The U.S. is facing a range of public health challenges, including bird flu, measles and continued cases of COVID-19. However, the nation’s public health workforce is understaffed — exacerbated by recent cuts at national and state levels — and cannot adequately address disease outbreaks and other public health challenges.
School of Public Health Associate Professor JP Leider and Professor Rebecca Wurtz can speak to the current state of the U.S. public health workforce.
JP Leider
“From safe food to clean water and outbreak response, we have long taken for granted fundamental public health protections. Billions cut from our national public health budget are already impacting communities, restricting their capacity to address lead in water, to test and track infectious diseases, to build disaster preparedness and much more. We need sustained federal and state investments to grow our workforce and support its ability to keep us safe.”
Rebecca Wurtz
“Every American benefits from infectious disease control. Without the constant vigilance of talented and committed professionals, we will see more cases of diseases which were once controlled or even eradicated in the U.S., including measles, polio and malaria. We are also sowing the seeds for decades worth of preventable disease cases — such as HIV, tuberculosis and syphilis — that wouldn’t have occurred if communicable disease control programs had remained in place.”
JP Leider is the director of the Center for Public Health Systems and an associate professor in the School of Public Health. He researches workforce capacity, retention, financing and differential community outcomes and helps inform the work of health agencies at the federal, state and local levels.
Rebecca Wurtz is a Distinguished University Teaching Professor in the School of Public Health. Her areas of expertise include immunization barriers, electronic laboratory reporting, population health data standards, generative AI and public health misinformation. A physician with a background in infectious disease and epidemiology, Wurtz brings extensive leadership experience from local and national public health systems to her teaching and research.
Contact
JP Leider, [email protected]
Rebecca Wurtz, [email protected]
About the School of Public Health
The University of Minnesota School of Public Health improves the health and wellbeing of populations and communities around the world by bringing innovative research, learning, and concrete actions to today’s biggest health challenges. We prepare some of the most influential leaders in the field, and partner with health departments, communities, and policymakers to advance health equity for all. Learn more at sph.umn.edu.
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