Educating the Future Public Health Workforce: Do Schools of Public Health Teach Students About the Private Sector?

When Doctors are "Doxxed:" An Analysis of Information Posted on an Antiabortion Website

OBJECTIVES

To systematically review information posted about abortion providers on an antiabortion website.

STUDY DESIGN

Within a purposive sample of 64 abortion providers in 24 states, we reviewed 921 documents posted on the website.

RESULTS

Extensive provider personal information obtained via public records laws and other public sources was posted on the website in an accessible and searchable format.

CONCLUSIONS

Public records laws and other public sources of information have opened potent avenues for collecting and disseminating providers' personal information.

IMPLICATIONS

This website fits into a larger pattern of longstanding efforts to intimidate, threaten, and vilify providers.

The New Public Health Workforce: Employment Outcomes of Public Health Graduate Students

CONTEXT

Much has been written about the public health workforce, but very little research has been published-and none in a peer-reviewed journal or other report since 1992-regarding the employment outcomes and employment sectors of graduate students pursuing public health as an area of study.

OBJECTIVES

Our objectives were to review the literature and analyze data regarding the employment outcomes of public health graduate students and to examine how public health schools and programs might respond to changes in the sectors hiring their graduates.

DESIGN

We reviewed the literature regarding the employment of public health graduates; analyzed 5 years of graduate outcomes from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health using logistic regression; and we examined data collected by the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health.

PARTICIPANTS

The study included data from surveys of 2904 graduates of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, across 5 graduating cohort years, for whom there were employment sector data available for 1932.

RESULTS

Much of the research on the public health workforce has defined it as governmental public health. Across each of 5 graduating classes from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the odds of for-profit sector employment increased by 23% (2012-2016), while hiring by government agencies declined or remained flat. Publicly available employment data from the Web sites of schools of public health and from surveys by the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health show that hiring of new graduates by for-profit corporations now either closely matches or exceeds governmental hiring at many schools of public health.

CONCLUSIONS

Public health graduates are increasingly working outside of government, and additional analyses are required to determine whether core competencies of public health curricula reflect the needs of the employers that are hiring public health graduates today. Schools and programs of public health should invest in their career services offices and gather input from employers that are currently hiring their graduates, especially as the sectors hiring them may be changing.