Hello, I'm Laura Kavanagh, Director of the Division of MCH Workforce
Development at the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, or MCHB.
It’s such a pleasure to be with you today and welcome you back to your MCHB
supported training program.
We’re honored to have you as a trainee.
As part of this welcome I’ll cover a few areas today:
I’ll provide an overview of our priorities at MCHB
and our new Division of MCH Workforce Development;
I’ll share background on MCHB investments in academic institutions
nationwide,
which includes your training program;
and I’ll describe what's unique about programs funded by the Division
of MCH Workforce Development;
and finally, underscore the Division’s commitment to engaging trainees (you)
in achieving its goal of training the next generation of leaders
in maternal and child health.
As trainees in MCHB supported programs you've now reached a point
where hopefully you're feeling more comfortable with all of the new
information,
perhaps a new city,
and new demands on your time.
We thought the new year mark was an appropriate time to share an overview
of MCHB,
our workforce investments and why it's so important to engage you as trainees
as you begin your journey
as an MCH professional.
Let's start with an overview of our priorities of MCHB and our new
Division of Workforce Development.
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau sits within the Health Resources
and Services Administration,
within the Department of Health and Human Services.
MCHB is led by the associate administrator Dr. Michael Lu.
He's articulated in a new vision statement for MCHB
"we are going to improve maternal and child health
by improving access, quality,
integration,
accountability, and equity."
As implementation of the Affordable Care Act advances, MCHB's programs will
work to achieve this vision
through an expanded focus in these five areas.
Within MCHB, the Division of Maternal and Child Health Workforce
Development provides leadership and direction
in educating and training our nation's current
and future leaders in maternal and child health.
We support graduate interdisciplinary leadership training programs focused on
the MCH population
and workforce development programs
such as MCH certificate programs,
resources such as MCH Navigator
and we're expanding investments for practicing MCH professionals
through new MCH Workforce Development Centers.
In fiscal year 2012,
the Division's investments included $47 million dollars to 173 programs across the country.
Funding is directed to support faculty,
trainees and overall program infrastructure.
The reach of the programs is quite dramatic.
In 2010,
the program included 25,000 trainees. About
2,200 were long-term trainees and 45,000 medium-term
and 17,000 were short-term trainees.
Twenty four percent of all of the trainees that we supported were from
underrepresented groups
and eighty-three percent
of former trainees
were leaders five years after completing the program.
Over 245,000 MCH professionals also received
continuing education for our programs.
You can learn more about our specific investments through our website on the
screen.
You may be wondering what's unique about the MCH training program.
While a number of bureaus and offices within the Health Resources and Services
Administration invest in training
our national health care and public health workforces,
the MCH training program in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau
is the only program dedicated to advancing exemplary practice
and leadership in the field of maternal and child health
with an emphasis on core principles of diversity,
health equity, cultural competence and family involvement.
Your acceptance into this program
ushers you into a legacy of leadership
in maternal and child health.
Many of our most influential leaders in maternal and child health
from your faculty members to advocates for maternal and child health to those
in health departments or even federal service
are former trainees from programs supported by the Maternal and Child
Health Training Program.
Despite having been accepted into a particular degree program or track in a
particular part of the country,
you're part of something larger,
the next generation of health professionals who will shape the health
and care of our nation's women,
children and families.
Today I also want to highlight the Division's commitment to trainee
engagement.
I hope that over time, if you don't already, you come to think of yourselves
as MCH professionals
along with your affiliation with your discipline. For example,
two experiences dramatically shake my commitment to supporting activities that
foster trainee engagement.
They shape my commitment to building and sustaining connections between trainees
supported by MCHB
through its many training programs across the country.
Many years ago when I was at Georgetown University, before coming to the federal
government,
I was part of a team that conducted an evaluation of the MCH Training
Program.
We conducted site visits to over fifty programs across the country
and when we interviewed trainees at each site, it struck me how many had no idea
that they were part of the national network of trainees,
that others were going through the same joys and frustrations,
feeling utterly overwhelmed at the beginning of the traineeship
or fellowship experience - What have I gotten myself into?
Over time, finding their way in becoming more expert
and then near the end of the traineeship, maybe feeling alone again -
How can I find a job that reinforces what I just learned,
which I now realize may be different from other settings?
That experience stuck with me
and when I became the training branch chief at MCHB in 2001,
I wanted to figure out better ways of connecting trainees
for support,
to learn from one another,
to develop collaborative research
and innovative clinical practice models,
and to sustain these connections over a career.
The second experience is several years ago when I attended a memorial service
for a dear colleague,
Dr. Greg Alexander, who used to be at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
and then the University of South Florida.
At the service, several friends and colleagues reflected on the fact
that many of us have grown up together professionally
through various meetings and experiences in maternal and child health.
In those days travel funds were generally available
and we were able to regularly travel to MCH meetings where we connected with
one another over time.
We developed joint projects together sometimes conducted joint
research or co-authored papers.
Those connections were sustained over the course of our careers.
Our mentors often attended the meetings with us and they introduced us to the
leaders in the field and we in turn did the same as we grew older.
At this memorial service we mourned not only the loss of Greg,
but also the young students and junior colleagues that didn't have the same
opportunities to make these connections.
Often it was our MCH professional connections across the country
that might be stronger than some of our local connections at our universities
or local or state agencies.
We left the service committed to coming up with creative ways to foster the
development
of these lifelong connections with younger MCH professionals.
Several efforts followed, funded by MCHB, and they offer some ways for you to
sustain some of the connections that you're developing as part of your
training program.
The Making Lifelong Connections meeting is scheduled for this April in Chicago
and the University of Illinois at Chicago sponsored leadership retreat
each summer focuses on intergenerational connections between MCH
Professionals.
The MCH section of the American Public Health Association has a very strong
student commitment.
AUCD
has a virtual training
and through support from MCHB
has trainee webinars
and a trainee listserv.
MCHB also has been working to develop a stronger trainee voice on our
website
and by including trainees more deliberately
in strategic planning
and other initiatives such as the Diversity Peer Learning Collaborative.
We would love to hear your ideas
about how we can strengthen these efforts.
I encourage you to take advantage of opportunities to engage with your peers,
whether through the trainee listserv, or at national conferences,
or through participating in working groups that facilitate collaboration.
At MCHB,
we're committed to facilitating connections now
and sustaining these connections into the future.
We recognize the inherent expertise in your experiences as a trainee
and view you as an invaluable resource
to sharing the national MCH training effort.
Over the course of your training and beyond, you’ll have
numerous opportunities to engage with the Division on its strategic plans and
products
but we also want to learn about your experiences,
ideas and feedback.
Over the course of 2013, we’ll implement a webinar series for training
specific to issues that cut across training programs
and facilitate collaboration
and catalyze your leadership development.
We plan to reach out to you and hope you'll reach out to us
about more opportunities for engagement.
In closing,
as my colleague Donna Peterson said,
“when you move on from this academic program, you'll naturally find yourself
in leadership positions because of the training you've received.
You’ll be able to collaborate across disciplines,
to focus on systems,
and to implement change."
As a trainee in the MCH Training Program, you will be a leader,
an innovator and a collaborator.
It’s in the fibers of your training.
Your faculty members in this division are committed to helping you achieve
your goals.
We're excited to work with
and learn from you.
Together we’ll improve the health of the nation's women,
children,
and families.