"It is imperative to cultivate high-level application-oriented talents in the field of public health."
Written by | Wei Xiaoning
Source | Think tank in the medical community
"At present, the doctoral training model in the field of public health in China is single, and the training system is not complete ..."
On January 5, a document jointly released by the four departments is expected to promote the acceleration of the resolution of this problem.
On January 5, the General Office of the Ministry of Education, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Office of the National Health Commission, and the Preparatory Group of the National Bureau for Disease Control and Prevention jointly issued the Notice on the Construction of High-level Public Health Colleges, and issued the Guidelines for the Construction of High-level Public Health Schools (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), clarifying that by 2030, a number of world-class public health colleges with Chinese characteristics will be built.
The guidelines clarify the construction objectives, construction principles and construction content in six aspects. It is particularly noteworthy that the Guidelines mention that the Degree Committee of the State Council will approve the establishment of a doctor of public health (DrPH) degree, to create a postgraduate education to develop this degree, and to accelerate the cultivation of leading talents who can "hammer the nail on the head" in the emergency response to public health emergencies and major epidemics.
After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in early 2020, some local officials lacked public health expertise and performed their duties, and the lack of DrPH degrees in China was once again discussed. In December 2020, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and the General Office of the National Health Commission issued a document approving 11 units such as Peking University, Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as project units for high-level applied public health talent training innovation projects, and the key tasks are including the training of DrPH.
The release of this guide will undoubtedly accelerate the formal establishment of DrPH degrees and the cultivation of talents. The guidelines make it clear that key support will be given to construction units with outstanding results in DrPH application for degree authorization points.
In the case of public health emergencies such as the new crown epidemic,
Need for senior professionals to "hammer the final word"
"Building a new paradigm for the cultivation of public health talents" is the first item in the construction of this high-level public health college. The guide points out that it is necessary to improve the multi-level talent training system for undergraduate, master's and doctoral students, strengthen the classification and training of academic and professional graduate students, and comprehensively improve the quality of talent training.
"It is imperative to cultivate high-level application-oriented talents in the field of public health." In March 2020, Yan Hong, vice president of Xi'an Jiaotong University and an expert in the field of public health, told Huashang Daily, "In the early stage of the critical disease, the alarm was not sounded in a timely and effective manner, and effective prevention and control measures were not given. ”
Li Liming, a professor at the School of Public Health of Peking University and the founder of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pointed out that in public health emergencies such as the new crown pneumonia epidemic, senior public health professionals with multidisciplinary backgrounds such as medicine, law, management, and humanities are often needed. DrPH is an internationally accepted training model, and the chief medical officer of the United Kingdom and the chief epidemic prevention division of Russia are all such educational backgrounds.
According to the "Medical Think Tank", the training of senior talents in public health and preventive medicine in China currently includes master's and doctoral degrees, and master's degrees include academic degrees and professional degrees. The Master of Public Health (MPH) has been in place since 2002. Doctoral education is mainly an academic degree, the doctor of philosophy (PhD), and there is no DrPH education yet.
"At present, the doctoral training model in the field of public health in China is single, the training system is incomplete, focusing on the cultivation of academic research ability, and to a certain extent, the cultivation of public health professionalism, emergency incident handling ability, leadership and practical ability is ignored," Yan Hong and others published an article in April 2020, pointing out, "The ability of graduates to use scientific knowledge to solve practical problems in public health is weak, and it is difficult to become a public health expert and a manager of prevention and control and treatment in the face of major epidemics." ”
The construction of the 10-year high-level public health college is expected to improve this dilemma. The guidelines make it clear that the construction goals include "a significant increase in the ability to cultivate talents who can solve practical problems in public health.". In terms of teaching, experts in the field of public health industry are hired as part-time teachers, and a team of on-site "double-teacher" teachers with rich practical experience and good at handling and managing public health emergencies is built.
Moreover, the guidelines clearly state that it is necessary to establish an evaluation system that conforms to the characteristics and development laws of public health disciplines, resolutely break the utilitarian tendencies such as "only papers" and "only hats", and innovate the evaluation mechanism oriented to the effectiveness of talent training, the quality of scientific and technological innovation and the ability of social services.
The "Medical Think Tank" learned that 10 years ago, a number of colleges and universities in China have started the DrPH training pilot first, and there are at least a dozen graduates with practical experience. The project is called "National Public Health Doctoral Degree Education Research Collaboration Group", which was established by Xi'an Jiaotong University in conjunction with Peking Union Medical College, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University and other universities under the financial support of the Chinese Medical Foundation in the United States, and has been formulating the DrPH training program in China since 2011.
The "Medical Think Tank" found that under the premise that the DrPH degree has not yet been approved, Peking University and Nanjing Medical University have officially enrolled DrPH students in 2021. In September 2021, nine students from the Beijing DrPH Project have been enrolled in the School of Public Health of Peking University, and the students are from the First Hospital of Peking University, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, and the Beijing Chaoyang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
With the enrollment of the first batch of 9 students from the DrPH Special Project in Beijing, on September 7, 2021, the symposium of "Beijing Special Program for High-level Applied Doctoral Students in Public Health" was held at the Peking University School of Medicine. Photo: Peking University News Network
Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinarity, improvement of scientific research level and international cooperation
The guide mentions in many places that it is necessary to make the intersection of disciplines more in-depth and improve the level of scientific research in the field of disease control and public health. For example, in the cultivation of talents, it is necessary to integrate multidisciplinary knowledge such as humanities and social sciences, engineering sciences, data science, and information technology into public health education and teaching, strengthen the cultivation of students' knowledge capabilities such as pathogen identification, prevention and control of infectious diseases, and public health emergency response, and enhance students' ability to study the epidemic situation and the law of transmission, on-site epidemiological investigation, and handling of public health emergencies.
In terms of education management mechanism, it is necessary to break the inherent boundaries of public health departments and strengthen the co-construction and sharing of public health disciplines and professional education resources of other disciplines.
In terms of scientific research, the guidelines propose to build a high-level public health research platform, including the construction of a research platform for pathogens of emerging infectious diseases, major chronic non-communicable diseases and major occupational diseases, and factors affecting health; and vigorously promote the coordination of public health with disciplines such as sociology, law, and public administration, and carry out research on the prevention and control policies of emerging infectious diseases and public health emergency management.
In addition, the construction of high-level public health colleges should also enhance social service capabilities: in view of the national and global public health and major epidemic prevention and control and health development needs, build a new public health think tank with Chinese characteristics; build a public health achievement transformation platform, and promote the application and promotion of public health technology.
It is necessary to create a new situation in international cooperation in public health, increase substantive cooperation with world-class public health schools, carry out joint training of high-level public health talents, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with international organizations and institutions in the field of health, actively participate in the formulation of international standards, norms and guidelines in health-related fields, and enhance China's influence and discourse power in the global health governance system.
It is reported that universities around the world will submit the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of High-level Public Health Colleges" before January 17, 2022. The construction period of the high-level public health school is 10 years (2021-2030), and the construction unit should formulate phased construction tasks and goals in a phase of 5 years, and submit the "Annual Progress Report on the Construction of high-level public health schools" to the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education every December. The Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Health Commission, and the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention will conduct dynamic monitoring and inspection and evaluation.
References:
[1] It is imperative to set up a doctoral degree in public health in China http://xchb.wfmc.edu.cn/2020/0416/c1105a67472/page.htm
[2] Li Liming, former director of CDC: Cultivating public health talents who can "hammer the word out" __Phoenix Network https://ishare.ifeng.com/c/s/7vYvcOTuv8q
Source: Medical Community Think Tank
Editor-in-charge: Cui Jiahui
Proofreader: Zang Hengjia
Plate making: Xue Jiao