Coalition of Allied Health Leadership

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, the Board of Directors of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) determined that there should be a national leadership program to help prepare emerging leaders in allied health education and practice. Beginning in 1998, for 5 of the past 6 years, the Coalition of Allied Health Leadership (CAHL) has been held in Washington, D.C. ASAHP has partnered with the National Network of Health Career Programs in Two Year Colleges (NN2), the Health Professions Network (HPN), and most recently the National Society for Allied Health (NSAH) in conducting these programs. Generous funding support has been provided through the Bureau of Health Professions in the U.S. Public Health Service, which has continued to provide a continuing contract for the leadership program, and substantial support from professionals in the Bureau.

We are beginning to see the benefits of this program as the graduates are starting to make their presence felt in leadership positions. Several of the ASAHP representatives have become deans or moved into other central leadership positions in their institutions. Others have moved into leadership positions in their professional organizations or associations.

CAHL fosters a teamwork approach to leadership through the use of group projects that build on the recommendations of the National Commission on Allied Health. Supported by facilitators who guide the teams, the participants maintain communication among themselves, plan and complete the project, and make a presentation at the leadership workshop. From these, several teams have prepared reports of their project activities, which have been published in previous issues of the Journal of Allied Health. In this Summer issue, two reports are presented in this section, one on Internet resources in genetics and one on health literacy. These are important topics in allied health education and should be of interest to the readership of the Journal.

Acknowledgment

This project has been supported by funds from the Division of State, Community, and Public Health (DSCPH), Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr), Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), under Grant 03-BHPR, Allied Health Leadership, CFDA #93.91. The information or content and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by, the DSCPH, BHPr, DHHS, or the U.S. Government.