Students Graduate From Public Health Leadership Institute

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 19, 2011) — Twenty-five participants in the Kentucky Public Health Leadership Institute (KPHLI), a year-long development program for practitioners in the field of public health, recently graduated from the program, and put what they learned in the program into action through team projects that address public health issues and problems.

The projects tackled such issues as improving childhood nutrition and promoting local agriculture through the Farm to School program that helps educate school children about healthy foods;  informing individuals who are homeless in the Louisville area on free health care resources and how to access them;  and providing asthma-friendly child care centers in Kentucky.

Graduates of the program, called “fellows,” were awarded a Certificate in Public Health Leadership from the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in April.

Funded by the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH), KPHLI is one of 35 leadership institutes located throughout the United States. In addition to the Change Master Team Project, graduation from the Institute requires a comprehensive Individual Development Plan, and book reviews of two leadership books in addition to the reading and webinars required during the year.

“The new graduates of KPHLI are equipped with the knowledge and the skills to implement real change and have tackled some of our Commonwealth’s most pressing public health problems through their Change Master Team Projects,” said Cynthia Lamberth, associate dean and director of KPHLI at the UK College of Public Health.

Since the 2000 founding of the Kentucky Public Health Leadership Institute, more than 400 scholars have developed their public health leadership skills through completion of the year-long curriculum.

The mission of the KPHLI is to strengthen the public health system in the Commonwealth of Kentucky by improving the skills of the professionals who administer state, regional, and local public health systems. KPHLI serves as a catalyst for both leaders and public health entities within the state.

For more information about the program, visit http://www.mc.uky.edu/kphli/

MEDIA CONTACT: Ann Blackford, (859) 257-1754, ext. 230; ann.blackford@uky.edu