2017 CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Funding Opportunity Announcement Resources

The following are selected seminal academic references provided as additional background information related to the announcement, CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Program (CUPS): A Public Health Experience to Expose Undergraduate and Graduate Students to Minority Health, Public Health and Health Professions.  These references and summaries are included as foundational information that supports the funding announcement.

Bouye, K. E., McCleary, K.J., & Williams, K.B. (2016). Increasing diversity in the health professions: Reflections on student pipeline programs. Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities, 6(1), 67-78

Ensuring diverse public health and healthcare workforces to provide services to diverse populations, in combination with other strategies, can increase access to and quality of healthcare for vulnerable populations and decrease healthcare disparities. One mechanism for achieving a diverse public health and healthcare workforce is to establish, promote, and conduct student training programs in public health. This paper highlights a session, “Public Health Professions Enhancement Programs,” that was held during the 2015 symposium titled “National Negro Health Week to National Minority Health Month: 100 Years of Moving Public Health Forward” in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cohen, J. J., Gabriel, B. A., & Terrell, C. (2002). The case for diversity in the health care workforce. Health Affairs, 21(5), 90-102

Increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the health care workforce is essential for the adequate provision of culturally competent care to our nation’s burgeoning minority communities. A diverse health care workforce will help to expand health care access for the underserved, foster research in neglected areas of societal need, and enrich the pool of managers and policymakers to meet the needs of a diverse populace.

Hilliard, T. M., & Boulton, M. L. (2012). Public health workforce research in review: a 25-year retrospective. American journal of preventive medicine, 42(5), S17-S28

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned a systematic review of public health workforce literature in fall 2010. This paper reviews public health workforce articles published from 1985 to 2010 that support development of a public health workforce research agenda, and address four public health workforce research themes: (1) diversity; (2) recruitment, retention, separation, and retirement; (3) education, training, and credentialing; and (4) pay, promotion, performance, and job satisfaction.

Sullivan, L. W. (2004). Missing persons: minorities in the health professions, a report of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce

There is an imbalance in the makeup of the nation’s physicians, dentists, and nurses. This imbalance contributes to the gap in health status and the impaired access to health care experienced by a significant portion of our population. The Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce finds that African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and certain segments of the nation’s Asian/Pacific Islander population are not present in significant numbers. Rather, they are missing! While some outstanding physicians, dentists, and nurses are minorities, access to a health professions career remains largely separate and unequal. This report, Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions, examines the root causes of this challenge and provides detailed recommendations on how to increase the representation of minorities in the nation’s medical, dental, and nursing workforce.