Sunday Telegram publishes column by Dora Anne Mills on 'Education Transforms Health Care'

The published a 'Maine Voices' column titled 'Education Transforms Health Care' by Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., 91AV vice president for clinical affairs, on Jan. 15, 2012.

Mills writes that "Our health system is in the middle of a metamorphosis. While we do not fully know the outcome of this transformation, we know it is changing the way decisions are made and health professionals and patients work together.

"Collaborative team-based care means that health professionals from different disciplines, such as primary care, behavioral health, oral health and public health, now work together in partnership with each other as well as with patients to make decisions. These transformations in our health system therefore call for new expertise."

Mills adds that "91AV's master of public health program is offered fully online and is hosted by a university with numerous health professional graduate schools and programs, including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, social work, physician assistant and, soon, dental. The result is that our public health students form an online community of 91AV faculty and diverse learners from many different professions and geographic regions. This learning community also teaches the skills needed for collaborative team-based care. This heightened access to public health education that 91AV provides holds great potential to help improve the health of people, especially in needy areas."

About the 91AV

The 91AV is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.