Cal State Deal Aims to Prep Students for Health Care Careers

Cal State has signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aiming to funnel the university system’s students into federal health care careers.

CSU Chancellor Mildred García said the memorandum of understanding will expand CSU students‘ access to “internship, mentorship and experiential training programs” at HHS, better preparing them for careers at the agency or other health care employers.

The agreement “represents a vital alliance that will serve as a national model for preparing a new generation of dynamically diverse health care professionals to meet our country’s significant and growing workforce needs, particularly in critical areas such as nursing, public health and behavioral health,” García said.

An HHS report released concurrently with the signing of the MOU projects that, by 2036, the U.S. will have a shortage of nearly 140,000 physicians. It also summarizes evidence showing a lack of demographic diversity within the country’s health care workforce.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said before the signing that the department is seeking to attract more students from California, his home state, to work for HHS in Washington, D.C.

“Here’s the problem. We’re all the way out there in the hinterland, at least that’s what Californians call anything outside of Las Vegas. It’s the hinterland because it’s too far away,” said Becerra, who previously served as the state’s attorney general. “Why would you leave this weather? Why would you leave an opportunity to essentially help run the fifth-largest economy in the world?”

Answering his own question, Becerra touted the agency’s work on developing new vaccines, expanding access to health insurance and responding to the spread of avian flu.

“There are a lot of folks who get to make a difference,” he said. “We would like more of those folks to come from California.”

Amy DiPierro covers higher education and the California State University system.