Every fall brings headlines about viruses, outbreaks, and vaccine updates. What you don’t always see is the public health workforce behind those stories. Here are four things happening in Connecticut this fall, and what they reveal about careers that protect our communities every day.
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The Department of Public Health Sciences is pleased to share news of two recent faculty promotions, approved by the Academic Affairs Subcommittee and the Board of Directors.
Both promotions recognize their outstanding contributions to public health research, teaching, and service. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Rhee and Dr. Moore on this well-earned recognition!
Dr. Jenn Cavallari, Professor in Public Health Sciences and Co-Director of the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW), a NIOSH Total Worker Health® Center of Excellence, has received a supplemental sixth year of funding for the five-year “CPH-NEW IV” grant. The supplemental award provides an additional to extend the Center’s work in partnership with collaborators at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the University of Connecticut on this award.
CPH-NEW IV is a multi-project center grant focused on advancing the science, practice, and policy of Total Worker Health® (TWH), an approach that integrates protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of worker well-being.
Outreach Core: The Outreach Core advances TWH science, practice, and policy through professional and pre-professional education; communication and dissemination of TWH research findings and evidence-based tools; and capacity-building activities that support organizations in adopting, implementing, and sustaining TWH approaches.
Total Teacher Health Core: The Total Teacher Health Core pilots and evaluates the Educator Well-being Program, a TWH approach that empowers educators to identify and address organizational conditions that affect health, well-being, and retention, while strengthening capacity for sustainable, systems-level improvements.
SHIFT Core: The Safety and Health through Integrated, Facilitated Teams II (SHIFT II) project is a participatory TWH project that empowers healthcare workers to identify and address workplace conditions affecting safety, health, and well-being through the Healthy Workplace Participatory Program and worker leadership training.
Due to the internet, health information moves fast and misinformation moves faster. Public health professionals are the people communities trust to sort signal from noise. That takes training, practice, and a commitment to evidence. It’s exactly what an MPH is built to teach.
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Vaccines are only one part of the larger public health story.
Every day, public health professionals work to prevent disease, promote healthy behaviors, improve access to care, and create healthier environments where people live, work, and learn.
The next time you hear a public health issue trending in the news, consider the people behind the science, data, education, and community partnerships that help keep populations healthy.
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Over the next four weeks, the Department of Public Health Sciences is running a social media campaign called What Is in Your Health Professional Toolkit? Each week takes up one part of the question, and we are asking students to weigh in — not just to read along. If you are studying public health, allied health sciences, nursing, exercise science, nutrition, psychology, healthcare administration, or you are on a pre-med or pre-PA track, this is aimed at you.
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Week 1 — Career Goals & Inspiration. Where do you want to end up, and what pointed you there? We will share paths that public health graduates actually take, including the ones that are not obvious from the outside.
Week 2 — Skills for Success. The practical layer: data literacy, writing, working across disciplines, communicating with communities rather than at them. What you can start building now, before you need it.
Week 3 — College & Professional Life. Coursework, research opportunities, internships, and the unglamorous logistics of getting from a class roster to a résumé.
Week 4 — Future Impact. The long view — what students want to change, and how a career in public health connects to that.
To make participating a little more worthwhile, one participant will win a Back-to-School Health Professional Toolkit — a mystery bag with UConn swag, study supplies, wellness items, professional development resources, and a few public health–themed surprises.
Entries are earned through the same engagement the campaign is about, and they stack. You can enter more than once:
| Action | Entries |
|---|---|
| React to a campaign post or vote in a story poll | 1 entry each |
| Leave a meaningful comment | 2 bonus entries |
| Share a campaign post, tag us and tag a friend | 3 bonus entries |
This August, we invite you to think about what belongs in your own Health Professional Toolkit. Whether you’re interested in public health, nursing, pre-med, exercise science, psychology, healthcare administration, nutrition, or another health-related field, there are many paths to creating impact.
One participant will receive a Health Professional Toolkit Mystery Bag filled with UConn swag, study supplies, wellness items, professional development resources, and a few public health-themed surprises.
Official Rules
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Dr. Youngji Jo, Assistant Professor in Public Health Sciences, was awarded a K01 titled “Evaluating the Impact of Integrated and Differentiated HIV–NCD Service Delivery through Mathematical Modeling.” The project develops a behavior- and systems-aware model to evaluate integrated service delivery for multimorbidity management. Drawing on the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)’s large NIH-funded trial dataset (TASKPEN), the work will inform highly effective and cost-effective intervention approaches under the health-system constraints — capacity and budget — that must be addressed for integrated service delivery to scale.
This setting provides a unique, accelerated opportunity to study multimorbidity patterns, care-delivery challenges, and outcomes of integrated care models directly relevant to older adults living with HIV in the United States. With 54% of U.S. people living with HIV now aged 50 or older and an estimated 60–80% experiencing multimorbidity, this work will inform integrated care for Ryan White clinics and other safety-net systems, where strengthening chronic disease coordination is a national priority.
Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we collected over $600 in fast food gift cards to help people in need this summer. Small contributions like these can go a long way, especially for individuals facing limited access to food or support.
Last week, Community Service Officer Jim Barrett met with our program director at Hands On Hartford to collect the donations. Officer Barrett gives these gift cards directly to people who are not connected to local programs, helping them get a meal when they need it.
We are proud of our team for showing up for the community and encourage continued support. Every contribution makes a difference.
Learn about Officer Barrett’s role in the community in the video below.
Many community members are facing reduced assistance, unexpected hardships, and limited access to food or clothing. If you would like to contribute, we are still collecting items.
Learn how you can help: https://shorturl.at/A2MwJ
Choosing the right program can shape your professional network, career opportunities, and overall graduate school experience. Before you submit your application, here are six things every prospective MPH student should know.