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17
Posted by liaison on August 17th, 2026
Posted in: Partners Sharing Information
This is a guest post written by Denise Abbott, the Utah HOSA State Advisor. HOSA is a global student-led organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services and several federal and state agencies. HOSA’s mission is to empower HOSA-Future Health Professionals to become leaders in the global health community, through education, collaboration, and experience. If you have any questions about HOSA’s work, reach out to info@hosa.org.
When we first partnered to promote health literacy, our goal was simple: help students learn how to find credible, evidence-based health information. We believed that if we could teach educators, they could empower students. Those students, in turn, would become trusted health leaders in their schools and communities. Today, that vision has grown beyond anything we imagined.
At HOSA–Future Health Professionals, we’ve always believed that preparing future healthcare professionals means more than teaching technical skills. It means helping students understand how to evaluate health information, recognize misinformation, and make evidence-based decisions.
Health literacy is one of the most effective ways to improve patient care, strengthen communities, and prepare the next generation of healthcare leaders. At a time when misinformation can spread rapidly, we believe every student deserves the skills to find trusted health information and share it responsibly.
Our journey began with Dr. Rob Logan’s vision to partner with state organizations like ours. The concept was straightforward: educate educators, who would then educate students through structured activities focused on navigating MedlinePlus. In those early years, the program relied on Level 1 and Level 2 paper-based quizzes that helped students build confidence using trusted health resources.
Even then, we knew we were building something much bigger than a quiz.
As HOSA grew, we recognized that the Health Literacy Ambassador Program fit perfectly within our mission of preparing future health professionals.
HOSA provides students with leadership opportunities, competitive events, and hands-on experiences that bridge classroom learning with real-world healthcare. The Health Literacy Ambassador Program became another way for students to develop the skills they would need throughout their careers.
Over the past two years alone, more than 5,500 students have completed the program through HOSA. But what excites us most isn’t the number of certificates awarded—it’s what students choose to do after they complete the program.
One of the greatest rewards has been watching students transform knowledge into action. We’ve seen students living with Type 1 diabetes educate classmates and school nurses, helping improve awareness and even influencing conversations about continuous glucose monitoring. We’ve watched students create practical frameworks they now use in volunteer settings. We’ve celebrated students who turned their own experiences with hypertension into educational resources that help others understand prevention and management. These projects remind us that health literacy isn’t simply about learning facts. It’s about improving lives.
Every year, our students surprise us with their creativity.
They’ve developed diabetes awareness campaigns for their schools, presented heart disease prevention programs at health fairs, built interactive educational games, launched websites that have reached thousands of community members, and even designed symptom-tracking applications that integrate MedlinePlus resources to help patients communicate more effectively with healthcare providers.
These aren’t classroom assignments. They’re real solutions created by future healthcare professionals who are already making an impact.
As the program evolved, we knew it had to evolve with our students. We helped transform a paper-based certification into free interactive lessons, redesigned learning experiences, and ultimately developed a HOSA recognition event that celebrates student achievement through meaningful projects instead of simply testing knowledge.
Today, students complete engaging digital lessons before applying what they’ve learned through presentations and community-based projects that demonstrate both health literacy and leadership.
Looking back, we’re proud of how far this journey has come. This year alone:
What began as a Utah partnership has grown into an international recognition program that continues to expand through collaboration with educators, librarians, and healthcare professionals across the country.
As we look toward the future, we’re excited about continuing to strengthen our partnership with the National Library of Medicine and MedlinePlus. We hope to celebrate even more student achievements, increase the visibility of trusted health resources, and continue recognizing students who are making a difference in their schools and communities.
Every student who learns to recognize credible health information becomes more than a program participant. They become someone who can improve conversations, support healthier communities, and provide better care throughout their career.
That is why we continue this work.
As HOSA, we are proud to help prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals—not only to deliver quality care, but also to become trusted voices in a world that desperately needs accurate, evidence-based health information.
Today, thousands of future healthcare professionals are learning that credible health information matters, and we couldn’t be more excited about where this journey will lead next.
