About Us
The Public Health Leadership Institute of Florida
The Institute’s mission is supported by several important national public health initiatives. The Institute of Medicine published its landmark study The Future of Public Health in 1988. The report’s principal recommendations for improving the nation’s health included two challenges--for current public health leaders to develop greater leadership effectiveness and for schools of public health to increase the number of leadership development opportunities they offer their practitioner colleagues. In 1999 and 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produced performance standards for public health agencies at the state and for systems at the local level. The state agency performance standards (8.1) call for “training in leadership and management.” The standards expect state public health agencies to make available training and educational programs in leadership skills and leadership development. Similarly, local public health systems performance standards (8.6) are expected to encourage potential leaders to participate in formal leadership development programs.
In 2003, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued two reports, The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century and Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? Each of these reports in essence repeated the recommendations of the 1988 IOM report: that leadership training and development should be a high priority for governmental public health agencies and for schools of public health.
In 1994, the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida was awarded funding from the Association of Schools of Public Health through a cooperative agreement with the CDC to create a public health leadership development program to respond to the challenges in The Future of Public Health. The result of the initial CDC support has been the creation of the Public Health Leadership Institute of Florida at the University of South Florida College of Public Health. The Institute continues to respond to those early recommendations and to contribute to meeting the public health performance standards and the recommendations in the 2003 IOM reports. In 1994, the Institute became a member of the National Public Health Leadership Development Network, the association of leadership institutes in the United States and abroad.
In addition to CDC support, the USF College of Public Health, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, the Florida Department of Health, and scholar tuition have provided important support for the Institute. Some of the activities are currently supported by funding for USF’s Florida Center for Public Health Preparedness. In 1999, the Public Health Leadership Institute of Florida became a part of the Florida Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice in the College of Public Health. The Institute offers a year-long program for state and local public health professionals and other health care providers serving at all levels of Florida’s health care system. The Institute program is designed to enhance, through excellence in training, the leadership abilities of individuals working to improve the health of our communities. By enhancing the skills of individuals, the capacity of the public health system and private sector health care will be strengthened, thus leading to improved health care for the people of Florida.
