In January, the highly-rated health policy journal Health Affairs named a paper from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) as one of its top-ten most popular articles from 2023. Coauthored by SPH Associate Professor and Director of SPH’s Center for Public Health Systems JP Leider, the paper examined the exodus of workers from the public health workforce before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Affairs ranked the article as their #3 most-read paper of 2023.

“The public health workforce is an issue that is top of mind for those in the field, for policy-makers, and for many others, as well. It was an honor to be included in this year’s Health Affairs most-read list,” says Leider. “We continue to research the ongoing challenges of rebuilding our nation’s public health workforce and look forward to sharing the results of this work in the future.”

This study was among the first to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the size and composition of the nation’s state and local governmental public health workforce. Among other findings, the study found that nearly half of all state and local public health employees left their jobs between 2017 and 2021.

The study was a collaboration between Leider and collaborators at the de Beaumont Foundation, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Health Affairs, a monthly publication, was established in 1981. The full list of most-read articles is available on their website.