U.S. territories and Freely Associated States are immersed in field placements at public health organizations. The field placements are supported with a curriculum with a learning structure that includes didactic learning, skill building workshops, and field experiences. Extending beyond the traditional pipeline model, the FPHLP developed the Michigan Mentored Model (M3) to provide supplemental support for career networking and decision making. The M3 seeks to foster interpersonal and intrapersonal development through mentoring and networking to encourage careers in public health. M3 provides participants with three levels of mentor engagement and support that utilizes the expertise and knowledge of public health practitioners. Practitioner expertise facilitates the participants' processing of the experience and to understand the integration of multiple public health disciplines by bridging theoretical knowledge provided by faculty. This presentation will cover core elements of the M3 model, the various roles of academic institutions in ensuring delivery of program components, and discuss supplemental engagement needed to advance didactic public health curriculum for pipeline programs.