Public Health Practice Team
Building the future public health workforce in Oregon through community partnership.
What Is The Public Health Practice Team?
The Public Health Practice Team (PHPT) operates within the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. We hire graduate student workers as OHSU Student Workers and then place them in paid positions with community partners, such as the Oregon Health Authority. Under co-supervision by us and other Public Health leaders, they assist with meaningful, concrete public health practice work.
We help fill immediate workforce needs and create a more robust public health practice pipeline by investing in the future of the public health workforce.
50+ Students
Student-workers hired and placed at OHA to date
Ranked Top 5
Commonwealth Fund’s state health Ranked Oregon among all states for COVID-19 response
6 Partner Teams
Our student and faculty teams supported 6 overall teams with external Community Partners since 2020
Benefits of Public Health Practice
The PHPT aspires to become a nationally recognized model of excellence for building bridges between the university and community public health partners and placing public health graduate students in practice jobs.
This model increases awareness of public health practice among students and creates opportunities for professional development and networking for our student workers. It provides our community partners with engaged, dedicated student workers to meet workforce surge capacity on public health practice projects.
SPH/OHA Collaborate Projects To Date
Can The PHPT Be Combined With The Practice Experience?
No, this employment opportunity cannot be combined with the Practice Experience (PE). However, these positions often enable student workers to network with a variety of OHA projects, and this can potentially result in finding a PE placement that is aligned with the student’s interests.
Interested In The Public Health Practice Team?
If you want to learn more about how you can work with the PHPT as a community partner or student worker, please fill out this form.
“Working for HSPR has given me the opportunity to gain firsthand experience preparing for and responding to public health emergencies while pursuing my MPH. I have been able to apply my classroom knowledge in a meaningful way to help reduce the burden of COVID-19, Mpox, wildfires, and other events on our community. I have made great connections at OHA and know that this experience will help jumpstart my public health career.”
“One of the greatest benefits to the students is their ability to jump into shorter term projects. At the state level many folks have very full plates and when a new project comes in, it often takes quite some time to shift capacity to the work. SPH students are perfect to support this work and get to utilize the knowledge they’re getting in their courses while gaining practical working experience. Students are flexible, innovative, and they’ll be the next wave of public health professionals.”
“My experience at OHA gives me an advantage and helps me stand out compared to other epidemiologists. It shows that I was proactive and engaged during the pandemic and have the skill set and tools to assist with similar tasks down the road.”
