CPH Joins HRSA-Funded Region IV as a Community-Based Training Partner

In July 2018, East Tennessee State University College of Public Health was funded to be a community-based training (CBT) partner with the Region IV Public Health Training Center (PHTC) headquartered at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  Kate Beatty, PhD, will lead Region IV PHTC efforts in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Region IV PHTC network includes the central office at Emory, six CBTs and three technical assistance providers working collectively to improve the ability of the public health workforce to meet national, state, and local needs. The Region IV PHTC accomplishes this goal by offering training on strategic public health skills, such as leadership and communication, as well as priority health concerns, including mental health, opioid use and childhood obesity. The PHTC also coordinates a student field placement program that aims to increase the number of skilled public health professionals working in rural and/or underserved communities.

The Region IV PHTC primarily serves governmental public health professionals in eight southeastern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Dr. Moose Alperin, Principal Investigator for the Region IV PHTC says, “I am grateful to have Dr. Kate Beatty and her colleagues at East Tennessee State University as partners. With their leadership, the Region IV PHTC will be able address the myriad of challenges, both current and emerging, that are faced by the public health workforce in Tennessee and the southeast.”  

The R-IV PHTC is one of ten regional HRSA-funded PHTCs throughout the U.S. and a member of the national Public Health Learning Network.

The Tennessee Public Health Training Center, also called LIFEPATH, began in 2011 as Tennessee’s first and only Public Health Training Center. It originally provided academic and nonacademic training opportunities for the public health workforce across Tennessee and southwest Virginia. It now provides a home for the collaborative partnerships between Tennessee’s academic public health training providers and Tennessee‘s public health workforce, and provides comprehensive competency-based training for that workforce.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

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