First published on December 9, 2019 in observance of the COPH’s 35^th anniversary celebration.

In 2018, the USF College of Public Health (COPH) resurrected its Public Health Executive Leadership Program, which had been dormant for 10 years.

The program aims to bring rising leaders in the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) together to “collaborate and improve upon their own as well as their agency’s effectiveness,” said Dr. Marissa Levine, a COPH professor and co-director of the program along with Dr. Anthony Masys, an associate professor and director of global disaster management, humanitarian assistance and homeland security. “We revived the program not to teach public health skills, but to bring out leadership skills.”

Last year’s program brought 28 FDOH professionals—everyone from bureau chiefs to doctors and nurses to lab executives—to the USF Tampa campus several times over the course of nine months to attend workshops and presentations. In between the sessions, the group performed online work and discussions.

“The students evaluated their own leadership skill growth at the beginning and end of the program,” explained Levine. “Based on this, we saw a significant increase in self-assessed leadership skills. In addition, each student completed a capstone project relevant to their work at their base of operations. Each project was impactful and some had the potential for state- or national-level effectiveness.”

As an added bonus, many students in the program who did not initially know each other created professional relationships. “That will not only help them personally, but it will also enhance the work and impact of the department,” noted Levine.

Hurricane season pushed back the start of this year’s program, but in November 30 FDOH workers came to campus to open the 2019 program and begin fine-tuning their leadership skills. 

“This is another dynamic group who we will meet again in person four more times between now and May. Next month we will be exploring leadership in a political context and will convene in Tallahassee where we will view committee meetings and learn about all levels of government budget and policy making,” said Levine.

The Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice, the COPH group that puts on the program, has an annual contract with the FDOH. According to Levine, the group is looking to expand its offerings to engage other public health professionals. “We’re disseminating information to our graduates and others interested in leadership so that we can create a robust resource for leaders working to collaboratively improve health and well-being,” said Levine

.Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Two USF College of Public Health (COPH) staff members took on new leadership positions with the Florida Public Health Association (FPHA), the professional organization for public health workers in Florida.

The leaderships changes took effect during the FPHA’s annual meeting, held in Orlando in July.

Allison Rapp, MPH, moved to first vice president of the group while Parnia Roghani Shareef, who received her MPH from the college, moved to second vice president. Both Rapp and Roghani Shareef are program planner analysts with the COPH’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice.

COPH DrPH student Kelli Agrawal currently serves as the FPHA’s student engagement committee co-chair.

The FPHA membership elects the second vice president, who serves a one-year term. Every year the officers move up—from second vice president to first vice president to president and immediate past president. All in all, officers serve for four years.

“When I moved to Florida in 2014, I knew I needed to network and one of the first things I did was find the FPHA,” Rapp said. “In fact, I moved at the end of June that year and the conference was in July. I’ve taken on numerous roles throughout the years with FPHA including member-at-large and treasurer. In an effort to continue to develop as a leader, I wanted to take on FPHA leadership roles and here I am—vice president.”

Rapp said two of her major responsibilities will be planning the annual conference and expanding the reach of the FPHA.

“I like to think that there is not a single issue we are faced with, across all areas, that is not connected to public health,” Rapp said. “Give me an issue you think is not a public health issue and I will explain to you why it is. That said, I want to bring other sectors—from business to education and more—to understand that they should be interested in public health, join the FPHA and come to our amazing conference.”

Roghani Shareef said strengthening connections with those inside and outside public health will be her focus as well.

“I hope to accomplish a successful mentorship program, which I helped launch last year,” she said. “I also hope to continue to collaborate across different sectors. As Allison mentioned, what isn’t public health? Having those connections and networks will really enhance our efforts in public health.”

Roghani Shareef was also recognized with the FPHA’s Meritorious Service Award, which is given annually to an FPHA member who has a record of making outstanding contributions to the FPHA in the field of public health.

“I feel honored not only to be nominated and receive this award from one of my role models [Venise White, FPHA’s immediate past president], but to know that the work I am doing is making an impact,” Roghani Shareef said. “It feels amazing and brings me one step closer to changing the world!”

Also recognized by the FPHA at their annual meeting was alum Nicole Sutton, who received the Robert D. May M.D. Award. The award is given to a public health worker and FPHA member who has demonstrated significant accomplishments advancing public health at local or state levels.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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In an effort to strengthen the U.S. public health system, three national philanthropic nonprofits have awarded the University of South Florida more than $8.5 million in grants to train the nation’s public health leaders in collaboration and leadership skills.

The grant is in response to a badly depleted, post-pandemic public health care workforce where workers are understaffed, overworked and in dire need of strong leadership.

That is where USF is stepping in.

“Our public health leaders and managers need to foster a community where there is open and honest, true collaboration amongst its members,” said Dr. Triparna de Vreede, an expert in collaboration science and organizational psychology at the USF Muma College of Business and one of the co-investigators of the project.

“Regenerative leadership emphasizes holistic, sustainable and long-term thinking where the leader is a facilitator and a voice of the community rather than the hero leading the charge. We need to build regenerative leaders in the public health space to utilize all the assets in the community,” de Vreede said, who serves as an associate director in the School of Information Systems and Management. 

Led by Dr. Marissa Levine, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor of public health practice and the principal investigator, the grant will establish the national program office for the Public Health Regenerative Leadership Synergy, dubbed PHEARLESS, within the COPH’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice.

Another co-investigator on the grant is Jennifer Marshall, an associate professor at the COPH.

Through this grant, USF leaders will lead a one-year training program and distribute $100,000 grants to help organizations participating in the program.

“We’re taking an approach called regenerative leadership—which is thinking about our communities as living systems and not machines — and figuring out how to better work together in complex contexts, like what we went through with COVID, and how to get a shared vision where people all have the opportunity to thrive,” Levine said.

The USF interdisciplinary team will co-lead the design and implementation of the training.

The PHEARLESS initiative is being funded by The Kresge Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the de Beaumont Foundation in an effort to strengthen the nation’s public health system.

Nearly half of U.S. state and local healthcare workers left their jobs between 2017 and 2021, exacerbating an existing workforce shortage, according to a data analysis of the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, conducted by the de Beaumont Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Here’s how the PHEARLESS program works:

• The one-year leadership development training is open to public health professionals from across the country. Its inaugural cohort kicks off in September. Organizers are soliciting applications now and have extended the application deadline to close at 3 p.m. July 14.
• PHEARLESS program leaders will dole out community grants to 15 selected teams. Each team consists of two public health professionals and two community leaders. Teams will participate in virtual and in-person sessions.
• Selected teams will receive a $100,000 grant to support their activities to improve the public’s health and $9,000 stipends for each of the two community leaders.

PHEARLESS is unique in that it gives public health department leaders an opportunity to reimagine their roles in creating healthy communities that are community-led and centered in equality, organizers said.

“We really need to think differently about how we approach leadership in public health and what are we going to do about assuring more equitable outcomes in health and communities,” Levine said.

The College of Public Health will also partner with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Big Cities Health Coalition, and the National Association of County and City Officials as an interdisciplinary support network.

To learn more about the criteria and how to apply, visit the PHEARLESS initiative website. Applications are due July 14.

Story By Elizabeth L. Brown. Reposted from USF News.

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Get ready!

Applications for the 2023-24 cohort of Public Health Regenerative Leadership Synergy (PHEARLESS), a new grant and leadership enhancement opportunity based on the principles of regenerative leadership, will open next month.

PHEARLESS will support up to 15 teams, each comprising two community leaders and two governmental public health leaders from the same jurisdiction. These rising leaders will learn together to further develop their abilities to collaborate across diverse groups and develop and act in alignment toward a common vision in which all can reach their full potential and thrive. 

Now is a great time to gather your teams and prepare to apply: 

• Connect with other rising leaders in your jurisdiction to identify the team members who want to make the most of this opportunity to forge deeper, more meaningful and lasting relationships.  This is your opportunity to continue your work to enhance the health and well-being of all in your community and to do so by learning from the wisdom of living systems.    
• Lay the groundwork for support from key individuals and organizations.
• Assess the current state of your community’s efforts to promote health and start to identify the community systems you seek to better understand and redesign. 

Questions? Contact COPH-CLPHP@usf.edu 

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Eight recent graduates of the USF College of Public Health (COPH) Public Health Executive Leadership Program (PHELP) have been promoted to health officer/administrator positions at health departments across the state.

Health officers within the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) are the lead public health officials for the counties in which they serve. They are responsible for their department’s operations and any response to community public health events, concerns or disasters.

After a hiatus of several years, the COPH revived PHELP with the aim of teaching and reinforcing leadership skills among early-to-mid career FDOH managers and supervisors who have demonstrated leadership potential. Since its resurrection four years ago, 75 FDOH employees have graduated from the program.

“The program provides those who enroll with new skills and knowledge, but maybe, most importantly, the opportunity for personal leadership development,” Dr. Marissa Levine, a professor of public health practice and director of the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice, said. “That includes enhancement of the mindset necessary to be a successful leader.” 

The eight PHELP grads recently promoted to health officer include:

“I wanted to take part to learn how to be a better leader, to network and ultimately to advance in the field of public health,” said Kimberly Kossler, who served as a disease intervention specialist, an epidemiologist, a program manager and in other capacities before being named health officer of Collier County in Dec. 2020. 

“I serve as the local lead public health official to provide direction, management, leadership and evaluation of a wide variety of complex and multi-faceted community public health programs,” she added. “This role is an essential part of the Florida public health system and is responsible for assessing, maintaining and improving the health and safety of the entire community.”

Kossler said taking part in the program was essential to advancing her career. 

“The program provided an opportunity to meet other colleagues who had similar ambitions, exchange experiences and share knowledge,” she said. “It gave me a chance to demonstrate my interest and desire to continue to advance my career in public health while learning valuable ways to improve my leadership skills.”

Meaghan Crowley, who at the time she was enrolled in the program served as director of community health in Marion County, agrees. 

“PHELP was an invaluable experience in my leadership journey, which still serves me on a daily basis, even today,” said Crowley, now health officer/administrator in Baker County. “Drs. Levine and Masys [a former COPH associate professor involved in the program] set the foundation by including a myriad of advanced leadership topics such as adaptive leadership, systems thinking, change management, appreciative inquiry, complexity in public health, communication and partnership, to name a few. Rather than merely ‘teaching’ us leadership, they acted as our champions in our leadership journey. I was able to implement many of these lessons while at DOH-Marion and feel they have served me even more in my current role as the DOH-Baker health officer/administrator.”

Crowley said she was so impressed by her PHELP experience, she decided to enroll in the COPH DrPH program with a concentration in Advanced Practice Leadership in Public Health. 

“I have felt supported, encouraged and inspired by all the COPH faculty in my continued leadership journey,” she stated. “I can say without a doubt that [the program] has unquestionably helped me not only in my journey to become a health officer, but to create a culture of quality and excellence at DOH-Baker, where staff are encouraged to be leaders themselves, no matter their position, and to create positive change to better serve our community and one another.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Dr. Marissa Levine, a USF College of Public Health professor of public health practice, has been appointed to the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Center for Preparedness and Response (CPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

According to its website, the CPR is “America’s public health defense hub. The CPR provides expertise, funding, technical support and training to public health departments to help them prepare for health emergencies. The CPR works together with experts in immunization, environmental health, emerging diseases, occupational safety and health, injury prevention and control and others.”

As a scientific counselor, Levine, who also directs the college’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice, will advise the nation’s top health leaders, including the director of the CDC and Secretary of Health and Human Services. She will also help conduct peer reviews of scientific programs, perform secondary reviews of scientific research proposals and monitor the CPR’s overall direction and focus.

“The Board of Scientific Counselors is designed to assist the center in using the latest science and translate evidence into effective public health emergency practice,” Levine noted. “Given that we are still in a pandemic and have much yet to do, let alone plan for the next public health emergency, this is a very important time for the CPR and this board. I am most excited about adding my voice to the deliberations with the hope that, even in some small way, I can assist the CPR in advancing its mission and performing its work for the betterment of all.”

Levine will serve a three-year term.

“I am thrilled to have been nominated and accepted for this role,” Levine, who was nominated by the former director of the CPR, added. “I had served this same board as a liaison officer when I was the Virginia State Health Commissioner. I felt honored to be a part of that esteemed group then, and I look forward to being an official voting member of the board now.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Patrick Gardner, RN, MPH, EMT, assistant director of the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice at the USF College of Public Health, was on the Conference Planning Committee for the 2015 Preparedness Summit April 14-17 in Atlanta.  The theme of this year’s summit was Global Health Security: Preparing a Nation for Emerging Threats.  It was hosted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials and sponsored by several partner organizations, including the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.  More than 1,700 emergency preparedness professionals came together at the highly successful summit to hear about the latest research findings in the field and to learn about practical tools for planning and preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters and other public health emergencies.

Patrick Gardner (standing) recognized for his contributions during a town hall session at the 2015 Preparedness Summit in Atlanta.

In addition to helping organize the Preparedness Summit, Gardner also presented one of the learning sessions. His presentation, “Situational Awareness for Planning and Decision Making,” taught conference attendees about situational awareness, which is the process of collection, integration, analysis, dissemination and visualization of relevant information. The training enhanced participants’ skills in providing essential information to leadership for decision-making at all levels.

Gardner also provided guidance in planning and conducting “Ensuring Workforce Readiness in Responding to Global Health Threats: Examples of Governmental Public Health and Academia Working Together,” a partner town hall hosted by the ASPPH on April 16.  The town hall highlighted how CEPH-accredited public health schools and programs are working with governmental public health agencies and other partners to assure that the workforce is adequately prepared to respond to and prevent epidemics, particularly those that pose global health threats.

Two weeks later, Gardner presented at the 44th annual meeting of the Florida Nuclear Medicine Technologists in Orlando April 30-May 3.

Gardner’s presentation, “Protecting Healthcare Personnel: Ebola Readiness,” explained how infectious diseases such as Ebola are transmitted, and reviewed the current Ebola situation both internationally and in the U.S.  Participants learned about public health in the context of Ebola, protective measures for health care workers, and practical steps to prepare facilities to care for patients with Ebola.

Participants were able to earn continuing education credits to meet licensure requirements for nuclear medicine technologists, nuclear pharmacists, general pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

Gardner’s lecture and the question-and-answer session that followed were well-attended and well-received.

The USF College of Public Health is the academic home for the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice.

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The Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center at the USF College of Public Health is closing out National Preparedness Month with National Prepareathon! Day on Sept. 30.

PERLC staff members have updated their personal preparedness plans, refreshed their home emergency kits and checked the contents of their emergency “Go Bags.” Want to join in being prepared for disaster? Start with the guides at http://www.ready.gov/ or http://flgetaplan.com/.

Patrick Gardner, assistant director of the USF PERLC, is prepared with a well-stocked “Go Bag.”

The Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice also spent National Preparedness Month developing two new courses, Disaster Behavioral Health First Aid Specialist Training for Veterans and Community-Based Disaster Coalitions: Vulnerable Populations. These trainings will be offered in addition to the core courses in disaster behavioral health, coalitions, field epidemiology and public health core competencies.

Additionally, as part of its work in preparedness for vulnerable populations, USF PERLC recently collaborated with the Hillsborough County Office of Emergency Management to improve post-disaster continuity of operations for agencies and organizations that provide services to vulnerable populations, a project that was recognized as a “Success Story” in the September PERLC Grantee Webinar.

For more information about National Preparedness Month, see http://www.cdc.gov/features/beready/ and http://www.ready.gov/.

For more information about the CLPHP and its training programs, see http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/clphp.

Submitted by Jo Averill-Snell, USF Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice

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Noble Training Facility

Patrick Gardner, of the USF College of Public Health’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice (CLPHP), participated in the Healthcare Leadership for Mass Casualty Incidents training July 28-August 2.  The training was provided and funded by the Center for Domestic Preparedness, in Anniston, AL, which is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The training focused on Tribal healthcare and emergency management in all-hazards disasters involving mass casualties.  Mr. Gardner will use the knowledge and Tribal contacts acquired to further the CLPHP’s mission, curriculum, and trainings.

The session began with a blessing ceremony performed by a participating Native American leader and culminated in a hands-on exercise at the Noble Training Facility, a former Army hospital converted into a center for health and medical disaster training.  Noble is the only hospital facility in the United States dedicated to training healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response.

The Noble Training Facility has extensive simulation areas; classrooms, a computer lab, and a resource area; and two prototype mass casualty decontamination lanes.  Use of the former hospital made the final exercise convincingly realistic, as it took place in the actual ER and hospital rooms.

The University of South Florida College of Public Health is the parent organization for the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice. In addition to the center’s preparedness training, the college’s Department of Global Health offers online concentrations in disaster management and humanitarian relief that lead to a graduate certificate and MPH degree.

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Patrick Gardner, assistant director and project leader for the CLPHP’s Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center, participated in the Public Health Preparedness Summit 2013. The event was held in Atlanta, Georgia on March 12-15.  Gardner facilitated an interactive session titled “Health Disparities and Their Role in Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery.” The presentation, co-authored with Adewale Troutman, MD, MPH, MA, director, Public Health Practice Program, examined the social causes of health inequities in the United States and the key role that these inequities play in disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.

Gardner served as a panel member for an interactive session titled “Why Reinvent the Wheel? Looking at Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers to Support PHEP Capability Training Needs.” This workshop explored examples of academic and public health practice partnerships used to develop, execute, and evaluate public health preparedness trainings based on assessed training needs, different aspects of development, and use of new planning and training technologies.

Attendees at both sessions included representatives from Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers, the American Public Health Association, the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and health departments across the US.

The CDC invited Dave Rogoff, MHA, BSIE, director of the CLPHP, to participate in a panel discussion in conjunction with the Annual PERLC Grantee Meeting.   Held immediately prior to the Summit, the talk centered around sustainability and panelists explored additional ways to work with state and other partners. The audience included representatives from all the Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers, as well as representatives from schools of public health, the CDC, and ASPH.

The Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice is a vital source for training in the State of Florida.  To learn more about its programs, visit http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/clphp. The Center also includes the Public Health Practice Program, which offers a MPH degree in online and executive weekend formats.

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