Dr. Gen Meredith, a graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine (Occupational Therapy) and the University of Massachusetts’ School of Public Health (Master of Public Health), has come to Cornell to help design and lead the Master of Public Health program. Prior to this, Dr. Meredith spent eight years leading large international development projects with a focus on national public health systems development in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, and four years doing the same in the United States. Dr. Meredith’s work has centered primarily on institutional capacity development and growth specifically related to integrated disease surveillance and response systems, the routine collection and use of data, and effective public health leadership and management infrastructure to support population health access and accountability.
Supporting Public Health BehaviorsCornell Course
Course Overview
Public health relies on the engagement and trust of the community being served. Managing public health interventions while building genuine community relationships requires cultural competence as well as the ability to create and sustain dialogue across diverse populations. In this course, you will develop a strategy to engage with your local community to implement a specific health initiative and anticipate and plan to overcome barriers to successful implementation. You will engage in various kinds of literacy that can help you educate your community and respond to the populations in your community disproportionately impacted by public health concerns. Combined with building skills to effectively interact with people from different cultures, your studies will lead you to develop the skills needed to educate and address community public health concerns.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Public Health and COVID-19
- Public Health Foundations
- Assessing Community Health
Key Course Takeaways
- Identify factors that can help influence human behavior change
- Describe key parameters of effective public health communication approaches
- Create strategy to build trust and community relations
How It Works
Course Length
Effort
Format
Course Authors
Dr. Alex Travis’s research explores a diverse set of subjects related to One Health, which is interdisciplinary work that links the functions and well-being of people, animals, and the environment. His interests include animal health and fertility as well as efforts to help alleviate poverty and hunger in developing countries, work that indirectly benefits local wildlife. Dr. Travis serves as Associate Dean of International Programs and Public Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine, and he is founding Director of Cornell’s Master of Public Health program.
Who Should Enroll
- Community health leaders
- Emerging public health leaders
- Public health volunteers
- Volunteers working with high-risk populations
- Outreach coordinators
- Anyone interested in personal and collective health and well-being, community development, preventing disease and injury, or leading change to support health equity