Workforce Development

The ASPPH Center for Public Health Workforce Development supports public health workforce development by advancing education, training, and research initiatives that strengthen and diversify the field.

The ASPPH Center for Public Health Workforce Development creates resources, recommendations, and frameworks to provide structured, evidence-based guidance that strengthens the capacity, skills, and impact of the public health workforce.

Recognizing that the public health landscape is constantly evolving—with new technologies, emerging threats, and growing demands for health equity—the Center creates these tools to ensure that workforce development efforts are strategic, responsive, and aligned with real-world priorities. Resources offer practical solutions and training support; recommendations shape policy, funding priorities, and institutional actions; and frameworks establish standardized competencies. The Center helps educators, practice partners, and policymakers make informed decisions, implement best practices, and promote continuous professional growth.

Public Health Leadership

Public health leadership is critically important as the world is facing increasingly complex, interconnected, and urgent health challenges that demand visionary, skilled, and equity-driven responses. Public health leaders must be able to build trust with communities, mobilize cross-sector collaborations, advocate for policy changes, and lead systems transformation that centers health equity. The future of public health depends on developing leaders who are prepared to meet today’s urgent needs while envisioning and building a healthier, more equitable tomorrow.

Public Health Leadership Competency Mapping and Training Agenda

In 2022, ASPPH received CDC funding to engage academic public health and our practice partners to establish a national leadership training agenda for governmental public health. Bringing together an expert panel representing diverse perspectives, ASPPH developed the Public Health Leadership Competency Mapping and Training Agenda to establish a framework for the application of training that will increase the leadership competencies of the current and future public health workforce.

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Public Health Leadership Degree and Certificate Programs

Public health leadership degree and certificate programs are diverse in structure and delivery. To better understand these programs, ASPPH analyzed ASPPH Academic Program Finder and SOPHAS application data, contextualizing these data with interviews of eight ASPPH-member institutions. Semi-structured interviews served to elucidate the structure, effectiveness, and applicant dynamics of education and training within public health leadership degree and certificate programs. Establishing successful public health leadership programs begins with effective program design and thoughtful student recruitment. Despite facing infrastructure and financial challenges, these programs demonstrate a commitment to equipping students with the skills needed to address contemporary public health issues. Collaboration and sharing of best practices may further enhance leadership education and training opportunities and better prepare graduates for the evolving demands of the field of public health.

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Catalyzing Public Health Leadership Research, Practice,
Education, and Training

With funding from CDC, ASPPH is sponsoring this Frontiers in Public Health research topic.

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Find a Public Health Leadership Training

After developing the Public Health Leadership Competency Mapping and Training Agenda, the ASPPH Center for Public Health Workforce Development recognized the need to create a Public Health Leadership Training Search Tool to help operationalize and apply the competencies identified in the agenda. The search tool connects public health professionals, educators, and workforce planners directly to relevant, competency-aligned training programs and resources, simplifying the process of finding educational opportunities tailored to specific leadership needs and helping individuals and organizations strengthen leadership capacity systematically and strategically.

Coming in June 2025