Michal Searls is the Director of Professional Programs and Partnerships for the OHIO Alliance for Population Health and Continuing Education (CE). She coordinates activities related to population health initiatives and manages the online learning management system for continuing education. She is involved in outreach and research activities for OAPH, project and grant proposals and budget analysis.
Education
- M.Ed., Ohio University
- Professional Certificate in Instructional Design, Ohio University
- BAHCS, Ohio University
- AA, The Ohio State University
About Michal Searls and the OHIO Alliance for Population Health
Michal Searls joined Ohio University in 2016 to continue her career in public service with the College of Health Sciences and Professions in Continuing Education. Prior to joining the University, she worked in local government with a focus on financial management, budgeting, training, and government contracts. Michal became a part of the Alliance team in 2019 as the reach of partnerships and programs continued to expand throughout Ohio, and she is also an instructor for a senior-level undergraduate course Women and Leadership. An advocate of lifelong learning, Michal is also a doctoral candidate in the Individual Interdisciplinary PhD Program, focusing on health literacy, education, and community health workers.
Michal’s local government experiences led her to recognize the importance of continuous learning throughout one’s career. Often, in the public sector and not-for-profit agencies, there is a need for and interest in advanced training, but the specific type of training may not be available or may be financially out of reach. With this insight, Michal has advocated for the Alliance to develop and deploy more on-demand training and continuing education offerings for Alliance partners and other local organizations.
The Alliance has developed a very targeted and customer-driven approach to training. The client organization identifies its need and general scope (i.e., number of people to be trained, whether continuing education units are desired, etc.) and the Alliance staff develops a proposed approach to meet that need. This may include in-person and/or online offerings (either synchronous or asynchronous). Subject matter experts are identified within the Alliance organization faculty/staff, University, or contracted externally. All registrations, CEU processes (if applicable), evaluations, and certificate provision are managed by the Alliance if that is the desire of the customer.
Because the Alliance strives to add value at the lowest possible cost, training is developed with in-kind resources when possible, and with financial resources identified in partnership with the Alliance when appropriate (i.e., a federal grant may be used to cover or defray the cost of specific training.)
In the past two years, Michal and the team have offered a variety of formats to audiences large and small – from single, full-day symposiums to online, interactive seminar series.
Michal is passionate about developing and facilitating continuing education that offers a lasting impact for participants. Connect with her to learn more at searls@ohio.edu(opens in a new window).
University/Professional Service
- Ohio University’s Community Symposium on Opioid Interventions
- Outstanding Administrator Award Committee
- Community Health Worker Conference Core Committee