Futurist Tools for Reimagining Public Health

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Reena Chudgar

This entry is part 46 of 46 in the series Focus on Accreditation and Innovation

Strategic planning alone is insufficient as we collectively reimagine public health; strategic foresight and futurist tools are necessary disciplines and processes to incorporate into our visioning efforts. Strategic foresight is a systematic process and set of tools, collaborative processes, custom research, and mindsets used to anticipate future possibilities and make better decisions in an ever-changing world[1]. It is a vision and guide for the next 10 to 20 years rather than the next three to five years like a typical strategic plan. However, both approaches are essential to make future strategic choices.

Recently, PHAB’s 21^st Century Learning Community (21C) met to discuss and strategize how to transform public health using the Foundational Public Health Services. The convening began by reimagining what public health could look like in the future. We used strategic foresight tools, in partnership with the Institute for the Future, to explore future possibilities for areas such as public health workforce, public health legislation, and other public health infrastructure and systems topics. We identified both drivers of change and signals of change, followed by an exercise to examine the ‘two curves’ of the future: a future where we stick to the current system and another future where we embrace disruptive or radical change and a create a new system.

First, participants selected a specific topic, like the future of the public health workforce) and created ‘from’ and ‘to’ statements to describe the current state and the possible future we might like to see. Then, participants explored what is happening today and current innovations as part of the first curve. Next, they identified signals of change that might indicate that the first curve was on the decline and the second curve might be on the incline and where there might be opportunities for the second curve that are being signaled in the first curve. For instance, identifying technological, social, political, environmental, and economic signals and drivers for the public health system and what those might look like if we were to have a different future. Finally, 21C members brainstormed what the future might look like if we kept moving toward our goals and achieved our “to” state.

These exercises and trainings sparked creativity and expanded mindsets that set the stage for the rest of the 21C convening, which focused on strategies, actions, and tools that state systems are using to build and shape the public health of tomorrow.

For more information on 21C and efforts to reimagine public health, contact info@phaboard.org.

[1] Institute for the Future, https://www.iftf.org/about-iftf/what-we-do/

Author Profile

Reena Chudgar: Reena Chudgar, MPH, is the Director of Public Health Systems and Services at the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) supporting implementation of the Public Health National Center for Innovations and Center for Sharing Public Health Services efforts. Reena joined PHAB/PHNCI in April 2019 and engages with health departments and communities in using innovation as a tool for transformation. Her work centers around strategy and program implementation, and is passionate about social and systems change, addressing root causes of historical and current racial and health inequities, and local and people-centered decision making. Prior to joining PHAB, Reena served as Director for Performance Improvement at the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), where she supports health departments in fostering partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, community and strategic planning, and more. Reena received a Master of Public Health degree and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Emory University.