Institutional Member of the Month: Jefferson College of Population Health

Jefferson College of Population Health (JCPH) is the country’s first college of population health. Established in 2008, it is part of Thomas Jefferson University, a leading academic health center in Philadelphia, PA.  Dedicated to exploring the policies and forces that define the health and well-being of populations, JCPH’s mission is to prepare leaders to evaluate, develop and implement health policies and systems that will improve health and enhance the quality of life.

Our philosophy is grounded in “Connecting Health and Healthcare” – because the most effective population health interventions improve access, cost, and outcomes through collaborations among stakeholders across the delivery system and into the community.

The College offers innovative online graduate degree programs in population health, healthcare quality and safety, applied health economics and outcomes research, and population health intelligence. Designed for working professionals, our online programs are taught by expert practitioners in an accelerated format that includes an experiential capstone experience. The doctoral program offers a PhD in Population Health Sciences, for those interested in research. It incorporates a mix of onsite and online courses. A new executive doctoral program will begin in January 2021 for professionals interested in a practice-based advanced degree; all coursework will be online, supplemented with two in-person residencies per year. (Application information for the new degree will be available in late March.)

Our educational offerings are enhanced by research, publications and continuing education and professional development offerings in these areas. Some examples:

• Hearst Health Prize for Excellence in Population Health – This national competition, created in partnership with Hearst Health, is in its fifth year. Our goal is to discover, support and showcase the work of an individual, group, organization or institution that has successfully implemented a population health program or intervention that has made a measurable difference so that others can learn from their success.  JCPH faculty review and score the submissions, and the top-scoring applications are shared with an expert panel of judges that includes some of the foremost leaders in the industry.  The winner will be announced on March 31 at the Annual Population Health Colloquium.
• Population Health Colloquium – JCPH is the exclusive academic partner involved in planning this annual 3-day conference focused on innovations, issues and trends in population health. Keynote speakers for 2020 include Jeff Brenner, MD; Edward M. Kennedy, Jr.; Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH; and Karen Kmetik, PhD of the AMA. This year’s program includes special pre-conference sessions, mini-summits, a poster session featuring the Hearst Health Prize finalists, and a special dinner program focused on Investing in Innovation – Venture Capital, Start-ups and Population Health.
• The College offers high quality professional development programming to meet the needs of busy professionals, regardless of where they are in their career trajectory. The popular Population Health Academy Series provides a thorough introduction to population health and features new 2-day Boot Camp sessions on special topics. The Population Health Leadership Series offers Pop Talks, a webinar series on topics of interest and led by JCPH expert faculty.
• JCPH is the editorial home for two peer-reviewed journals, Population Health Management and American Journal of Medical Quality, and recently published the third edition of its well-regarded and highly used textbook: “Population Health: Creating a Culture of Wellness, 3^rd edition”.