CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND PEDAGOGY article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1610306
This article is part of the Research TopicCatalyzing Public Health Leadership Research, Practice, Education, and TrainingView all 8 articles
Building leadership skills through applied learning in an MPH program
Provisionally accepted
- Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, United States
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Strong leadership capacity, including both knowledge of leadership theories and having the requisite leadership skills, is essential for effective public health practice in an increasingly complex and politically challenging environment. Master of Public Health programs are well-positioned to provide this leadership training to future leaders.Using high impact educational practices and principles of adult learning, Virginia Tech’s Public Health Program created a master’s level Public Health Leadership and Interprofessionalism class. Topics covered include leadership, interprofessionalism, negotiation, ethics and professionalism, adaptive leadership, systems thinking, models of team effectiveness, communication, change management, workplace diversity, strategic planning and personal leadership.All students completed a baseline self-assessment for all program competencies upon program matriculation and again at the time of their graduation. We found a statistically significant increase in all competencies covered in the leadership class. In addition, we identified five overall topics that students said were crucial in their public health practice: understanding strengths-based leadership, focusing on dynamics of team effectiveness and team roles, understanding the role of communication as a leadership tool, and applying negotiation and interprofessionalism skills.Overall, we have evidence that the class was effective and provided students with concrete skills that they can refer back to once they enter the public health workforce.
Keywords: Leadership, Communication, negotiation, Interprofessionalism, Public Health
Received: 11 Apr 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wenzel, Ky, Holt and Austin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sophie Wenzel, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, United States
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