First UTHealth Houston Population Health Symposium Highlights Population Health Efforts Across UTHealth Houston

The UTHealth Houston Office of Population Health and the Population Health Council hosted the first ever UTHealth Houston Population Health Symposium this April, bringing together faculty, staff, and students from all seven schools at UTHealth Houston to discuss insights, strategies, and innovations aimed at improving population health. The event drew more than 150 attendees and featured a number of poster presentations and more than 26 speakers, including UTHealth Houston researchers, funders, and external partners.

“The success of the inaugural Population Health Symposium highlights just how significant population health is across every discipline of healthcare and research,” said Maria E. Fernandez, PhD, Vice President of Population Health and Implementation Science at UTHealth Houston. “By bringing together researchers and providers from all over the University, I think we’ve helped make a number of new connections that will facilitate transdisciplinary cross-collaboration in the future.”

The full-day symposium opened with keynotes by Eric Boerwinkle, PhD, Dean of the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and David Lakey, MD, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of the UT System. Drs. Boerwinkle and Lakey discussed their top priorities for population health in Texas, including chronic disease prevention, mental health care, and the need to build and rebuild trust in public health.

The bulk of the symposium was comprised of presentations and panel discussions of current Population Health efforts across the University, as well as a number of short “lightning” talks on individual population health projects. Representatives from UTHealth Houston Corporate and Foundation Relations and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) shared information on funding opportunities for population health research.

Towards the end of the day, community partners from Harris Health, the Texas Association for Community Health Centers (TACHC), and the Houston Food Bank gave their perspectives on their own population health efforts and their experiences partnering with academic institutions like UTHealth Houston. The symposium was closed out with final thoughts from Jagat Narula, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at UTHealth Houston, and Vice President Fernandez.

“I am thrilled not only by the amazing turnout we had at this year’s symposium, but also about the exceptional population health work we were able to showcase from across the entire university,” said Vice President Fernandez. “As researchers we often feel siloed off into our respective teams, departments, or schools. Through efforts like this symposium, the Office of Population Health is fostering connections between researchers and providers who might otherwise remain isolated and never have the opportunity to collaborate.”

The UTHealth Houston Office of Population Health is dedicated to advancing population health and implementation research and practice through collaboration across UTHealth Houston. Under the leadership of Dr. María E. Fernández, Vice President of Population Health and Implementation Science, our office is committed to bringing diverse stakeholders together to achieve population health outcomes and health equity through research, practice, and implementation of effective interventions in diverse populations. Contact us at [email protected].

Recordings of all of this year’s presentations are available online.