February 26, 2026

For nearly a decade, the Urban Health Collaborative (UHC) at the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health (Dornsife) has hosted the Urban Health Summer Institute, a weeklong session of courses in June. Each summer, hundreds of individuals from a variety of backgrounds and skill sets convene at Nesbitt Hall to gain expertise to help make cities healthier and more equitable places to live.   

The courses offered cover a range of topics found interesting to individuals from a variety of different fields. The most attended class in 2025 is returning to the 2026 edition: Intro to Grants and Grant Writing for Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). The room was packed with folks involved in Philadelphia-based CBOs, convening for a full-day course that served as a crash-course for those looking to explore grant funding opportunities. Attendees learned everything from how to search for grants, how grant-writing could fit into their programs, and ways to increase their community’s capacity to take charge of the research process. The success of the course was immediately palpable, so much so that its return in 2026 is now accompanied by a course specifically delving into grants budgeting for CBOs. 

"It's inspiring to connect with community organizers and foster their ability to sustain their work through grant funding. By helping those taking the course speak the language of foundations and government agencies to fulfill grant proposal requirements, I feel like I can be a small part of their mission," said Storey Clayton, Grants Manager at Dornsife and Co-Instructor of the course.  

Mariana Lazo, Research Professor, Co-Lead of the UHC’s Community Engagement Core, and Co-Instructor of the course, echoed these sentiments as well: “Over the past 15 years, I’ve benefited from developing grant-writing skills in academia to secure funding for the work I care about, and I want to share those skills with community-based organizations ... Ultimately, our goal is to help resources flow to these organizations that are already making a difference.”  

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, a long-running course that spans the whole week of the institute, provides students with the basics of programs like ArcGIS. The program has applicability beyond the data modeling that might be useful for public health researchers, like mapping, data management, and data visualization at large. The course has been touted by attendees as a great way to learn ArcGIS in a short period of time.  

That said, students have found a wealth of benefits from courses in continuing their education in public health. Each year a large contingent from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health also attends to advance their skills in public health. One course that some of these practitioners have expressed interest in has been Introduction to Artificial Intelligence for Urban Health Research and Practice. The course explores AI use cases for urban health practice and research, and provides students with avenues in which they can incorporate AI into their workflows. As one attendee put it, the course was beneficial for learning “real-world applications to apply AI in the workforce.” 

“I am very excited to teach this course to students for the second year in a row. So much is happening in AI now that is making it more accessible to everyone, and not just those with the technical knowledge and skills. In the course, students will learn how to ‘prompt’ their way to making software apps without knowing how to program, automate their work, and focus more on their expertise than on administrative tasks. We also cover the importance of using AI safely, ethically, and transparently; maintaining data confidentiality and privacy; and interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Alex Quistberg, Associate Research Professor at the UHC and instructor of the course.   

The dates are approaching for those looking to expand their skillset at 2026’s Summer Institute: June 22nd – 26th. Drexel students receive a 50% discount for classes, and the general public receives a 25% discount until May 1st.  

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