CHAPEL HILL - The combination of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health's experiences with health departments and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School's approach to business principles applied to non-business settings, is the subject of a special issue of the September/October Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 

The purpose of the special issue is to document the Management Academy's activities.

The bulk of articles are case studies from selected Management Academy graduates, in which they describe their experiences with the Academy and highlight specific changes in their public health practice as a result of their participation in the program. The articles detail the business plans written for the Management Academy, how the business plans were implemented, outcomes of the new programs, and lessons learned about applying business-like thinking to public health challenges.  

Articles also describe how the funding partners came together to create the original RFP, how the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Kenan-Flagler Business School created their winning proposal, and what theories underlie the program. Commentary on the Management Academy from nationally-known experts in the field and an overview of the measurable impact of the Academy up to this point are included.

The issue is a culmination of 30 authors working over the past year and a half with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a project staff, headed by Ed Baker, director of the NC Institute for Public Health, and Anne Menkens, project director, who assisted with writing, editing and reviewing the work.

The Journal of Public Health Management and Practice is a bimonthly scholarly publication, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. (www.JPHMP.com).  

For more information on this special issue, contact Anne Menkens at 843-8542 or anne_menkens@unc.edu. To learn about the Management Academy for Public Health, visit www.maph.unc.edu.

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, ramona_dubose@unc.edu

Or, Bev Holt, NC Institute for Public Health, (919) 966-6274, bev_holt@unc.edu

News Services contacts: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu