JOHNSON CITY (June 7, 2012) – The East Tennessee State University College of Public Health and two organizations that it houses have been selected to host a training center that will provide education and professional development for newly appointed health department officials from eight Southeastern states.

ETSU is one of only four sites in the nation chosen by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) to host the center – known as Survive and Thrive – for one year. The training will be provided by the Tennessee Public Health Training Center referred to as LIFEPATH and the Tennessee Institute of Public Health (TNIPH), both of which are housed at the ETSU College of Public Health.

“Survive and Thrive: Roadmap for New Local Health Officials” provides new local health officials with information, training and support resources to help them lead their organizations effectively. The ETSU Survive and Thrive Southeast Center will serve new health officials from Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi and Alabama. Paula Masters, director of Tennessee LIFEPATH, and Ginny Kidwell, director of TNIPH, will be co-directors.

Dr. Randy Wykoff, dean of the College of Public Health, said Survive and Thrive is a significant opportunity to influence public health outcomes. Officials who receive appointments to the center will begin their fellowships in September.

“Being asked to help provide training to new public health officers in eight states is both a challenge and a tremendous opportunity to influence how public health is provided in some of the most challenging parts of our nation,” said Wykoff, who has served as an educator for Survive and Thrive on the national level. “Survive and Thrive is an important expansion of our workforce training responsibilities, a charge that is shared by the College of Public Health, LIFEPATH and the Tennessee Institute of Public Health. I commend Paula Masters and Ginny Kidwell for their efforts in helping bring Survive and Thrive to ETSU.”

Dr. John Dreyzehner, the commissioner of health for Tennessee, lauded the news that Survive and Thrive will be housed at ETSU. He wrote a letter of support to NACCHO for the university’s application to be a host site. Prior to being appointed health commissioner for Tennessee, Dreyzehner was a local health official in the Tri-Cities region for nine years. He also served as an adjunct faculty member with the ETSU College of Public Health and chaired the advisory committee that helped create Survive and Thrive for NACCHO.

“Survive and Thrive is the best way for new health officials to accelerate their success in local public health,” Dreyzehner said. “We are delighted that LIFEPATH at ETSU has been given this opportunity and look forward to the training opportunities that will be afforded to key local public health leaders around our state.”

For more information, contact Kidwell at (423) 439-4651 or kidwell@etsu.edu, or Masters at 439-4421 or mastersp@etsu.edu. TNIPH is on the Web at www.etsu.edu/tniph/ and LIFEPATH can be found at www.tnphtc.org/