Improving the Health & Wellbeing 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 wellbeing of residents of Austin, Travis County and Central Texas, as well as creating a national model for population health engagement, research and policy.
Focus Areas
The Department of Population Health works with partners to develop, test and disseminate new models of value-based primary care that improve patients’ experiences and health outcomes and contain costs by caring for people where they live, focusing on their barriers to health and developing two-way communication.
The department works with key partners to improve the health information infrastructure in Central Texas. The goal is to have access to the right clinical and nonclinical health-related information at the right place and time to inform decisions by individuals, health systems and communities while supporting robust research and development.
Workers and their families are the majority of Austin/Travis County’s residents. Employers benefit from having safe and healthy workers, and Dell Medical School partners with them to develop and deploy workplace primary care health promotion and disease prevention and management programs. Edward Bernacki, M.D., leads these efforts.
The Department of Population Health hosts a unique Primary Care, Family and Community Medicine clerkship in which each Dell Med student spends two years in a continuity clinic and engages with community organizations helping people overcome social barriers to health. Students have the option to conduct a population health research project during their third year. The department also has a Family Medicine Residency that prepares physicians to care for families and their communities in a variety of settings.
No individual or country is isolated from faraway activities. The department’s Global Health Program provides opportunities for medical students, residents and faculty to participate in care programs in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America while enhancing the local human capacity and infrastructure for health.
The Department of Population Health is home to the Center for Place-Based Initiatives, which seeks to support and implement health solutions proposed by and for residents of Austin and Central Texas communities, and the residency program in Family Medicine.