Florida Public Health Association 2009 Survey of Academic Public Health Programs in Florida

Preparing the public health workforce is essential to the protection ofthe health and wellbeing ofthe state and the nation. Yet, a workforce shortage is looming. It is anticipated that by 2020, the nation will be facing a shortfall ofmore than a quarter of a million public health workers. To address this impeding shortage, the Association ofSchools ofPublic Health (ASPH) has stressed the need to build public health education capacity, with emphasis on competencies and curriculum in emerging diseases, with joint degrees, and with diverse approaches to education, including certificates and distance learning. To assess Florida’s available public health professional preparation programs in meeting workforce needs, the Academic Committee ofthe Florida Public Health Association (FPHA) undertook a survey of the nine public and private universities offering the MPH degree in the state

Florida Public Health Association 2009 Survey of Academic Public Health Programs in Florida

ABSTRAC

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

DIFFICULT CHALLENGE FOR HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010: PUTTING POLICY INTO PRACTICE. A COMMENTARY

ABSTRACT Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, public health professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and former Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, outlines the difficulties in achieving the stated goals of Healthy People 2010 for one population identified within the document as having health disparities - i.e., lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals in the United States. [Gender identity and transgender health issues were not addressed in Healthy People 2010.] The dearth of data on LGBT health disparities is discussed, as are many of the social, economic, systemic, and attitudinal barriers that prevent many LGBT persons from achieving equal access to comprehensive, culturally competent, community-based health care services. Health care providers, health purchasers, policymakers, researchers, academicians and consumers are urged to learn more about LGBT health care issues; to revamp the public health system's approach to health care delivery, research, and education; to include sexual orientation and gender identity measures in research proposals; to address sexual orientation and gender identity in health professions curricula; to include sexual orientation as part of cultural competency in the development of cultural competence standards; and to involve LGBT persons in all phases of health services planning, delivery, and evaluation