Emerging Health Care Leaders: Lessons From a Novel Leadership and Community-Building Program

Although there are guidelines and ideas on how to improve public health education, translating innovative approaches into actual training programs remains challenging. In this article, we provide an overview of some initiatives that tried to put this into action in different parts of the world, and present the Emerging Health Care Leader (EHCL), a novel training program developed in Switzerland. Looking at the experience of the EHCL, we propose policymakers and other interested stakeholders who wish to help reform public health education to support these initiatives not only through funding, but by valuing them through the integration of early career healthcare leaders in projects where their developing expertise can be practically applied. By openly sharing the experiences, strengths, weaknesses, and lessons learned with the EHCL program, we aim to foster a transparent debate on how novel training programs in public health can be organised.