Improving the Health & Well-Being of Central Texans
In collaboration with a diverse set of community and University of Texas at Austin partners, the Department of Population Health focuses on improving the overall health and well-being of residents of Austin, Travis County and Central Texas, as well as creating a national model for population health engagement, research and policy.
Areas of Focus
- The department hosts a unique Primary Care, Family and Community Medicine Clerkship in which each Dell Med student spends two years in a continuity community clinic. Students also engage with community organizations helping people overcome social barriers to health and have the option to conduct a population health research project during their third year.
- The department hosts a Family Medicine Residency that prepares physicians to care for families and their communities in a variety of settings and a Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship that provides optimum care for patients with sports medicine or orthopaedic conditions.
- In collaboration with the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, the department provides postdoctoral training that aims to increase diversity among researchers focused on promoting health equity in addressing cardiovascular and pulmonary disease.
- The Department of Population Health is home to the Community-Driven Initiatives program, which seeks to support and implement health solutions proposed by and for residents of Austin and Central Texas communities.
- Through the Community Strategy Team, the department works with external grassroots leaders, connectors and advocates — each cornerstones of their communities — to rethink strategies for meeting the health needs of medically underserved people and neighborhoods across Austin and Central Texas.
- The Neighborhood Health Initiative is the department’s community-based, collaborative approach to improving the health of an entire neighborhood and its residents.
The department works with a range of providers, community organizations and other partners to improve health through increasing access to primary care specialties, enhancing public health activities, improving health services, strengthening community-based participatory research and developing health informatics infrastructure for Austin and Travis County.
Graduate Medical Education
The Department of Population Health hosts and partners with the following graduate medical education programs at Dell Med:
Postdoctoral Training
Through a T32 award from the National Heath, Lung and Blood Institute, Dell Med and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work offer a postdoctoral fellowship centered on increasing diversity among researchers in behavioral, population and implementation science who focus on promoting equity in cardiovascular health.