New public health training certificate programs emphasize student diversity

UCI will launch two new undergraduate and graduate student certificate programs later this year aimed at advancing workforce diversity in the public health field. Funded by a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the healthcare and public health analytics and the public health informatics certificates were created in partnership with the Orange County Health Care Agency and the nonprofit healthcare center OCHIN. Both certificates are part of UCI’s public health informatics and technology workforce development program, one of only 10 such programs in the country. “An inclusive and technologically competent workforce is crucial to the future of public health,” said Kai Zheng, PHIT program director and UCI professor of informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects job growth of 17 percent over the next 10 years in the public health informatics and technology field.