Health care costs are rising. Companies are providing less insurance for their employees. Health disparities continue to exist among rural and minority populations. A large segment of the population is aging.
Dr. Ciro Sumaya, founding dean of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, can easily rattle off the challenges facing the public health industry.
These issues are compounded, he said, by the fact that the country's population is growing faster than its public health workforce, creating a workforce crisis.
And it's likely to get worse, the dean said.
"What then do I see as the future for our school? We really need to take a strong, active leadership role in trying to address the leadership crisis. As we look at the data for Texas, we are somewhere near the bottom of the heap," Sumaya said.
"These are just some of a few things, yet these are things that need to be handled from a public health intervention standpoint. It's not that you get sick and see a doc and get your treatment managed. This goes beyond that."
On Saturday, the School of Rural Public Health will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Sumaya and fellow representatives of the A&M System and public health industry will mark the occasion with a wine-and-cheese reception, dinner and program at the George Bush Presidential Library.
The day is designed for celebration, Sumaya said. But as the school embarks on its second decade, it also provides a time to reflect.
"We have been a rapidly growing school. I think we're having an impact in the community. We want to expand that," Sumaya said. "We want to continue linking with many, many other sectors of the community to meet the needs that we know we can target, to try and improve health and well-being."
While the School of Rural Public Health is poised to take on the challenges, Sumaya said that is not the only reason to celebrate. The school has racked up a substantial list of accomplishments during its first 10 years.
On Thursday, Sumaya outlined what he thought were the top five accomplishments made by the School of Rural Public Health during its first decade.
No. 1
At the top of the list is the school's designation as the first school of public health in the country to have a rural health emphasis. Most public health schools are in urban areas, so they have a natural predisposition to urban health, Sumaya said.
"Here we have a school in Texas located in a smaller community, College Station-Bryan, [and part of a] land-grant institution," Sumaya said. "It's quite different. It's almost radical from how the other schools had been established."
The school brings the concept of rural public health into the general health curriculum, Sumaya said. And it has been nationally recognized for its work, the dean said. The school was called upon to establish Rural Healthy People 2010, a set of national guidelines for the health of rural residents. Researchers also were asked to serve as guest editors for a special rural health issue of the American Journal for Public Health, Sumaya said.
No. 2
Though the school is just a decade old, it already has been ranked among the top 25 schools of public health by U.S. News & World Report, an honor that Sumaya said was unexpected.
There are 41 accredited schools of public health in the nation, and A&M's ranks 24th. The average age of the schools ranking above Texas A&M is 40, Sumaya said.
The dean attributed the school's placement to dramatic growth, both in the quality of the faculty and its research, as well as the number of students enrolled. Many faculty members are nationally and internationally known, he said. And the number of students has skyrocketed from 23 in 1998 to nearly 300.
The school also has developed several national models for improving community health, he said.
No. 3
Generally, a school must be well-established and mature to secure a federal center, but Sumaya said the College Station-based school is home to the three largest federally funded public health centers.
The Public Health Training Center is designed to improve the number and quality of the public health training programs offered for students, while the Center for Public Health Preparedness works with rural communities to ensure that they are prepared to both prevent and respond to potential emergencies.
The Prevention Research Center aims to prevent disease and protect public health by involving community members in the research process. Research often is conducted in isolation, but allowing residents to help develop questions and methods to address them makes them more receptive to the results, he said.
No. 4
As a result of that community engagement, the school has been able to create the Brazos Valley Health Partnership, which is made up of community leaders from across the region, Sumaya said.
He said the school has worked hard to involve the community and, thus, spur interest in public health. The Brazos Valley Health Partnership was instrumental in public health surveys conducted several years ago to determine the health issues facing the different counties.
The surveys led to the creation of county health commissions focused on tackling the issues identified, he said.
"They are taking on a lot of health-related issues through the community leadership," Sumaya said. "They've really taken it and run with it."
No. 5
Rounding out the list is the quality education received by graduates of the School of Rural Public Health, the dean said. Graduates are being sought after for high-level positions at both the state and national levels, he said.
Some students have gone on to serve as health administrators of large hospital systems, as well as state and federal health agencies, Sumaya said. Others work in health promotion and planning.
Locally, graduates hold administrative positions at the College Station Medical Center, St. Joseph Regional Health Center, Scott & White and Brazos Valley Council of Governments, he said.
• Holly Huffman's e-mail address is holly.huffman@theeagle.com.
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