{"id":4,"date":"2015-10-05T14:10:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T14:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cehhs-publichealth.utdev1.wpengine.com\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2024-10-11T09:06:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T13:06:54","slug":"ahd","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cehhs.utk.edu\/publichealth\/ahd\/","title":{"rendered":"Academic Health Department"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bridging Knowledge | Improving Health <\/p>\n

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What is the Academic Health Department?<\/h2>\n

In 2011, the University of Tennessee Department of Public Health entered into a memorandum of understanding<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>with the\u00a0Knox County Health Department (KCHD)<\/a>, formalizing a long-standing set of relationships by establishing the Academic Health Department (AHD). The purpose of the AHD is to bridge public health academia and practice to improve public health.<\/p>\n

You can read more about the AHD on the Knox County Health Department’s Academic Health Department page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Th\"\"<\/a>e conceptualization of an AHD was a response to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) landmark study on the future of public health. Many deficiencies were identified by the IOM, including a disconnect between academic programs in public health and actual public health practice. This disconnect holds potential ramifications for workforce training and education, research, and resources. Imagine an academic program in medicine or nursing and the critical role which a teaching hospital plays in the educational experience. The AHD is the public health corollary to what this teaching hospital is for medical and nursing students.The AHD provides a practice setting where public health graduate students can apply what they are learning in the classroom to the real problems and challenges in the field. At the same time, the AHD provides the KCHD leadership staff opportunities to have direct input on curriculum to increase the applicability of the academic program to workforce needs, with better alignment between what is being taught in the classrooms with what the realities of public health practice requires. The benefits expand in other directions as well: the practice site has access to students, who not only can contribute to the work of the agency, but serve as a source for future employment; and, the faculty have access to programs and data which can facilitate practice-based research.<\/p>\n

Three Focus Areas<\/h2>\n

(click on the links below for PDF examples of each area)<\/p>\n