Great Lakes Wire

MPHI CEO Dr. Renée Branch Canady and Associate Director Linda Gordon have been featured in a new video produced by the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) about the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG). The PHIG program, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is designed to address key public health infrastructure needs throughout the United States.

The CDC plans to allocate over $5 billion through PHIG during a five-year period. Most of this funding, nearly $4.5 billion, will go to health departments, while $361 million is set aside for three national public health partners. MPHI has been chosen as the Region 5 PHIG Hub, where it will offer technical assistance to health departments in that region under NNPHI's leadership.

Linda Gordon commented on the significance of this grant for those working in public health. “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 spoke about how public health efforts extend beyond traditional interventions and highlighted the importance of ongoing investment in infrastructure. “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.”

The full video featuring Dr. Canady and Gordon can be viewed at Shaping the Future with PHIG – YouTube.