Today, local, state, and federal funding agencies have recognised the importance of the role the community plays in assuring a healthy population. As a result, these funding sources have mandated that the community which is primarily affected by these persistent public health issues, be present at the working table with academicians, researchers, public health practitioners, and policymakers so their "voice" may be heard and they may contribute to effective solutions. For sustainability purposes, we need to help these communities build their capacity to address the episodic, as well as the persistent, public health issues that affect their health. How do we, as public health professionals, do that? How do we learn the skills and principles necessary to establish partnerships with our communities? How do we then teach our community partners to continue to improve the health status of their neighbourhoods when the funding expires? This book explores this topic in greater detail.
Rosemary M Caron is a Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the former Director of the Master's in Public Health Program in the Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Health and Human Services (CHHS), at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Durham, NH, USA. Rosemary is also core faculty in the UNH Master's Program in Community Development, Policy and Practice, and the New Hampshire Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Program. In addition, she is an adjunct Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Rosemary teaches public health courses at both the undergraduate and graduate student levels and received the 2011 Teaching Excellence Award in CHHS and is the recipient of the 2015 Outstanding Associate Professor Award at UNH. She has published her research in respected, peer-reviewed journals; has edited several books focused on education and public health; and has authored a book on preparing the public health workforce.
JJoav Merrick, MD, MMedSci, DMSc Professor of Pediatrics at the Division of Pediatrics, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Mt Scopus Campus, Jerusalem, Israel, Kentucky Childrens Hospital, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States and Professor of Public Health at the Center for Healthy Development, School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States, the former Medical Director of the Division for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, Jerusalem and the Founder and Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Israel