When Assistant Professor Melanie Firestone was applying to PhD programs in environmental health, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) stood out for one big reason: “The reason I came here—and the reason that so many other students I know came here—is because we have such a strong connection to public health practice at state and local health departments,” Firestone said. “It’s a huge asset and a strength for the school. It’s not common for schools to have such a close, collaborative relationship with their state health department.”

Mickey Scullard (MPH, ‘93), who works as a preparedness and response coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), agrees with that assessment. “It’s a unique partnership compared to other states and to other schools of public health and state health departments,” she noted, a relationship that she jokingly attributes to Metro Transit’s Green Line light-rail transit, which essentially provides door-to-door service between SPH and MDH.

So, beyond transit lines, what is it that makes this working relationship nationally unique?

For MDH’s Scullard, it’s simple: “They don’t reside in the ivory tower,” she said, calling out SPH’s commitment to applied research and practice-based training. “There’s a real back-and-forth,” between the research that SPH focuses on and the practical, real-world situations that MDH typically encounters.

Ready for real-world challenges
For several decades, faculty and researchers from SPH have been working alongside their counterparts in MDH to protect the health of Minnesota through a long list of programs and projects.

MDH Principal Epidemiologist Beth Gyllstrom (MPH, ‘97, PhD, ‘10) says that the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions is rooted in a shared commitment to research, training, and applied skills. “I feel like the School of Public Health is incredibly strong at giving people the methods and the rigor to set themselves up for success in a variety of different organizations. Throughout my career, my passion has always been ‘How do we look at things, study things, analyze our data to have a real, immediate impact or set of interventions?’ I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that, however, if I didn’t have the academic preparation I received from SPH,” she said.

“When I got to MDH, my skill set was there,” Gyllstrom added. “Then I just had to learn the nuances of real-world data — as opposed to a nice, controlled study design which we don’t usually have in governmental work. SPH really gave me the foundation I needed to address the practical situations we encounter at MDH.”

Scullard echoed Gyllstrom’s observation about the differences between classroom scenarios and real-world situations: “How do we take what we’ve been learning in class and apply it here in the real world, which is much more ambiguous and has more gray areas? SPH is a great model of how to marry research and practice. And through this process, we build our workforce to be more ready to take on the challenges our state faces.”

For Nate Wright (MPH, ‘15, PhD, ‘23), the opportunity to work at MDH while he was a student provided a unique perspective on both organizations. For his MPH, Wright had a dual focus on maternal & child health and epidemiology. As a student worker, he was placed in MDH’s emerging infections program. “Even though I was a student, I could see how the health department was working and was able to apply what I was learning at SPH to the real-world scenarios that MDH provided.” Wright, who is now the syndromic surveillance principal epidemiologist at MDH, said the experience was a valuable lesson in how the field of public health needs to adapt to “situations that are messy or seem all over the place.”

A network that lasts a lifetime
For many people at MDH and SPH, the professional relationships they’ve developed over the years have cemented into personal friendships. For Gyllstrom, the connections between the two extend from the professional—she has returned to SPH as an adjunct and frequently collaborated with faculty on projects—to the personal. “I was introduced to my husband by one of my professors at SPH,” Gyllstrom recalled. “When I was doing my master’s degree, a couple of faculty members helped me move from an apartment into my first house. Even all these years later, we still send Christmas cards to each other,” she said.

Those connections also helped set Gyllstrom on her professional path. Recalling SPH Professor Emeritus Alan Lifson, Gyllstrom credited him as the reason she decided to pursue a career in infectious disease, while Professor Pam Schreiner—who Gyllstrom describes as “rock solid”—was instrumental in her academic career, shepherding her through her master’s program and later taking her on as a teaching assistant.

While recent funding cuts and politically driven policy changes have altered the landscape for today’s students, Gyllstrom said people at MDH want to continue helping the next generation of SPH graduates. “Across our division, we remain committed to developing the future workforce, and we’re really trying to think creatively and strategically about how we can give students these experiences,” she said. Although the kind of student-worker positions at MDH do not exist in the current budgetary environment, Gyllstrom suggests looking for jobs at private companies in Minnesota—UnitedHealth, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Health Partners—that are conducting public health research.

Wright also encourages students to be in touch. “Everyone I know at MDH is always willing to help out students, and so I would just encourage students to reach out. The work we do here really spans the breadth of public health, so whatever you’re interested in, there’s probably someone at MDH who can help you.”