Welcome to PREPARED Talent Development –
Equitable Public Health Training

PREPARED (Pandemic Preparedness Engaging Primary Care and Emergency Departments) is a national study led by the Upstream Lab, focused on building capacity for inclusive, data-driven public health research and response.

We are sharing and developing courses designed for frontline workers, students and community partners. These courses reflect the goals of PREPARED and provide foundational training in:

• Running a Clinical Research Trial for pandemic preparedness and surveillance
• AI Applications in EMR Data Mining to support early pathogen detection and intervention
• Federated Learning for secure, privacy-preserving data collaboration
• Data Governance that focuses on equity, transparency, and community control
• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to co-design research with communities

Through these learning modules, PREPARED Talent Development aims to equip learners with the tools and knowledge to lead equitable, AI-enabled approaches to clinical research and public health.

PREPARED Course Modules

Practicing Knowledge Mobilization and Translation
Using Community Based Participatory Research & Engaged Scholarship

In this course module, developed by Kevin Willison (Adjunct Professor, Lakehead University) and presented by Harrison Nelson (Master of Public Health student, Lakehead University):

• Intro to knowledge mobilization (KM) and knowledge translation (KT)
• Connecting knowledge mobilization and knowledge translation to community based participatory research (CBPR), as well as to the concept of engaged scholarship.

More information:

• PowerPoint slides: Practicing Knowledge Mobilization and Translation Using Community Based Participatory Research & Engaged Scholarship
• About Kevin Willison (Adjunct Professor, Lakehead University) and Harrison Nelson (Master of Public Health student, Lakehead University)

Recommended Short Online Courses for Public Health Students

These short online courses cover five key components of PREPARED training: Disease Surveillance, Data Science, Implementation Science, Participatory Research, and Clinical Research. They are ideal for students interested in public health, data science, and research, offering foundational knowledge and practical insights across these domains.

Disease Surveillance

• Courses on Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) provided by WHO (OpenWHO)
  • Free, multilingual; covers indicator-based and event-based surveillance, outbreak investigation, and electronic tools.
• Surveillance Systems: The Building Blocks provided by Coursera
  • Covers the fundamentals of surveillance systems, data reporting, and performance assessment.
• Class Central offers free courses on Public Health Surveillance
  • Includes free courses on outbreak detection, genomic tools, and digital platforms like X (Twitter) for real-time analysis.

Public Health Data Science

• Data Science and Informatics Training provided by the Public Health Foundation
  • Curated training plans for public health professionals, including AI, GIS, and data equity.
• Data Science for Health Research provided by Coursera
  • Modules on statistical modeling, visualization, and predictive analytics using R.

Implementation Science

WHO TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, provides training for public health researchers and decision-makers, disease programme managers, academics and others that focuses on how to design and demonstrate robust implementation research projects to improve control of infectious diseases of poverty and generate better health outcomes.

• MOOC on Implementation Research provided by WHO TDR (2025 schedule)
  • Focuses on infectious diseases associated with poverty; courses are self-paced and globally accessible.
• Inspiring Change 2.0 Mini-Course provided by The Center for Implementation
  • Free introductory course on implementation science and change strategies.

Participatory Research Methods

• Introduction to Participatory Approaches in Public Health provided by Coursera
  • Explores community-based research, power dynamics, and participatory action research.

Clinical Research

• Pragmatic Trials Training Program hosted by the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University
  
  • Open-access, asynchronous, online weekly learning modules designed to build foundational and advanced knowledge in pragmatic clinical trial design and implementation. Modules are released every Monday and cover topics such as trial design, ethics, data integration, stakeholder engagement, and real-world application.
• Canadian Training Platform for Trials Leveraging Existing Networks (CAN TAP TALENT)
  
  • The program offers free, open-access online courses covering key areas such as advanced trial design, patient engagement, equity and inclusion, and AI/machine learning in trials. It also provides internships, mentorships, and student awards to support hands-on learning and career development.
• Clinical Trials Operations (Johns Hopkins on Coursera)
  • Covers trial design, data management, ethics, and regulatory compliance.
• Understanding Clinical Research: Behind the Statistics (University of Cape Town on Coursera)
  • Focuses on biostatistics and interpreting clinical data.