Preparing an AI-Ready Public Health Workforce

Our April Public Health Collective (WCU PH student organization) meeting will have a presentation by Supervising Public Health Investigator Janae Kingcade from LA County Department of Public Health along with West Coast University Public Health Professor Dr. Barbara Garcia on the collaboration between our programs to prepare an AI-Ready Public Health Workforce. This session highlights how we prepare public health students to use AI in ways through our academic–practice collaboration. We will share a structured approach that helps students evaluate and apply AI, not just to generate answers, but to align learning with workforce expectations. We’ll share how this looks in the classroom, what we’re seeing so far, and how academic–practice partnerships can help align education with workforce expectations in a rapidly changing public health landscape.