PROVIDENCE – After earlier entering into formal relationships with Brown University School of Public Health and the University of Rhode Island, the R.I. Department of Health announced its formal relationship with Rhode Island College. These partnerships aim to improve Rhode Islanders’ public health by stronger collaborations in training undergraduate, graduate and professional degree students.
RIC and the RIDOH share a focus on improving the public health functions of assessment, assurance and policy development – all intended to bring about enhanced health outcomes as well as health equity among and within Rhode Island communities, according to a RIC statement.
“Over 80 percent of RIC graduates live and work in Rhode Island. Through this partnership with the [RIDOH], we have the ability to make a significant impact on the public health practice in our state,” Marianne Raimondo, executive director of the RIC Institute for Education in Healthcare and an assistant professor of management and marketing at the RIC School of Management, said in the statement. “It’s our goal to prepare our students to address challenges in the public health system as well as engage our faculty in research projects through RIDOH. We believe this collaborative program will help us do that.”
“This new partnership between [our] Academic Center and [RIC] will allow us to pool our resources and expertise in dynamic, innovative ways to address health disparities and work toward health equity at the community level,” RIDOH Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said in the statement. “These kinds of collaborations between academia and public health institutions are an essential part of our work to improve health outcomes for Rhode Islanders in every zip code throughout the state.”
This memorandum of understanding between the two parties identifies several health-focused initiatives:
- Developing a Public Health Scholars program for professional degree, graduate and undergraduate students.
- Researching opportunities for students and faculty members to find solutions to questions intended to address communities’ concerns.
- Outreach collaborations that include students and faculty from a variety of health disciplines.
- Collaborative health policy development initiatives that are directly informed by communities’ needs.
- Joint quality improvement programs.
- Continuing professional education programs for health professionals requiring continuing education credits and for RIDOH’s public health professionals who seek learning opportunities that may include academic credit.
- Developing a speakers’ bureau to benefit professionals and academic students.
- Sharing data for research and public policy development, and sharing resources to aid in health planning.
RIC’s Institute for Education in Healthcare was established in 2016 to provide education, training and workforce development for the health care workforce in Rhode Island and to meet the needs of health care organizations. The cross-disciplinary, collaborative institute is supported by addiction and behavioral health studies, community health and wellness, counseling, health care administration, health sciences, nursing, psychology and social work, all at Rhode Island College.
