Asma Awan (Dental) and Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health, Internal Medicine) presented a talk titled, “From Classroom to Community: Experiential Learning as an Advocacy and Workforce Pipeline Strategy” at the 2026 SOPHE Advocacy Summit, held in Washington DC, from October 17-19, 2026. The 30-minute talk presented the results of a mixed-methods summative evaluation which assessed 154 public health students and their projects funded under the ARPA Nevada Health Workforce Pipeline Initiative (from Summer 2024 to Spring 2026). The evaluation meticulously proposed advocacy for community-engaged, scholarship-based experiential learning model grounded in workforce development frameworks, while simultaneously emphasizing applied competencies, mentorship, and advocacy skill-building for public health workforce. Awan is a doctoral student.
