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Public Health Leadership Homepage

This course on Public Health Leadership provides comprehensive skill sets and knowledge related to health leadership. Participants will learn about the theoretical foundations of public health leadership and apply their knowledge in meaningful, real-world learning activities. All components of this training are free, including registration, learning, testing, and a certificate of completion.

The Public Health Leadership course was developed in partnership with PAHO/WHO. This course is co-sponsored by the University of the Incarnate Word. Like all NextGenU courses, it is competency-based, using competencies from the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice,  AACN MSN Essentials, Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada,  ASPPH: MPH Core Competency Model,  CEPH, and WHO-ASPHER Public Health Competencies. This course uses learning resources from world-class academic and governmental organizations such as National Center for Biotechnology Information, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the  European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and Cambridge University Press. The course developers are Professor Dick Heller, MB BS MD FRCP FFPH FRACP FAFPHM; Hugo Andres Rojas Aldieri MD, MSc; Theresa Jones, PhD, MSN, BSN, AASN, RN-BC; Juan Ernesto Bravo Coria, MD; Pablo Baldiviezo Rodriguez, MD; Sergio Arancibia, MD; Valeria Reynolds, MD, MPH.

For publications on NextGenU.org’s courses’ efficacy, see “A Novel Integration of Online and Flipped Classroom Instructional Models in Public Health Higher Education,” (2014), BMC Medical Education,  “Building Public Health Capacity through Online Global Learning,” (2018), Open Praxis, or here on NextGenU.org’s publication page. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of future updates, new courses, and to be part of our community.

There are seven modules to complete, which provide: 

1. An introduction to fundamental concepts of Leadership in public health. 
2. A context about the health systems. 
3. Fundamental knowledge about ethics in public health.
4. Development of capacity and abilities in leadership.
5. Develop skills in teamwork and organizational performance.
6. Develop a plan and implementation of programs in the community.
7. The skills necessary for advocacy and communication.

The completion time for this course is estimated at 134 hours and 30 minutes, 31 hours and 15 minutes of didactics through narratives and curated resources, 31 more hours and 15 minutes are estimated to internalize and assimilate knowledge, and 72 hours of work participating in activities quizzes to assist the student in the synthesis of the materials. This course is equivalent to 3 credit hours.

The course requires completion of all case studies and peer activities. At the end of each lesson, there is a practice quiz. At the end of the course, after you’ve completed each lesson, quiz, and activity, you’ll have access to a final exam, and a chance to evaluate this course. Once you’ve passed that last test, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from NextGenU.org and our course’s co-sponsoring organizations (listed above). We keep all of your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes, and we are also happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request. 

Engaging with this Course:

You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment; there are no requirements. To register in this course, it is required that learners have obtained a college-level/bachelor's degree.  

To obtain a certificate a learner must successfully complete

• all the reading requirements,
• all quizzes and pass with a 70% with unlimited attempts,
• all case studies,
• the peer activities,
• the final exam with a minimum of 70% and a maximum of 3 attempts, and
• the self and course evaluation forms.

To obtain credit 

• complete all requirements listed above for the certificate, and
• your learning institution or workplace should approve the partner-university-sponsored NextGenU.org course for educational credit, as they would for their learner taking a course anywhere.  

• a link to and description of the course training, so they can see all its components, including the cosponsoring universities and other professional organization cosponsors; 
• your grade on the final exam;
• your work products (e.g. case study activities), and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them;  
• your evaluations -- course, and self-assessments;
• a copy of your certificate of completion, with the co-sponsoring universities and other organizations listed.

To obtain a degree, NextGenU.org co-sponsors degree programs with institutional partners. To obtain a full degree co-sponsored with NextGenU.org, registrants must be enrolled in a degree program as a student of a NextGenU.org institutional partner. If you think that your institution might be interested in offering a degree with NextGenU.org contact us.

We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

Here are the next steps to take the course for credit.

• Complete the registration form.
• Take the pre-test.
• Begin the course with Module 1: Introduction to Public Health Leadership. In each lesson, read the description, complete all required readings and any required activity, and take the corresponding quizzes.

Module 1: Introduction to Leadership in Public Health

Competencies covered in this module:

• Describe public health as part of a larger inter-related system of organizations that influence the health of populations at local, national, and global levels. 
• Explain the ways public health, health care, and other organizations can work together or individually to impact the health of a community. 
• Advocate for the role of public health in providing population health services. 

Module 1: Lesson 1: Public Health as Part of a Complex System

Learning Objectives:

• Remember significant advances in Public Health's history.
• Understand the influence of different stakeholders and organizations in Public Health at a local, national, and global level.
• Understand the role of public health as part of a complex system in the health of populations.

Click here to start this lesson

• History of Public Health
• Lenses and levels: the why, what and how of measuring health system drivers of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health with a governance focus.
• What does improving population health really mean?
• The Global Health System: Strengthening National Health Systems as the Next Step for Global Progress
• The Role of Public Health Institutions in Global Health System Strengthening Efforts: The US CDC's Perspective

• History of Public Health in Latin America

Module 1: Lesson 2: Leading Collaboration to Improve Health

Learning Objectives:

• Understand different types of partnerships and their implications for the public health system.
  
• Analyze why and how collaboration was a requirement to achieve some of the biggest public health achievements.
  

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• Discover. What is Public Health?
• Patterns in Partnering across Public Health Collaboratives
• Public Health's Role: Collaborating for Healthy Communities
• Collaborative and partnership research for improvement of health and social services: researcher’s experiences from 20 projects
• Partnerships in Community Health Improvement Planning
• Effective Partnership in Community-Based Health Promotion: Lessons from the Health Literacy Partnership
• Ten Great Public Health Achievements

• Discussion Forum: Collaboration and Public Health Achievements (120 min)

Module 1: Lesson 3: The Importance of Public Health Leadership in Public Health

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the concepts of leadership and management.
  
• Identify leadership, management, and change theories.
  
• Analyze leadership and management strategies of successful public health leaders.

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• Public Health Leadership and Management
• An Overview of Leadership Principles and Theories
• Change Management in Healthcare
• Healthcare Leadership Model The Nine Dimensions of Leadership Behaviour
• Personal Stories in Healthcare and Public Health Leadership

• Module 1 Lecture Recording: Introduction to Public Health leadership

• Module 1: Quiz

• Discussion Forum: Leadership and Management Strategies of Public Health Leaders. (120 min)

Module 2: Ethics

Competencies covered in this module:

• Incorporate ethical standards of practice (e.g. Public Health Code of Ethics) into all interactions with individuals, organizations, and communities.
  
• Utilize public health ethics to manage self, others, information, and resources.
• Demonstrate transparency, integrity, and honesty in all actions. 
• Apply social justice and human rights principles when addressing community needs. 
  
  

Module 2: Lesson 1: Leadership, Ethics, and Public Health

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the concepts of transparency, integrity, and honesty.
  
• Describe the relationship between leadership and ethics.
  
• Summarize the Public Health code of Ethics
  
• Analyze how the public health code of ethics can be applied to public health leadership.
  
• Demonstrate the capacity to incorporate the public health code of ethics in interactions with individuals, organizations, and communities.
  
• Apply social justice and human rights principles when addressing community needs.

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• Increasing Transparency and Accountability in National Pharmaceutical Systems
• Ethics Unwrapped: Integrity
• Honesty in Medicine: Should Doctors Tell the Truth?
• Leadership and Organizational Ethics: the Three Dimensional African Perspectives
• Public Health Code of Ethics.
• Public Health Code of Ethics.
• Public Health Ethics: Global Cases, Practice, and Context
• Social Justice: Concepts, Principles, Tools and Challenges
• Social Justice: Concepts, Principles, Tools and Challenges

• Medical Ethics in the 70 Years after the Nuremberg Code, 1947 to the Present
• Module 2 Lecture Recording: Ethics

• Module 2: Quiz

• Activity 1: Code of Ethics in Public Health Leadership. (180 min)
• Activity 2: Public Health Code of Ethics and Professional Interactions. (240 min)

Module 3: Leadership and Systems Thinking

Competencies covered in this module:

• Develop an understanding of how healthcare delivery systems are organized and financed (and how this affects patient care) and identify the economic, legal, and political factors that influence health care.  
  
• Demonstrate the ability to use complexity science and systems theory in the design, delivery, and evaluation of health care. 
• Understand the principles of systems thinking and apply them within systematic inquiry to analyze, model, and improve public health organizations and services at different strategic levels. 

Module 3: Lesson 1: Systems Theory, Leadership, and Healthcare

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the influence of economic, legal, and political factors in healthcare.
• Apply complexity science and systems theory in the design, delivery, and evaluation of health care.

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• Health Care Financing
• Politics and Public Health—Engaging the Third Rail
• Complexity Science in Brief
• The Value of Systems Thinking
• Systems Mapping: The Basics
• Visual Tools to Improve Systemic Analysis
• Systems Science Methods in Public Health: Dynamics, Networks, and Agents

• Module 3 Lecture Recording: Leadership and Systems Thinking

• Module 3: Quiz

• Lesson Readings

• Discussion Forum: Systems Thinking. (150 min)
• Discussion Forum: Improving Healthcare Through Complexity Science and Systems Theory (180 min)
• Activity 4: Application of Complexity and Systems Theory in the Design, Delivery, and Evaluation of Healthcare. (180 min)

Module 4: Capacity Development

Competencies covered in this module:

• Describe the attributes of leadership in public health. 
  
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence with an awareness of how one’s own beliefs, values, and behaviours affect one’s own decision-making and the reactions of others. 
  
• Demonstrate practicality, flexibility, and adaptability in the process of working with others, emphasizing achieving goals as opposed to rigidly adhering to traditional and commonly used work methods. 
  
• Catalyse change (behavioural and/or cultural) in the organization, communities and/or individuals. 
  
• Provide opportunities for professional development for individuals and teams (e.g., training, mentoring, peer advising, coaching)
• Contribute to team and organizational learning in order to advance public health goals. 
  
• Ensure the use of professional development opportunities by individuals and teams. 
  
• Facilitate the development of others as leaders. 
  

Module 4: Lesson 1: Leadership Qualities

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the attributes of leadership in public health.
  
• Apply emotional intelligence to identify how one's own beliefs, values, and behaviors affect one's decision-making and others' reactions.
• Apply practicality, flexibility, and adaptability while working with others and emphasize achieving goals over adhering to traditional methods.
• Demonstrate the ability to catalyze change in your relationships, organization, or communities.
  

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• Leadership in Public Health: New Competencies for the Future
• Emotional Intelligence: a Place in Public Health Promotion and Education
• Personal Values, Belief and Attitudes
• 4 Ways to Boost Your Adaptability Skills
• How to Improve your Organizational Leadership Skills
• Super-Flexibility in Practice: Insights from a Crisis
• Achieving the Goals of Public Health

• The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Hospital Administration

• Activity 5: Change at Home or at Your Workplace (240 min)

Module 4: Lesson 2: Promoting Professional Development

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the process of workforce planning.
• Analyze team members to identify opportunities for professional development.
• Understand the importance of competencies for human resources development and considerations for their implementation.
• Describe good practices to arrange and follow up professional development opportunities of team members.
• Apply strategies to promote leadership in their home, workplace, or community.

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• Workforce Planning.
• Getting Started with Workforce Planning
• Engaging and Transforming the Health Workforce
• A Strategic Approach to Public Health Workforce Development and Capacity Building
• Workforce Planning Toolkit Competencies Overview
• Competency Implementation Guide
• Continuing Professional Development: Best Practices
• Health Care Professional Development: Working as a Team to Improve Patient Care

Module 4: Lesson 3: Local Challenges and Perspectives on Human Resources Development

Learning Objectives:

• Identify local barriers to human resources development.
  
• Recognize opportunities to overcome local barriers to human resources development.

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• Priorities and Challenges for Health Leadership and Workforce Management Globally: a Rapid Review

• Barriers and Opportunities to Improve the Foundations for High-Quality Healthcare in the Mexican Health System

Module 4: Lesson 4: Human Resource Policies, Planning, and Management

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the role of policies in the development of human resources.
• Describe strategies for planning and implementation of human resources development policies.

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• Human Resources for Health Policies: a Critical Component in Health Policies
• Human Resources for Human Health: Foundation for Universal Health Coverage and the Post-2015 Development Agenda

• Module 4 Lecture Recording: Capacity Development

• Module 4: Quiz

Module 5: Teamwork and Organizational Performance

Competencies covered in this module

• Demonstrate team building, negotiation, and conflict management skills. 
• Develop strategies to motivate others for collaborative problem solving, decision-making, and evaluation.
• Inspire and motivate others to work towards a shared vision, program, and/or organizational goals.
• Clearly identify and support the roles and responsibilities of all team members, including external stakeholders. 
• Effectively lead interdisciplinary teams to work in a coordinated manner in various areas of public health practice. 
• Use collaborative methods for achieving organizational and community health goals. 
• Describe alternative strategies for collaboration and partnership among organizations, focused on public health goals. 
• Modify organizational practices in consideration of changes (e.g. social, political, economic, scientific). 
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of individual, program, and organizational performance (e.g. mentoring, monitoring progress, adjusting programs to achieve better results)
• Contribute to maintaining organizational performance standards. 

Module 5: Lesson 1: Teamwork Within Organizations

Learning Objectives:

• Apply team building, negotiation, and conflict management skills.
• Create a strategy to motivate others for collaborative problem solving, decision-making, and evaluation.
• Apply leadership skills to identify and support the roles and responsibilities of team members.
• Understand strategies for collaboration and partnerships among organizations focused on public health goals.

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• How to Build an Effective Team in a Health Care Setting
• Managing Conflict and Negotiating
• Five Strategies for Building a Better Medical Team
• Collaboration in a Competitive Healthcare System: Negotiation 101 for Clinicians
• Conflict Management: Difficult Conversations with Difficult People
• Motivating Health Professionals Through Control Mechanisms: A Review of Empirical Evidence
• Health Care Professional Development: Working as a Team to Improve Patient Care
• Partnership: an Effective Approach to Public Health
• PSMG: Alliances to Disseminate Addiction Prevention and Treatment

• Activity 6: Conflict Management (210 min)

Module 5: Lesson 2: Analysis and Optimization of Organizational Practices

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the concept of organizational practices.
  
• Understand strategies for organizational change.
  
• Create a strategy to adapt organizational practices to social, political, economic, scientific, or other influential changes.

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• The Relationship Between Organizational Practices and Values with Burnout and Engagement
• The Effect of Organizational Changes on the Psychosocial Work Environment: Changes in Psychological and Social Working Conditions Following Organizational Changes

• Peer Activity 7: Organizational Adaptation in the Midst of COVID-19 (300 min)

Module 5: Lesson 3: Leading Organizational Performance Improvement

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the concept of organizational performance.
  
• Analyze the concept of innovation, and its importance in health.
  
• Analyze the process of organizational performance improvement.
  
• Create a plan to improve organizational performance in their workplace.

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• Organizational Performance - A Concept that Self-Seeks to Find Itself
• Promoting Innovation in Healthcare
• 5 Strategies to Improve Organizational Effectiveness
• Strategic Management of a Healthcare Organization: Engagement, Behavioural Indicators, and Clinical Performance

• Module 5 Lecture Recording: Teamwork and Organizational Performance

• Module 5: Quiz

• Discussion Forum: Organizational Performance Improvement. (120 min)
• Activity 8: Organizational Performance Improvement (120 min)

Module 6: Planning and Implementing Public Health Programs in the Community

Competencies covered in this module

• Collaborate with individuals and organizations in developing a vision for a healthy community (e.g. emphasis on prevention, health equity for all, excellence, and innovation). 
• Contribute to developing key values and a shared vision in planning and implementing public health programs and policies in the community. 
• Articulate an achievable mission, set of core values, and vision. 
  
• Describe the mission and priorities of the public health organization where one works, and apply them in practice. 
  
• Apply business and economic principles and practices, including budgeting,  cost/benefit analysis, and marketing, to develop a business plan. 
  
• Design and implement systems change strategies that improve the care environment. 
• Participate in the design and implementation of new models of care delivery and coordination. 
  
• Engage in dialogue and learning from others to advance public health goals. 
• Assume a leadership role in effectively implementing patient safety and quality improvement initiatives within the context of the interprofessional team using effective communication (scholarly writing, speaking, and group interaction) skills. 

Module 6: Lesson 1: Public Health Programs Planning: Developing a Vision for a Healthy Community

Learning objectives:

• Recognize the importance of leading the development of a shared vision for a healthy community.
  
• Demonstrate the ability to articulate an achievable mission, set of core values, and vision.
• Describe the importance of sharing a vision to improve collaboration.
• Analyze the mission and priorities of the organization at one's workplace.
  
• Create a public health business plan while considering business and economic principles and practices (e.g. budgeting, cost/benefit analysis, and marketing).

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• Vision and Mission Statements -- a Roadmap of Where You Want to Go and How to Get There
• Mission, Vision & Values Facilitation
• Sharing the vision
• How to Write an Effective Business Plan in Medicine
• Economic Evaluation Webcast Part 4 of 5: Benefit-Cost Analysis
• School Based Prevention Programs for Adolescents: Unplugged as an Example

Module 6: Lesson 2: Leading the Implementation of Public Health Programs

Learning objectives:

• Analyze the process of planning and implementing public health programs and policies in the community.
• Analyze interprofessional collaboration strategies to advance public health goals.
• Engage in dialogue to design a system change strategy to improve the care delivery and develop a plan to implement it.

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• At a Glance: The Six Steps for Planning a Health Promotion Program
• Program Planning and Evaluation in Public Health
• Six Components Necessary for Effective Public Health Program Implementation
• Interprofessional Collaboration in Research, Education, and Clinical Practice: Working Together for a Better Future

• Activity 9: Design Change Strategies (360 min)

Module 6: Lesson 3: The Essential Public Health Functions

Learning objectives:

• Understand the essential public health functions and services.
  
• Analyze the essential public health functions and services.
  
• Analyze the importance of leadership principles to improve the delivery of essential public health functions and services.
  
• Understand the facilitators and barriers that may affect the delivery of the 10 Essential Public Health Services

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• The Essential Public Health Functions as a Strategy for Improving Overall Health Systems Performance: Trends and Challenges since the Public Health in the Americas Initiative
• The Essential Public Health Functions as a Strategy for Improving Overall Health Systems Performance: Trends and Challenges since the Public Health in the Americas Initiative
• The 10 Essential Public Health Services.

• Discussion Forum: Application of the Core Public Health Functions and Essential Services (150 min)

Module 6: Lesson 4: Leading the Management of Health Emergencies and Disasters

Learning objectives:

• Understand concepts related to health emergency and health disaster.
• Describe the role of the public health leader and the public health system when a health emergency or disaster occurs.
• Analyze the importance of public health leadership in a health emergency or disaster context.

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• Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Definitions
• Public Health Emergency Preparedness: a Framework to Promote Resilience
• The Evolution of Public Health Emergency Management as a Field of Practice
• Creating an Emergency Preparedness Checklist for Hospitals or Healthcare Facilities
• Effective Medical Leadership in Times of Emergency: a Perspective

• Considerations for Integrating Infection Prevention and Control into National Pandemic Preparedness and Response Planning for Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)
• Facility Readiness Assessment for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection Prevention and Control Considerations in Non-US Healthcare Settings
• Module 6 Lecture Recording: Planning and Implementing Public Health Programs in the Community Part 1
• Module 6 Lecture Recording: Planning and Implementing Public Health Programs in the Community Part 2

• Module 6: Quiz

• Discussion Forum: Leadership and Emergency Management. (150 min)

Module 7: Advocacy and Communication

Competencies covered in this module:

• Advocate for the role of public health in providing population health services. 
  
• Demonstrate an ability to build community capacity by sharing knowledge, tools, expertise, and experience. 

Module 7: Lesson 1: Public Health Advocacy

Learning Objectives:

• Apply leadership and communication skills to advocate for the role of public health in providing population health services.

Click here to start this lesson

• WHO Strategic Communications Framework for Effective Communications
• Advocacy, Community Engagement and Cross-Sectoral Collaborations as Key Strategies During COVID-19 Response and Beyond
• Public Health Advocacy: Informing Lawmakers about What Matters Most in Our Communities

• Discussion Forum: Public Health Advocacy Strategies (270 min)
• Activity 10: Public Health Advocacy (540 min)

Module 7: Lesson 2: Health Communication and Education

Learning Objectives:

• Apply leadership and communication skills to build community capacity.
  

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• Community Capacity Building
• Community Capacity Building and Sustainability: Outcomes of Community-Based Participatory Research
• A Capacity Development Plan for CSOs in the Pacific
• A Framework for Community Capacity Building

• Module 7 Lecture Recording: Advocacy and Communication Recording

• Module 7: Quiz

• Activity 11: Effectiveness of Capacity-Building Interventions Relevant to Public Health Practice. (360 mins)

Final Exam

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• Final Exam.

Course and Self Evaluation & Certificate

In this section, you can provide feedback about this course to help us make NextGenU.org better. Once evaluations are completed, you will be able to download your certificate of completion. 

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• Course Evaluation
• Self Evaluation

Course Activities