Are you concerned about the state of the U.S. public health system? Do you want to work with others to figure out a new way forward?
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the world, it has demonstrated the importance of a robust public health system, one that is ready to respond in times of crisis as well as supporting the foundations of a healthy society. The 2021 Salk Health Activist Fellowship will focus emerging activists on re-envisioning public health in America to address our current dismal state of health. While COVID-19 has exposed problems in our healthcare infrastructure, it is only one of a multitude of problems that need to be addressed. Now is the opportunity to look across disciplines to create a renewed vision of public health and create lasting change.
During the 9-week program, Fellows will learn from regional and national experts, past public health initiatives, and work in multidisciplinary teams to bring fresh solutions to the challenges facing public health in the U.S. Fellows will gain insights into the existing U.S. public health system, behavioral science principles, and how technology can be incorporated to foment change. Fellows will expand their ideas on health, exploring what health means to U.S. communities, as they work toward outside-the-box solutions that re-envision a new approach to public health. Utilizing the framework of design-thinking, they will synthesize their experiences to propose an innovative idea to a current public health challenge within either a local, statewide, or national context.