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Innovations in Public Health Academic-Practice Linkages When: Academic/Practice Linkages in Ohio: A Demonstration Project Presenter: The Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice is conducting a demonstration project in Ohio to help build academic linkages with health departments. The purpose of the demonstration project is to identify the degree to which academic/practice linkages currently exist in Ohio and what can be done to further promote existing and future linkages in Ohio and nationwide. This information will be obtained through written surveys, focus groups, and meetings. The information will be analyzed and used to develop technical assistance tools that can be used in Ohio and nationwide. Despite the raised visibility and continued support for the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice by public health agencies and academic institutions, the "worth" of academic/practice linkages is still questioned. While the Council on Linkages continues to disseminate information about successful linkages, a need exists for a demonstrated "how-to model" for actually making the link between state and local public health agencies and academic institutions. The results of this demonstration project will provide valuable up-to-date information on academic/practice linkages and ways to make linkages successful. Specific end results will include the development of "lessons learned," tools/models for other states to use, and a better idea of "what it takes" to make linkages actually happen. The advantages of this activity to both the practice and academic communities include: improved skills and capacity sensitivity from working with one another; improving community health through joint problem identification and solving; creating new knowledge through identification of research needs and jointly conducting applied research.
Using Academic/Practice Linkages to Help Achieve Healthy People 2010 Objectives Presenter: The Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, comprised of leaders from national academic and practice organizations, fosters and builds linkages between the academic and practice communities of public health. Through the Council's activities, including an annual call for abstracts for Linkage Awards recognizing outstanding collaborative activities, and research and compilation for its quarterly publication, The Link, over 100 linkages have been documented in developing and implementing programs consistent with Healthy People 2010 objectives. These documented academic/practice linkages provide concrete examples on how academic/practice linkages can be built and how they can focus on Healthy People 2010 objectives. They also show how linkages can expand the knowledge and understanding of researchers and practitioners and contribute to improved health outcomes. Examples of academic/practice linkages addressing Healthy People 2010 focus areas, will be presented and discussed. This will include a description of the project along with the successes, difficulties, unexpected outcomes of the collaborations, and a follow-up on long term outcomes. Recent examples include:
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