Identifying the Motivators to engage African American students into careers in public health: Recruiting the Next Generation of Community Based Public Health Researchers

Community based partnerships and initiatives are positioned to change the landscape of the public health workforce. Historically, African American and other ethnic minority students have been underrepresented in the field of medicine, nursing, public health and other health research disciplines. Although national and regional efforts have been made to address the underrepresentation of minority researchers, the number of ethnic minority researchers remains drastically low. National studies suggest increasing ethnic minority public health and medical professionals as part of the solution to the reduction and elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities in minority communities. The Community Based Public Health Caucus within APHA has been a leader in engaging youth with community and institutional partners in an effort to create a pathway to careers in public health via the Kellogg Scholars program, as well as the new and emerging Youth Council.  A recent dissertation grounded theory study explored the critical career motivators, career decisions, career trajectories, barriers, and methods to overcome barriers as experienced by 20 African American public health graduate students and professionals. This study yielded a list of motivators and barriers that can be useful in designing and re-designing a pathway to careers for public health in conjunction with the current efforts of the Community Based Public Health Caucus and other national initiatives. Traditional pipeline efforts on a national scale may appear to provide minimal change in the ethnic and racial demographics of the public health workforce, such as, a community based approach may prove to be more successful.