Originally created in the 1930s to help combat syphilis, disease intervention (DI) specialists have played a vital role in helping to limit the spread of many communicable diseases and outbreaks, including measles, Mpox, and Covid-19. Often employed by state and local health departments, DI specialists need a wide range of professional skills to be successful, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including problem solving, negotiation, the ability to conduct investigations, case management, community engagement, and outbreak detection and response.

Despite the demanding skill set and the critical role they play in our public health workforce, however, there is a lack of training opportunities to train new DI specialists. Currently, the only formal DI specialist education center in the U.S. is located within the CDC’s Disease Intervention Training Centers, which drastically limits the number of people who can be trained in this important field.

To address this need, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) has received funding to identify and develop educational pathways for undergraduate students to become certified as DI specialists. With a $200,000 grant from the Association for Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), researchers from SPH’s Center for Public Health Systems (CPHS) will develop frameworks for a pathway to train and certify (DI) professionals within undergraduate institutions across the U.S.

The work will be spearheaded by CPHS researcher Chelsey Kirkland and focus on three main areas:

• Evaluating current educational pathways at undergraduate institutions: Conduct an environmental scan, key informant listening sessions, and an economic analysis to understand current programs and potential funding models.
• Determining the feasibility of establishing and implementing a DI pathway at undergraduate institutions: Develop an implementation plan and pilot program to integrate DI specialist certification into existing undergraduate programs.
• Analyzing the pathway’s impact: Evaluate strategies to recruit, support, and retain underrepresented students in the DI workforce to ensure that the workforce is able to meet the needs of disproportionately impacted communities.

“The current system for training and certifying disease intervention specialists is not meeting the needs of our public health system,” says Kirkland. “This project is an opportunity to strengthen a key part of the public health workforce, while also building more equitable pathways for underrepresented students to enter the field. By creating and increasing training and certification opportunities for DI specialists, this project could help to enhance public health outcomes, diversify the workforce, and ensure that the communities most impacted by health disparities receive the support they need.”

The project will be completed in September 2025.