The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology awarded $73 million in agreements for its health IT workforce development program.
The program aims to strengthen health IT, representation of underrepresented communities in health IT and improve COVID-19 data collection, according to a Sept. 22 news release. The awardees were historically Black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions and other minority-serving universities.
The universities will train more than 4,000 people over a four-year period. They will develop curricula, recruit and train participants, secure paid internships and assist in career placement at public health agencies, public-focused nonprofits or other public health organizations.
The 10 awardees:
1. Bowie (Md.) State University
2. California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation (Long Beach, Calif.)
3. Dominican College of Blauvelt (Orangeburg, N.Y.)
4. Jackson (Miss.) State University
5. Norfolk (Va.) State University
6. Regents of the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)
7. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
8. University of Massachusetts at Lowell
9. University of California-Irvine
10. University of the District of Columbia