Diversity of the US Public Health Workforce Pipeline (2016-2020): Role of Academic Institutions

Authors

Anushree Vichare, Anushree Vichare and Yoon Hong Park are with the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and the Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC. Christine M. Plepys is with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, Washington, DC.
Yoon Hong Park, Anushree Vichare and Yoon Hong Park are with the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and the Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC. Christine M. Plepys is with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, Washington, DC.
Christine M. Plepys, Anushree Vichare and Yoon Hong Park are with the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and the Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC. Christine M. Plepys is with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, Washington, DC.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-13-2023

Journal

American journal of public health

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2023.307352

Abstract

To develop a diversity index (DI) comparing the diversity of graduates across public health schools and programs in the United States and to examine characteristics associated with institutions' graduate diversity. We analyzed longitudinal data from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) across 5 academic years (2016-2017 to 2020-2021) for 109 ASPPH members. The outcome was the percentage of underrepresented minority (URM) students among those with bachelor's and graduate degrees in public health. The DI was constructed by dividing the percentage of URM graduates by the percentage of URM residents 20 to 35 years of age in the state where the ASPPH member was located. The mean DI score increased from 0.7 in 2016 to 0.8 in 2020, but URM students remain underrepresented. A 1-percentage-point increase in the proportion of URM faculty members was associated with a 0.7-percentage-point increase in the proportion of URM graduates ( < .001). Although the diversity of the public health educational pipeline shows an upward trend, racial/ethnic minority students remain underrepresented in public health. We found that institutional characteristics such as faculty diversity, program degree level, and area of study were associated with student diversity. (. Published online ahead of print July 13, 2023:e1-e9. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307352).

APA Citation

Vichare, Anushree; Park, Yoon Hong; and Plepys, Christine M., "Diversity of the US Public Health Workforce Pipeline (2016-2020): Role of Academic Institutions" (2023). GW Authored Works. Paper 3081.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/3081

Department

Health Policy and Management