Delaware Public Health Association
 

Academy/DPHA Welcomes Kate W. Smith, MD, MPH, NPMc to the role of executive director

Kate W. Smith, MD, MPH, who has been with the Academy/DPHA since 2016, stepped into the role of Executive Director on January 1st, 2024. Dr. Smith started her career with the Academy/DPHA as the coordinator for the State’s Immunization Coalition of Delaware program. Since then she has overseen the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment initiative, student internship program, and Delaware Mini Medical School.

Dr. Smith will follow Mr. Tim Gibbs, MPH who is taking on a new role as Director and Principal Investigator for the Delaware Health Force program – and public/private partnership between the State of Delaware and the Academy/DPHA focusing on healthcare workforce research and development.  Mr. Gibbs has been executive director of the Academy/DPHA for 16 years, and during that time the organization has experienced significant growth and expansion into the field of public health.

Dr. Smith stated, “I’m excited to step into such well-respected shoes, and will work to grow and expand the Academy/DPHA and our programs. Delaware is a small state, and I look forward to working together with all of the public health and healthcare institutions to improve the health of all Delawareans.”

Gibbs said, “I look forward to Dr. Smith’s leadership and fresh vision for the Academy/DPHA, and to focusing my attention on our health care and public health workforce which was operating under extreme pressure even before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dr. Smith will become Delaware’s designated representative to the American Public Health Association’s Governing Council.

Biotechnology and Public Health

The current issue of the DJPH focuses on Biotechnology, which plays a multifaceted role in public health improvement, ranging from early detection and prevention to the development of advanced treatments and interventions. The ongoing advancements in biotechnology continue to shape and enhance our ability to address public health challenges. Click here to read more: https://djph.org/biotechnology-and-public-health/

Drexel LeBow Analytics 50

Tech Impact’s Data Innovation Lab and Delaware Academy of Medicine/Delaware Public Health Association Release Interactive Report on Delaware’s Healthforce

A greater understanding of Delaware’s nursing health force enables strategic workforce training and policy recommendations to help ease provider shortage

WILMINGTON, DE (July 17, 2023)The Data Innovation Lab, a division of Tech Impact that accelerates the use of data insights and intelligence to address societal issues, in partnership with the Delaware Academy of Medicine/Delaware Public Health Association (Academy/DPHA), today announced a new report that informs the state of the nursing workforce population as well as strategic decision making and data-driven policy to help mitigate Delaware’s provider shortage. The report, an honoree of the Drexel LeBow Analytics 50, shows visual datasets that provide a better understanding of the current composition and challenges facing the workforce and highlight areas needing providers

“Data integrated from variable sources enabled us to provide upskilling guidance for current nurses to obtain licenses that expand on the services they provide. Specifically, ARPNs play a unique role in the DE healthforce given their prescription and practice authorities independent of a physician,” said Héc Maldonado-Reis, Director, Research Development and Analytics at Tech Impact. “We found that targeting just five percent ​of the current RN population ​to advance their education ​and training could result in ​over 600 new APRNs in the DE health care workforce.” 

Together, the Data Lab and DPHA are now developing a triage system for primary care ​where patients have timely and ​cost-effective access to APRNs who can guide them to specialized care and help ease the provider shortage in Delaware. 

“The Data Lab team has been an invaluable partner in both developing and promoting the reports, which support the Academy/DPHA’s efforts to provide effective health and social care programs within underserved communities,” said Timothy Gibbs, Executive Director of Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association. 

The Data Lab and DPHA project was recently selected for a 2023 Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 award for its healthforce report’s data-driven business impact. The Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 is a national recognition of analytics distinction honoring 50 organizations using analytics to solve business challenges. Honorees are selected by a panel of researchers and practitioners who evaluate nominations based on the complexity of the business challenge, the analytics solution implemented, and the solution’s business impact on the organization.

Tech Impact and the Academy/DPHA began the partnership in April 2022. The work has been ongoing ever since and ranges from understanding the chronic disease distributions in Delaware to now understanding the distribution of Delaware’s healthforce, including the nursing healthforce, which was updated with new data as of March 2023. The work is part of a larger ARPA-funded initiative, Delaware Health Force which seeks to understand and remedy healthcare workforce shortages resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Looking ahead, the Data Lab and the Academy/DPHA will collect additional data as nurses and other providers renew their licenses. They plan to partner with policymakers who have influence over the development of affordable higher education nursing programs. 

To learn more about the healthforce reports, visit: https://nursingdata.dehealthforce.org/

About Tech Impact

Tech Impact is a nonprofit that leverages technology to advance social impact. Our proven workforce training programs and intermediary services prepare our graduates to launch or advance their careers in technology. We strengthen nonprofits through a full spectrum of technological support, giving them the education and services they need to deliver greater impact and help their communities thrive. Learn more at techimpact.org

Media Contact:

Caitlin Wolf
Tech Impact
caitlinrwolf@gmail.com