Sarah Swim, a second-year Master of Public Health student in the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, has been selected as a Pathways to Practice Scholar through the Region IV Public Health Training Center, a field placement program providing hands-on experience in supporting underserved communities.
Swim will spend spring semester at the Suwannee River Area Health Education Center in Alachua, supporting that agency as well as the Florida Public Health Association and the Florida Rural Health Association by assisting with public health initiatives focused on policy and workforce development.
One of Swim’s main projects will be leading an assessment of rural health clinics in north central Florida, including designing the assessment, which will track trends in the clinics’ workforce needs and help inform policy recommendations going forward.
She will also take part in the Florida Rural Health Association’s strategic planning process and conduct background research with the Florida Public Health Association on public health and its workforce.
“I am looking forward to being able to contribute meaningfully to rural health development in north central Florida and being able to apply my academic training to a public health setting,” Swim said.