Why We’re Launching a Membership Drive for IAPHS

This is a very exciting time for IAPHS. We are nearing the end of our first year as a full-fledged membership organization and are gearing up for our third collaborative population health meeting in Austin, Texas. Our blog is thriving.

As members of IAPHS, we know how important it is to connect population health scientists across disciplines and sectors, advance the development of population health science, and promote its application. We know it is essential that scholars come together to learn from and support each other as we work to understand and solve pressing population health problems and improve population health and well-being. And we also know that IAPHS can achieve this vision sooner and more sustainably by building a vibrant and robust membership.

That is why we worked with the IAPHS Board to launch a membership campaign to reach out to population health scientists – to help them learn about this organization and the ways  IAPHS can support their work and careers. We invite population health scientists and professionals who haven’t yet joined to become members, and current IAPHS members to reach out to their colleagues to tell them about membership in IAPHS.

There are so many great reasons to join IAPHS.

• As a small organization just getting off the ground, it offers opportunities for networking, leadership, and professional development that may be less accessible within larger organizations.
• For those interested in interdisciplinary collaborations, our conferences bring together a wide range of scholars from public health, social and behavioral sciences, medicine, and other areas such as health policy, urban planning, communication, social work, and education.  Our next conference is October 2-4 at the University of Texas, Austin.
• For those interested in the real-world application of science, conferences draw in representatives from public health, policy, and health care organizations.
• We have and are continuing to develop web-based platforms that continue this networking and exchange throughout the year – including an active blog that provides an opportunity to disseminate ideas and research to a broad interdisciplinary audience.
•  Our website provides up-to-date announcements about job, training and funding opportunities as well as conferences, webinars, calls for papers, and new publications – all curated for people with interests in population health.
• We also have an expanding page of resources that support teaching, research, and interdisciplinary and translational work.
• IAPHS offers mentoring opportunities and resources that help scientists develop skills in interdisciplinary science, communication, and translation.

We find that membership in IAPHS provides not only the opportunities mentioned above, but also a deep satisfaction that we are part of a larger effort to advance population health and its contributions to improving health around the world.

IAPHS has already grown very quickly, but we need to continue to build in order to achieve our mission. We currently have 200 members, and we would like to double our membership by the end of this calendar year. Please help us reach our goal. You can join or track our progress here.  Thank you in advance for supporting IAPHS. And members, please do not forget to renew your own memberships!