A New Online Strategy in Teaching Racial and Ethnic Health and Health Disparities to Public Health Professionals.

In the fall 2010, East Carolina University's Department of Public Health in the Brody School of Medicine introduced a new graduate certificate online program to its curriculum-the Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) program. By the spring 2014, the Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) program graduated 20 public health professionals with expertise in ethnic and rural health disparities. In order to examine its effectiveness, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative study of our graduates. The major objectives of our ERHD alumni study were: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of the ERHD program, and (2) to assess new strategies for improving our ERHD program. Quantitative and qualitative results from our small sample of alumni indicate that the ERHD program is fulfilling its objectives. The ERHD program has developed a new online strategy in teaching racial and ethnic health and health disparities for public health professionals who are ready to not only address health disparities in a different approach but also ready to develop new culturally competent public health programs for increasing diverse racial, ethnic, and rural populations in the U.S.A.