The public health leadership certificate: a public health and primary care interprofessional training opportunity.

This article describes a public health leadership certificate curriculum developed by the Commonwealth Public Health Training Center for employees in public health and medical trainees in primary care to share didactic and experiential learning. As part of the program, trainees are involved in improving the health of their communities and thus gain a blended perspective on the effectiveness of interprofessional teams in improving population health. The certificate curriculum includes eight one-credit-hour didactic courses offered through an MPH program and a two-credit-hour, community-based participatory research project conducted by teams of trainees under the mentorship of health district directors.

An alternative structure for improving the public's health.

The emergence of public health institutes outside government is one of many innovative approaches to promote community health improvement. This article describes the state of Virginia's current model of government public health and provides a context for Virginia's approach to the Turning Point initiative. The article explores the reasons why Virginia chose to establish its public health institute outside government and demonstrates how development of the institute is changing community health improvement in the state.