Become a Host Site

The 2019 application period for PHAP host sites is now closed.  The next application cycle will open in early 2020. 

PHAP relies on its partnerships with public health agencies and tribal and nongovernmental organizations to serve as host sites for public health associates.  These relationships are vital to the development of our nation’s next generation of public health professionals.  And, the benefits to host sites are invaluable! 

Host Site Benefits

PHAP places early-career public health professionals in state, tribal, local, and territorial public health agencies; nongovernmental organizations such as community-based organizations, public health institutes and associations, and academic institutions; and CDC quarantine stations to gain broad experience in public health program operations. 

While PHAP offers tremendous benefits to associates through training and support, the host site also receives numerous benefits, including—

CDC-funded field assignees who bring valuable skills to host agencies and who are well-rounded, energetic, flexible, career-minded individuals with unlimited potential

A unique partnership with CDC to develop the nation’s next generation of public health professionals

Access to CDC resources and subject matter expertise—CDC PHAP supervisors serve as liaisons to host site supervisors and can assist with connections to CDC materials, information, and subject matter experts

Online learning opportunities for host site supervisors

Capacity-building and human resources to fill gaps in agencies affected by budget cuts and staffing shortages

How One Public Health Associate Expanded a Host Site’s Reach—All the Way to the Arctic Circle

More than a thousand associates have gone through CDC’s Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) training to become leaders of the public health workforce of tomorrow, but, so far, only one associate has ever served 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Kotzebue, a town on Alaska’s northwestern coast! 

Read more about how this associate helped expand the reach of her host site.