MPHI CEO Dr. Renée Branch Canady and Associate Director Linda Gordon were recently featured in a National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) video about the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG). PHIG is an investment funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supporting critical public health infrastructure needs across the United States. With this groundbreaking grant, the CDC expects to award more than $5 billion over the 5-year grant period. This includes nearly $4.5 billion for health departments and $361 million for three national public health partners. MPHI was selected to serve as the Region 5 PHIG Hub. In this role, under the leadership of NNPHI, MPHI provides responsive and proactive technical assistance to Region 5 health departments.

The three main strategies of PHIG include:

  1. Workforce: Recruit, retain, support, and train the public health workforce.
  2. Foundational Capabilities: Strengthen systems, processes, and policies.
  3. Data Modernization: Deploy scalable, flexible, and sustainable technologies.

Gordon shared her thoughts on the grant, explaining that this funding allows public health professionals to explore new solutions and innovations that improve well-being for all.

“PHIG to me, with the right leadership and the right collective action and the right relationship building, can truly be transformative,” said Gordon. “We can fund different models and different strategies, and we can really think outside of that status quo or that standard public health practice.”

Dr. Canady encouraged audiences to understand that public health is much more expansive than most people know, impacting all aspects of healthy living and well-being. Investing in public health infrastructure is necessary for reaching more lives with public health initiatives.

“Public health is more than giving the sugar cubes to prevent polio. Public health is more than the work that we did around tobacco and smoking cessation,” said Dr. Canady. “It’s about being deeply vigilant about well-being, philosophically.”

To watch the full video, visit:
Shaping the Future with PHIG – YouTube