PCAST Releases Report on Supporting America’s Public Health Workforce

Today, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report focused on developing and sustaining a robust, well-trained, and well-compensated public health workforce — a workforce that is essential for the United States to make long-needed, permanent improvements to our approach to public health.

PCAST’s recommendations complement and augment the Biden Administration’s extensive efforts to improve the health and lives of all Americans, and to reverse the trend of worsening health outcomes and disparities.   

PCAST’s recommendations include:

• The establishment of a common lexicon and a standardized system for counting and categorizing the public health workforce. This process is essential for identifying critical workforce gaps, guiding resource allocation, and addressing workforce training and professional development needs for the future.

• The expansion of recruitment, retention, training, and personnel exchanges, in order to strengthen public health talent. This should include the expansion of loan repayment options for public health workers.

• The development of career pathways for community health workers and the expansion of national communities of practice focused on scientifically informed, community-engaged practices for health equity. This will expand community engagement to better serve all of America.

These actions will help support and grow our public health workforce — including health professionals, community health workers, data analysts, laboratory personnel, educators, environmental health officers, and more — who work tirelessly to improve the health and lives of millions of Americans in every community across the nation.

To view a full copy of the PCAST report, please click here.

To view PCAST’s Letter to the President and the Executive Summary of the report, please click here. 

PCAST is the sole body of advisors from outside the federal government charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President. Learn more about their work here.