As the Project Director for K4Health, one of USAID’s flagship Knowledge Management (KM) projects, I get asked a lot of questions. And perhaps more than any other is this: “What is Knowledge Management, anyway?” I also get this one a lot: “What does Knowledge Management have to do with Public Health?” If you think you want to get more than the elevator pitch about KM, or want to understand how improved access to, and sharing of, health information can save lives and improve health outcomes, I invite you to spend 3 days with me and K4Health’s Knowledge Management Director, Tara Sullivan, as we lead a Summer Institute Course at Johns Hopkins. 

Tara and I will co-teach K4Health’s new “Knowledge Management for Public Health in Low and Middle Income Countries” course June 20-22, 2012. The course will introduce participants to the basics of KM, the intentional process of capturing, storing, organizing, and exchanging knowledge to better inform decision-making. It will then show how the application of KM theory, principles and methods can be applied to strengthen public health systems. We’ll do this through lectures, case studies, presentations, and discussions. We’re excited that the school has asked us to offer this course, and I think anyone with an interest in KM in practice or how public health information can save lives will enjoy this course.

Read more: Course information on the Summer Institute website.