The National Health Musuem: A Unique Partnership
By Sonbol Shahid-Salles
Fall, 2003
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One-of-a-kind interactive exhibits, a state-of-the-art
health conference center and high-tech classrooms are expected
to attract more then two million annual visitors to Washington's
newest cultural gem - the proposed National Health Museum
(NHM). To be located in the nation's capital, the NHM will
empower visitors to make positive lifestyle changes, help
them understand their role in the new era of health and medicine,
and motivate them to consider health-related careers.
Already, the NHM is achieving its mission of
helping improve public health by serving millions of health
and life science educators and eager students each year via
the Internet. Access Excellence @ The National Health Museum,
the Museum's award winning Web site for health and biology
teachers, attracts a monthly audience of more than 600,000
individual visitors and over 6 million "hits" each
month.
Through the National Public Health Partnership
(NPHP), a pioneering initiative funded by The Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, the Museum is also creating a nexus of
communication between the public health and museum and science
center communities. The American Public Health Association
(APHA), the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the
Association of Science- Technology Centers (ASTC) are joining
the Museum in convening the NPHP, and helping bring public
health information and resources into museums and science
centers across the country, such as the Denver Museum of Nature
and Science, California Science Center and New York Hall of
Science.
At the inaugural meeting of the NPHP during
APHA's 2002 annual meeting last November, former APHA Executive
Director Mohammad Akhter, MD, MPH, declared the initiative
a "truly unique partnership with tremendous potential
for the future of our country."
For more information about the NHM and the NPHP,
log onto:
www.nationalhealthmuseum.org
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