The University of Kentucky College of Public Health (CPH) appointed Janie Cambron, MPH, RS, as its associate dean for practice and workforce development.
Cambron serves as the CPH’s liaison to the public health practice community, provides services to public health agencies and organizations through specific grants and contracts, and develops and coordinates student experiences in public health practice and teaching.
“Students are the heartbeat of our college and I want them to feel that they belong here as well as wherever their career path takes them,” Cambron says. “We want to empower students to be champions in the workplace and to apply what they have learned.”
Professional perspectives and partnerships
Cambron brings perspectives from both local and state public health departments across many different disciplinary areas of public health.
She brings years of professional experience, including expanding public health partnerships, capacity building, facilitation, assessment and planning, workforce development, accreditation, quality improvement, environmental health, and epidemiology.
During Cambron's 11 years at the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH), she was a quality and performance improvement manager within the KDPH Commissioner’s Office and helped to create and manage the Environmental Public Health Tracking program, which is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded program.
Cambron is actively working with the public health practice community to identify student learning gaps and emerging skills they need to navigate an ever-changing public health landscape. For graduate students, specifically, locating, and matching candidates to valuable practicum experiences is paramount.
“Practicum is a chance for our graduate students to learn more about public health and to help refine their potential career path. It’s a chance to put themselves out there and be bold,” she says. “It’s a unique opportunity for us to connect students to real life experiences where they can explore and grow and learn different facets of the public health system to see what they may want to pursue and where they can best utilize their strengths and knowledge.”
Cambron recognizes that the public health system is extremely complex. As a result, she believes that building partnerships and collaborations is critical to provide more opportunities for students and alumni in the public health field.
“By continuing to build new and innovative partnerships in public health, we are giving more opportunities and exposure for our students,” Cambron says. “By increasing and expanding partnerships, we also can connect alumni in the field with our current students."
“Serving and meeting the needs of our communities and partners in the public health system helps increase our academic and practice partnerships at CPH. We are always looking for more ways to get our students plugged into to service, internships, and practicum opportunities.”
Preparing health champions to lead
CPH’s mission is to develop health champions, conduct multidisciplinary and applied research, and collaborate with partners to improve health in Kentucky and beyond. To fulfill this mission, as it relates to preparing our champions to be leaders in the workforce, it starts with our people and service.
“We have amazing faculty, staff, student support teams, and administration who are all working together and dedicated to seeing our students succeed,” Cambron says. “We have some of the most hardworking people advocating for our students and helping to find ways to increase our engagement within the practice community.”
With Catalyst’s theme being “you belong here,” Cambron feels that this perfectly aligns with her mission of preparing future public health champions — inside and outside of the classroom — and supporting alumni in their ability to advance as leaders.
“Public health is ever-evolving, and our students need to be ready,” Cambron says. “By providing them with valuable experiential learning, such as that in the practicum and other opportunities, we are exposing them to many facets of public health and helping lead them to their areas of interest.”
“Service is my number one core value. Investment in our students is the single most important thing that we can do for them. By showing them that we care about them and are investing in seeing them succeed, we plant seeds. It is fun to watch them have lightbulb moments and to see them blossom and grow,” Cambron says.
Cambron’s accolades include being a Bloomberg Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, past president and current workforce development co-chair of the Kentucky Public Health Association, and mentor and past scholar of the Kentucky Public Health Leadership Institute. Cambron also holds an instructor position in the department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at CPH.
For more information on the college’s workforce development and practicum initiatives, visit cph.uky.edu/careers/workforce-development.
