 Jennie (Jeannette) Mullins, BS, MPH, was selected to receive the 2008 Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Area of Community Service/Practice from The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH). This annual award is given for significant accomplishments and evidence of leadership in public-health service to Arizona communities. The College-wide honor was presented to Ms. Mullins by MEZCOPH Interim Dean Iman Hakim on April 16, 2008 during the University of Arizona’s Awards of Distinction Ceremony at the University of Arizona's Student Union Ballroom, shown in the photo below. Ms Mullins’ son Cruz (7 years old), accepted and shared the award with his mother as he missed her greatly when she was out in the field working.
Left to right: MEZCOPH Interim Dean Iman Hakim,
award winner Jennie Mullins and her son, Cruz (center), and
Jill de Zapien, Associate Dean of Community Programs.
Jennie Mullins is the Professional Development Coordinator and Project Director for the Southwest Public Health Leadership Institute where she oversees workforce development activities in public health for the College.
A Diverse Background In Public Health
Since coming to Arizona in 1994, Ms. Mullins worked in the sexual assault field as the Community Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault ; in Indian health as the Program Manager at the (then) Intertribal Health Care Center; and in youth wellness as the Program Director for the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona’s Alternative High School Program. She believes this diverse experience in various public health settings serves her well as she works with public health professionals around the state to expand continuing education opportunities available to them, and to provide up-to-date information about public health concerns. As stated in a nomination letter, "Jennie embodies the passion and spirit for service, along with a work ethic and creative mind that generate real-world results."
There are fewer public health professionals in Arizona than in most U.S. states and workforce development resources for public health professionals are very scarce, which Jennie discovered when she first came to work for MEZCOPH in 2002. In addition, there are many health settings where personnel had little or no formal training in public health but are responsible for the essential services and core functions of public health in their community. Ongoing training and leadership development are still urgently needed for our public health workforce. Jennie has worked hard to increase Arizona’s workforce development resources and to build bridges between partner agencies and the communities, while taking into account the unique needs and concerns of Arizona's tribal nations and rural communities.
The Southwest Public Health Leadership Institute
In addition to promoting the expertise and wide range of resources offered by faculty and academic professionals within MEZCOPH, Jennie has helped develop additional education and training programs under the wing of the Southwest Public Health Leadership Institute including:
- The Academy Without Walls, a training series in core public health topics such as basic public health sciences and cultural competency
- Collaborative Leadership forums and training series
- Workforce training assessments
- A tribal public health emergency preparedness training series
- An orientation to public health for State and local health departments, and
- Ongoing public health seminars.
U.S.-Mexico Border Region
Currently, populations on both sides of the US-Mexico border experience some of the most pressing public health challenges and disparities in the nation, requiring additional attention from public health professionals. In 2007, Jennie worked with her colleague Dr. Kenneth Schachter to successfully design a new regional program under the Southwest Public Health Leadership Institute. The Institute was awarded funding for three years through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to jointly develop a Transborder Public Health Leadership and Diplomacy Certificate Program (TBPHLDCP), a year-long, regional, advanced leadership program that addresses public health challenges on both sides of the United States-Mexico border. Funding for this agreement is in partnership with the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission and Association, the Pan American Health Organization’s U.S.-Mexico Field Office, the Offices of Border Health in all four U.S. border states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), El Colegio de Sonora, the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, and the University of Arizona Center for Public Health Preparedness. This program will emphasize the development of collaborative and transborder leadership skills for members of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission and other public health leaders in the entire border region. To accomplish these goals, Jennie works primarily with MEZCOPH colleagues Dr. Ken Schachter, Principal Investigator for the Southwest Public Health Leadership Institute; Dr. Cecilia Rosales, MEZCOPH Associate Professor; and Jill de Zapien, MEZCOPH Associate Dean for Community programs; and a broad implementation team with representatives from the partner agencies.
Tribal Communities
In 2007, Jennie oversaw an important effort for the College with the implementation of the Tribal Academic Practice Partnership Project, an $80,000 grant sponsored through the Association of Schools of Public Health. The goal of this partnership was to support the ongoing collaborative exchange of public health knowledge, practice expertise, and resources between personnel at MEZCOPH and three Native American tribal health departments in Arizona, and to address priority health needs and reduce health disparities in Arizona tribal communities.
The main benefits of the Tribal Academic Practice Partnership were that it:
- Initiated enhanced working relationships between MEZCOPH faculty and academic professionals and tribal health department personnel.
- Provided the infrastructure for students to work with tribal health departments. It specifically gave Native American Master of Public Health and post-doctoral students meaningful exposure and opportunities to apply public health in the a tribal community.
- Provided the infrastructure for the tribal health department to define and communicate assistance they wanted from the University without concerns about resources.
- Provided technical assistance and service to the tribal health department based on their own identified needs and helped them to identify additional needs for training and technical assistance.
- Allowed MEZCOPH to examine and address its own institutional policies and procedures which might create barriers to working closer with tribal health departments.
The steering committee for this project unanimously agreed that this was a successful start to creating this partnership and strongly recommended that it be sustained over the longer term.
Continuing the Journey
Working closely with the Arizona Public Health Association, the Rural Health Association, the Arizona Department of Health Services and Arizona's county and tribal health departments and other community organizations has enabled limited workforce development opportunities to be shared, and has demonstrated the College’s commitment to supporting the existing public health workforce and network in the State and region.
"Effective partnerships are built on trust, following through on commitments, being creative in bringing resources to the table, and sustaining these interpersonal relationships over the longer term," Mullins said in her personal statement for the award. "On the long road to an adequate public health workforce, sharing the spectacular views along the way with students, colleagues and practice partners and making new friends has made all the difference. It’s been a lot of fun. Let’s continue the journey — we’re not there yet!"
Thank you, Jennie Mullins, for your hard work, dedication and leadership at The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health!
Additional Information
Links and Resources
Released on June 16, 2008. Please send comments and corrections to Loretta McKibben.
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