Cilenti receives $5.5M to start national workforce development center at UNC

Oct. 3, 2013

 

Dorothy Cilenti, DrPH, clinical assistant professor in the department of maternal and child health and senior investigator at the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) at The University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, has received a three-year, $5.5M award from the U.S.  Health Resources and Services Administration. The award, a cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Bureau, Division of Workforce Development, will establish the national MCH Workforce Development Center at UNC.

“The award will provide workforce development for state Title V MCH program leaders and staff members in four key programmatic areas around implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – access to care, quality improvement, systems integration and population health management,” Cilenti said. She noted that the MCH Workforce Development Center will help prepare future maternal and child health workers with skills and knowledge to succeed in the public health system under the ACA.

The UNC Center will serve as a consolidated national hub for the program, engaging with key academic, policy and public health practice partners and providing workforce development in the four key areas. In collaboration with the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, the Center will strengthen capacity of state Title V agencies to implement the ACA through team-based, onsite and distance coaching, training and technical assistance.

 

“As the National Center for this initiative, we have oversight for a highly visible, highly impactful initiative that will reach all 50 states and territories,” Cilenti said. “We will deliver evidence-based training and technical assistance based on the needs of the states. This is a critical time and opportunity for Title V programs to transform and lead efforts to implement the ACA and other major health systems reforms.”

 

Gillings School collaborators in the training effort include faculty and staff members from the departments of maternal and child health and health policy and management, the Public Health Leadership Program and the North Carolina Institute for Public Health. UNC’s National Implementation Research Network, based at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, is also a collaborator.

 

Additional collaborators include the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, the Center for Public Health Quality, Boston University’s Catalyst Center, the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Howard University and the National Academy for State Health Policy.

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Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.