About Us

The Rural South Public Health Training Center, proposed by the University of Florida (UF) College of Public Health and Health Professions in partnership with the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) Institute of Public Health, has been established to serve the medically under-served counties of Florida, especially those in rural regions of the state.  The goals of the center are to provide competency-based training for the public health workforce, especially those workers in under-served areas of the state, and to enhance public health services and decrease disparities in access to services in medically under-served areas.  The center will identify the needs of the workforce and of residents in medically under-served areas and tailor training and services based on those needs, with a special emphasis on needs related to HIV/AIDS

To help address the looming public health work force crisis in Florida, the center will provide advanced training for public health professionals with the goal of improving the skills of current public health workers.  Since travel, even within Florida, has been greatly curtailed in the past few years, the center will focus its efforts on providing online training to increase the accessibility and convenience of the programs being offered.  Free distance courses will allow public health workers to stay current in their fields and to increase the breadth of their knowledge without having to use professional or personal resources for travel.  The objective of these distance courses is to provide continuing education credits for public health workers which can be completed at home, free of charge.  For public health professionals with a Bachelor’s degree who are interested in more intensive training, the Rural South Public Health Training Center will offer an online MPH certificate in Public Health Foundations and Prevention and Management of HIV.