Membership in APHA: A free perk for students at some schools

There are many benefits that come with APHA membership. But for student and first-time member Elsie Moore, the best part is having access to a network of thousands of students and professionals in every field of public health.

“It really is exciting to think about what this membership means for students,” said Moore, who is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree at the Yale School of Public Health. “It’s such a huge network of people and now we have an opportunity to connect with it.”

When Moore says “we,” she means herself and about 250 fellow Yale students pursuing master’s and doctorate degrees in public health, all of whom recently received a school-sponsored membership to APHA.

The Association’s new school-sponsored student membership category launched last year, giving public health schools and programs the chance to purchase APHA memberships for their students at a discounted rate. The school-sponsored memberships come with automatic enrollment in the APHA Student Assembly, the country’s largest student-led organization dedicated to the development of public health students.

Frank Grosso, PhD, associate dean for student affairs at the Yale School of Public Health, said he hopes the new memberships will help create stronger connections between the theory and science that students learn in the classroom and the reallife challenges and practice of public health.

“We’re thrilled that our students are able to take advantage of it, many of who don’t have the funds to join on their own,” Grosso told.

Continue reading this story from the February 2018 issue of The Nation's Health.