Injury Prevention and Control: Research, Education & Training
Injury is the leading killer of Americans in the first four decades of life and the leading cause of years of potential life lost before age 65.
The injury prevention and control field offers important opportunities for education, research, service and practice within accredited schools of public health. For students, numerous jobs exist in public health departments, federal agencies, corporations and non-profit institutions. For faculty, injury research is a growing field with opportunities for increased funding, new research, and multidisciplinary projects. For the school, the injury field strengthens its relationships with public health practitioners and offers exciting and relevant community collaborations.
In 2002, ASPH conducted a survey of the accredited U.S. schools of public health to review their capacity toward advancing the injury science agenda. Only three schools reported an injury course requirement for doctoral programs and no school requires an injury course for masters degrees. Less than 25%, and probably fewer than 15%, of graduates will have taken an injury-specific course, much less have received solid exposure to injury in their curriculum.[1]
ASPH and the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control created an ASPH Injury Advisory Workgroup to advise on a improving injury research and training schools in public health. The 12 member workgroup represented the institutional diversity of schools -- from schools with high injury activity in all areas of research, teaching and training to schools with little or none; school size; public and private-based; and, a mix of new and older schools. Click here to see the ASPH Injury Advisory Workgroup Recommendations [doc].
Further, ASPH has an ongoing partnership with the CDC Injury Center to:
- Expand faculty development, expertise, and available resources necessary for faculty to establish effective injury- focused curriculum, teaching, and prevention research;
- Enhance academic public health practice in schools of public health by forging and strengthening partnerships with health agencies, institutions, and organizations with similar injury objectives; and,
- Promote the concepts and professional interest of injury control and prevention among students and faculty.
Click here to view the ASPH/CDC Report on Injury in Schools of Public Health
[1] Approximately 5,800 students graduate from accredited public health schools and some 35 injury-specific courses exist. Given that students average 2 years of training, if each class averaged 20 students and no student took more than one injury course, then fewer than 25% would have taken an injury course.
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