Open AccessA Public Health of Consequence: Shifting the Cultural Narrative From Churning Grants to a Scholarship of Consequence
Author(s) -
Colleen M. McBride,
Dawn L. Comeau,
Ashley E Mastin,
Hannah L.F. Cooper
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2019.305266
Subject(s) - scholarship , incentive , public relations , interim , narrative , churning , revenue , political science , public health , work (physics) , sociology , medicine , business , nursing , economics , linguistics , philosophy , accounting , labour economics , law , microeconomics , mechanical engineering , engineering
A confluence of challenges is impeding faculty members' ability to prioritize research with the goal of achieving a public health of consequence: research designed to improve conditions to produce a healthier society. Together, these challenges create a "churn" culture in which faculty focus on generating new business (i.e., grant funding and associated incentives) to replace lost revenue (i.e., expiring grants); this culture can relegate public health impact to a back seat.We share three strategies and related insights from our efforts to shift our department's cultural narrative from churn to a "scholarship of consequence": crafting research proposals of consequence, fostering thought leadership through collaborative writing, and mentoring faculty with a view to a scholarship of consequence.We describe each of the strategies and interim progress. Although they are a work in progress, we conclude that despite initial concerns, our evaluation metrics indicate improvement.