School of Public Health

1. School of Public Health Future Plans

2. This talk • Outline the Process for building future plans • Subsequent seminars will outline issues relating to quality, goals, targets and outcomes

3. Moree The School, it’s centres and affiliates Broken Hill – Department of Rural Health Orange – Clinical School Lismore - Northern Rivers Dept Uni Rural Health Moree – Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety Sydney – see next map

4. Westmead • FMRC • Centre for Health Services Research • NCIRS • ACCIDD • CRASH • Lidcombe • NCHH • Health Sciences City GI • Usyd/Camperdown Precinct • School of Public Health • GI • STEP • SHDG • ACHP • CTC • CPAH • Cancer Genes, Environment and Behaviour Project • COO • Centre for Perinatal Health Services Research • Sydney Health Projects Groups • Menzies Centre for Health Policy Wolloomooloo Cancer Council NSW

5. What is the School? • What signal do we want to send? • High quality, high impact • International reputation • More than just a collection of individuals, institutes, centres and title holders • Bring people together based on our common interests in population health teaching and research • To create an outward looking School that engages with those people and institutions that can help us improve public health

6. Current signals? • Photo board in the Edward Ford Building • More a function of cost codes and title holders • Students and visitors want to see our academic leaders • Get a sense of our teaching and research programs and who belongs to those programs • Students like role models, they seek opportunities for specialisation in their studies and their own career

7. Photo Board • Reorganise along teaching program/discipline lines with academic leaders • Recognise and engage groups

8. Making it work • Harness intellectual firepower locally • Greater emphasis on teaching and research program leadership • Attract more higher degree students • Raise international profile

9. Key steps • Practical steps needed to get the School of Public Health fighting fit • Address the wider issue of Public Health governance

10. Bringing it altogether • Strong emphasis on open communication consultation and people management • Core values – high quality, high quality, high impact research and teaching • Crossing institutional and sectoral boundaries

11. Key Issues • Communication • Management • Title holders • Accountability and quality assurance • Working environment • Capacity building, renewal • Growth

12. Communication - HoS Office • HoS (Room 319) • Personal assistant – Nafisa Alam • Executive officer (acting)- Susan Martinez • Communications officer – Erika Anza-Mosman (Part time) • Centralise communications – including SPH web site, newsletter, media relations

13. Management • Pub MAC (Public Health Management Advisory Committee) • Advisory committee to HoS • Oversees policy and planning

14. International PH PH Epi Health Prom Research Clin Epi Medicine Health Prom & Indigenous Health Teaching & Learning Public Health Chair Biostats & IT Health Policy Members of PubMAC

15. Research, teaching, staff & IT • Research Committee • Teaching and Learning Committee • General staff council (rotating chair) • Information Technology

16. Other key leadership roles • Sue Quine – Postgraduate co-ordinator • Petra Macaskill – Examiner’s committee • Alex Barratt – Community • Glenn Salkeld – Alumni, fundraising, scholarships

17. Managing - up • Weekly meeting with the Pro Dean of Medicine • MedMAC • Open lines of communication

18. Academic titles • Some title holders contribute an enormous amount to our teaching and research • Others contribute little or none • If we don’t ask then we cannot expect much in return • Make expectations clear • Quantify the minimum contribution • Acknowledge the importance of the contribution made by title holders

19. Accountability and Quality Assurance • Produce a summary document How are we performing? Existing mechanisms for accountability • Establish Advisory Groups SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats Ideas, innovation, solutions

20. Guiding principles • 1:5:40 • Highly competitive SPH with strong international profile • Aim for financial independence by 2010

21. Guiding Principles • Fairness and opportunity • 40% Research • 40% Teaching • 20% Service • Teaching Program leaders Measure, manage and mentor

22. Guiding Principles • Transparency and accountability • Provide individual members of academic staff and program leaders with information to manage work, workloads, teaching and research productivity

23. Major reviews • MPH PHERP – competency framework USyd – major review of Masters coursework programs • GDip Indig HP

24. Collegiality • Mentorship • Social get togethers

25. Division of labour • Increase administrative staff support for academics • Free up academic staff to concentrate on core activities of research and teaching

26. Ideas and innovation • Encourage initiative through financial support • Incentives to work across boundaries

27. Working environment • Edward Ford building – inadequate for future needs • Short Term – MFB Public Health Precinct • Continue refurbishment of offices in A27 • Better utilisation of desk/office space • Library – stays in the Edward Ford building

28. Working environment • Common space • More space for higher degree students • Long term goal - new Medical Education building - SPH commitment to capital development

29. Capacity building, renewal • Renewal – New A/Prof in Health Promotion (Disease prevention) • New Senior Lecturer in Qualitative Research Methods* (funded 0.5 SPH, 0.25 VELIM and 0.25 MedFAC) • New Chair in International Child and Maternal Health (funded 100% MedFAC, Joint appointment with GI) * Fixed 3 year appointment

30. Appoint new generation of lecturers • 2008 budget due late October • Key appointments for 2008 • Lecturer in Indigenous Health (1.0 FTE)* • Lecturer in International Public Health (1.0 FTE)* • Senior lecturer in Clinical Epidemiology (0.5 FTE)* * Fixed appointment

31. Capacity building, renewal • Increase administrative staff • New admin assistant (1.0 FTE level 4) • Subject to workload, enrolment data & final 2008 budget • New admin assistant for IPH • Education support officer (P/T) for the Director of T&L • Teaching Course Co-ordination greater load to admin/teaching assistants

32. Governance of Public Health • Aim – USyd PH to reach true potential, internationally, by harnessing intellectual firepower across the organisation and sectoral boundaries • To ensure that the whole is greater than the sum of parts • HOW? Review

33. Governance of Public Health • Network governance • Examples……. Health Economics Collaboration Sydney Health Decision Group Menzies NHMRC Capacity building in kidney disease Rural health collaboration partnership with VELIM – Qual research methods

34. Governance of Public Health • IPH - teaching steering committees • Steering committee to oversee IPH teaching • Draw in academic teachers from GI and other groups • IPH – PH capacity building and training • Steering committee, chaired by Lalit Dandona, to oversee India Medical research Council, SPH and GI MOU

35. Governance of Public Health • Invitation to all centres and affiliates • Join us adjunct appointments new networks/collaborations

36. Summary • Getting the SPH ‘fighting fit’ • Public Health Governance - bringing people together • Next seminar – quality, goals, targets and outcomes