Ata Health Accelerators

The Ata Health Accelerator is an innovative virtual learning and capacity development model designed to enable public health professionals to not only learn new skills, but to take action, producing a deliverable they can immediately own and implement.

It adapts the accelerator model widely used in the business and entrepreneurship sectors—where intensive, time-bound cohorts combine expert facilitation, peer collaboration, and rapid application periods to move ideas into concrete prototypes or strategies. In the public health context, the model retains this emphasis on facilitated, rapid action while tailoring it to promote public health outcomes and capacity-building.

Participants engage in routine virtual sessions, peer-learning, and guided action that build progressively toward a defined, context-specific deliverable, such as an organizational plan, program strategy, implementation tool, scientific product, or funding proposal. The model was designed by Ata Health Founding CEO, Dr. Alexandra Zuber, and was successfully piloted in a multi-country setting in 2023 (see case studies of impact below).

Model Overview 

Each Accelerator consists of:

A cohort of 15-25 professionals representing technical teams from distinct organizations with a shared public health priority

5-8 routine (biweekly or monthly) virtual sessions (60-90 minutes), blending didactic content with facilitated discussion among peers

Targeted action periods between sessions, with applied exercises working towards a final deliverable

Integrated coaching and peer feedback during, and in between, sessions

A professional, public health deliverable at completion (e.g., a strategic plan, program outline, or implementation tool)

Target Audience

The Accelerator serves public health professionals from national, subnational, and community organizations who wish to pursue an accelerated model of public health action with peers, through a facilitated, cohort-based approach.

Evidence of effectiveness: Ata Health Accelerator case studies

NPHI linkages for disease detection and response (2026)

Overview

In 2026, leaders from up to five national public health institutes (NPHIs) are participating in the latest Ata Health Accelerator, which is focused on strengthening timely disease notification, detection, and response by improving institutional coordination and collaboration (i.e. “linkages”).

Leveraging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) new framework entitled Improving Linkages between Public Health Functions and Organizations: A Framework for National Public Health Institutes, and its accompanying toolkit, the Accelerator supports NPHI teams in systematically identifying collaboration and coordination challenges related to timely disease detection and control in their country contexts, and in developing targeted strategies to close linkage gaps and improve their 7-1-7 targets.

Over the four-month program, participants receive evidence-based didactic content on the linkage development process, engage in peer discussion and exchange, and receive structured mentorship and facilitation for applied exercises aligned with each stage of the planning process.

Outcomes:

By the end of the Accelerator, each NPHI team will have produced three concrete deliverables:

  A summary of the root causes of their linkage challenges
  A prioritized list of potential solutions
  A high-level implementation plan to strengthen the linkage gaps

These outputs will enable the institutes to translate analysis directly into strengthened systems for disease detection and response and improve 7-1-7 metrics.

Sustainability planning for Southeast Asian One Health University Networks (SEAOHUN)

Overview

In 2024, One Health leaders from seven Southeast Asian One Health University Networks (OHUNs) and their regional secretariat (SEAOHUN) sought to develop long-term sustainability plans following the planned sunsetting of major donor funding under the USAID One Health Workforce-Next Generation Initiative (OHWNG).

Ata Health, in partnership with UC Davis and other OHWNG consortium partners, designed and delivered a structured virtual program of learning and action to support these networks in creating their first-ever sustainability plans.

Over four months, the program combined focused didactic content, peer learning, and iterative applied exercises aligned with each stage of the sustainability planning process.

Outcomes:

By the end of the Accelerator, each country network had completed a comprehensive sustainability plan that included:

   A new sustainable business model with diversified revenue sources
   A clear value proposition
   Resource mobilization strategies

As of 2026, each OHUN has successfully sustained operations despite significant changes in the funding landscape, and the network continues to advance its important mission.