Teaching health departments: meeting the challenge of public health education.

Since the 1988 Institute of Medicine report The Future of Public Health, educators and practitioners have sought to better prepare students for practice. A review of these efforts suggests that they have yet to achieve an adequate synthesis of academic and practice-based education. The authors argue that a fundamental change in the structure of pubic health agencies is required so that all public health students receive practice training in teaching health departments. Academic programs must partner with these agencies but must also continue to teach students about the intellectual framework of public health.