National dissemination of a model program to increase interest in the health professions

The Center for Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco, has reported that "Workforce issues in the allied health professions remain hidden because they are understood in the context of one professional group at a time, not as a crisis for an entire professional community." Beginning in 2000, the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY) began the Health Science Program, which offers a bachelor's degree in health science and a direct path to a variety of health professions. In less than five years, this program has become the fastest growing and the third largest major at SUNY. This grant supports outreach from the SUNY program to other academic health centers to disseminate the curriculum to a broad set of educational institutions. Activities will include sending information packets, four symposia held at SUNY for interested university officials from other institutions, six formal presentations of the curriculum in targeted venues, and development of a self-study guide for institutions that wish to replicate the curriculum. The project could help increase the number of institutions that offer comprehensive training in the allied health and health care professions, which in turn could help: (1) increase the available career ladders for frontline workers; (2) address the future workforce needs of health and health care without attention to single job categories; and (3) increase diversity of the health and health care workforce.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $97,499.00

Awarded on: 8/22/2005

Time frame: 9/1/2005 - 8/31/2007

Grant Number: 53143