THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

55

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

URGING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO expeditiously REBUILD A SCHOOL OF GLOBAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

 

WHEREAS, graduates of the University of Hawaii School of Public Health (UHSPH) programs in maternal and child health, epidemiology, environmental health, nutrition, gerontology, international health, health administration, and community health development and education play vital roles in protecting the health of Hawaii's population and the health of those in our wider Asia Pacific region; and

WHEREAS, the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland, which is the United Nations specialized agency for health, and which is governed by 192 member states through the World Health Assembly, is led by Director-General Dr. Jong-Wook Lee, a graduate of UHSPH; and

WHEREAS, in 1999, UHSPH was the first and only School of Public Health (SPH) in the history of the United States to lose its accreditation; and

WHEREAS, in 2000, UHSPH was incorporated into the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) as the Department of Public Health Studies and Epidemiology (DPHSE); and

WHEREAS, upon closure, the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) administration proposed, and the Board of Regents approved, a plan to rebuild the UHSPH within 5 years; and

WHEREAS, JABSOM and DPHSE have made various gains toward rebuilding a SPH, most significantly in gaining accreditation from the Council on Education in Public Health for a program in public health with specializations in epidemiology and social-behavioral health; and

WHEREAS, the UH's most notable step to fulfill the promise of rebuilding a UHSPH within five years is the recent commitment of Chancellor Peter Englert to fast-track the re-establishment of a School of Global and Public Health (SGPH) at the UHM; and

WHEREAS, Chancellor Englert has actively sought counsel from a number of public health stakeholders, including national and local public health entities and experts, faculty of the DPHSE, the UH School of Public Health Alumni Association, the Hawaii Public Health Association, and many others; and

WHEREAS, the Chancellor has also publicly affirmed his commitment by articulating his plans to appoint two advisory committees to guide the planning of a new School:

(1) An Internal Manoa Committee that will consist of UH faculty and leadership; and

(2) An External Vision Committee that will consist of local, national, and international public health experts; and

WHEREAS, after consultation, Chancellor Englert will request approval from the Board of Regents to move the public health programs into "developmental space," similar to the successful process of public-private partnership used to develop the Academy for Creative Media; and

WHEREAS, the speed at which a new, independent SGPH could become a reality is within a year and a half, pending the receipt of necessary resources; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Regents approved a $1 million appropriation in the 2004 supplemental budget request to support faculty positions for the SGPH, but this request was not included in the Governor's budget; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii is at a crossroads and is a gateway for emerging public health issues, thus there is great potential to sustain a SPH more than ever; and

WHEREAS, the health workforce of Hawaii and the Asia Pacific region was significantly built over decades by UHSPH, which typically educated hundreds of professionals per year, and was the second largest graduate program in the UH system; and

WHEREAS, studies have shown that a substantial percentage of that health workforce, especially those in leadership and mid-level management positions, has retired or is on the verge of exiting the workforce to retire; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii may face a health workforce crisis if the training pipeline for public health is not reinstated; and

WHEREAS, the potential for obtaining research funds has grown tremendously over the last few years, and a SGPH would allow Hawaii more flexibility to respond to local needs such as the ice addiction epidemic, diabetes, and childhood obesity, as well as more universal needs such as bioterrorism, HIV/AIDS, SARS, and other global health challenges; and

WHEREAS, a SPH can be a research magnet, generating moneys through grants, but Hawaii is ineligible to receive federal research moneys without a fully accredited SGPH; and

WHEREAS, other states' universities are assuming the role of public health training and research for Hawaii and the Asia Pacific region because of the absence of a SPH in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii and the UH system are losing revenue, prestige, and their logical role of educational leadership in the region because of the absence of a SPH; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the House of Representatives concurring, that the University of Hawaii is urged to expeditiously rebuild a School of Global and Public Health; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Hawaii is urged to join with other institutions and to work cooperatively with the military, the Centers for Disease Control, and others for research dollars and to boost research options and developmental planning; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President and Chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, the Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences and Epidemiology, the Director of Health, Hawaii's congressional delegation, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, the Director of the Public Health Practice Program Office of the Centers for Disease Control, and the Presidents of the University of Hawaii School of Public Health Alumni Association and the Hawaii Public Health Association.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

University of Hawaii; School of Public Health.