The National Board of Public Health Examiners NBPHE

1
The National Board of Public Health Examiners
(NBPHE)

• Credentialing Graduates from CEPH-Accredited
  Public Health Schools and Programs

June 2006
2
Historic Goals of Credentialing in Public Health

• Increase recognition of the public health
  professions
• Raise the visibility of public health
• Measure and improve the competency and
  consistency of public health workers nationwide

3
Purpose of NBPHE

• Ensure that students and graduates from schools
  and programs of public health accredited by the
  Council on Education of Public Health (CEPH) have
  mastered the knowledge and skills relevant to
  contemporary public health practice.
• This purpose will be accomplished by developing,
  preparing, administering and evaluating a
  certification exam.

4
Past Efforts

• Both ASPH and APHA established task forces on the
  credentialing of public health workers in the
  late 1980s stimulated, in part, by the call from
  the U. S. Surgeon General for such an effort
• In 1999, APHA and ASPH formed a Task Force on
  Public Health Workforce Credentialing

5
Recent Efforts

• In January of 2002, ASPHs Executive Committee
  approved moving forward to develop an independent
  Board of Public Health to issue examinations and
  provide those that pass the exam with a public
  health credential
• The board incorporated in September 2005
• In November 2005, the board held its inaugural
  meeting in Philadelphia, PA

6
Collaborating Organizations

• According to the by-laws, the 12 board members
  include representatives from
• APHA (2)
• ASTHO (1)
• NACCHO (1)
• ATPM (2)
• ASPH (6)
• Two of the ASPH-nominated individuals must
  represent private sector employers

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Representative Board Members

• APHA (2)
• Walter Tsou, MD, MPH
• Past-President, APHA
• Public Health Consultant
• Diane Matuszak, MD, MPH
• Director, Community Health Administration
• Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• ASTHO (1)
• Terry Dwelle, MD
• State Health Officer
• North Dakota Department of Health
• Chair, ASTHO Preparedness Policy Committee

• NACCHO (1)
• Alan Melnick, MD, MPH
• Health Officer
• Clark County, WA (as of July 1)
• ATPM (2)
• David I. Gregorio, PhD, MS
• Director, Graduate Program in Public Health
• University of Connecticut School of Medicine
• Sally Guttmacher, PhD
• Director, Masters in Public Health Program
• New York University Steinhardt School of
  Education

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Representative Board Members

• ASPH (4)
• Patricia Buffler, PhD, MPH
• Professor of epidemiology and
• Former dean, UC Berkeley SPH
• Bernard Goldstein, MD
• Professor and former dean, Pittsburgh GSPH
• Donna Petersen, PhD
• Dean, University of South Florida CoPH
• Andrew Sorensen, PhD, MPH
• President, University of South Carolina
• Former dean, UMass SPH

• Private Sector Public Health Employers (2)
• Cheryl Healton, DrPH
• President and CEO,
• American Legacy Foundation
• Robert Harmon, MD, MPH
• President, the Harmon Health Group, Minnesota
• Former VP of Optum, a UnitedHealthcare company
• NBPHE Interim President and
• ex-officio board member
• Charles Mahan, MD
• Dean Emeritus
• University of South Florida CoPH

9
At-Large Board Members

• Dr. Jack Barnette
• Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs,
  University of Alabama at Birmingham SPH
• Dr. Mindy Fullilove
• Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Public
  Health, Columbia University Mailman SPH
• Dr. Kristine Gebbie
• Director of the Center for Health Policy and
  Elizabeth Standish Gill Associate Professor of
  Nursing, Columbia University School of Nursing
• Dr. Fernando Guerra
• Director of Health, San Antonio Metropolitan
  Health District

• Dr. Camara Jones
• Research Director on Social Determinants of
  Health, CDC
• Dr. Edward Mamary
• Director, Master of Public Health Program,
  Department of Health Science, San Jose State
  University
• Dr. Adewale Troutman
• Director, Louisville Metro Health Department
• Associate Professor, University of Louisville
  School of Public Health and Information Sciences

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Next Steps
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Governance

• NBPHE is a fully independent organization
• The organization is staffed by an Interim
  President (Dr. Charles Mahan, a nationally
  recognized leader in academic-practice linkages)
  and an Interim Administrator, and is supported by
  ASPH senior staff
• Dr. Bernard Goldstein chairs the board

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Governance Structure
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Eligibility for the Exam

• Eligible examinees are masters and doctoral
  graduates of Council on Education for Public
  Health (CEPH)-accredited schools and programs of
  public health (a list is maintained on the CEPH
  website at http//www.ceph.org).

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Exam Development

• NBPHE is contracting with a nationally-reputable
  vendor to develop the exam, including
• A workshop to train test-item writers
• The development of test questions, which would go
  through an internal pilot and external
  feasibility stage
• Various approaches to develop metrics that would
  permit a valid and fair examination

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The Exam

• Will consist of approximately 200 questions and
  will take approximately 4½ hours to complete
• Is intended to be offered at testing centers in
  hundreds of locations nationally
• Is estimated to cost around 450

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Contact Us

• Gillian Silver, MPH
• Interim Administratorgsilver_at_nbphe.org
  202-296-1099, ext. 132http//www.nbphe.org/