Follow the LEADER...the JSPH

I sense a trend and I can't wait to point it out!! Four years ago this week the Trustees of Thomas Jefferson University voted unanimously to create the first and only school of population health in the nation, aptly named the Jefferson School of Population Health. We now have more than 320 students, taking at least one course with us, either on line or in person, across our four masters programs and our doctoral degree. Our team accomplished this feat in record time and we have exceeded all of our enrollment targets every semester since our founding. But that's not all---all around the nation others are taking our lead. Now, NYU School of Medicine and Hofstra North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical College have created Departments of Population Health. They are baking this material directly into the medical school curriculum!! Others like Arizona State University have established the "College of Health Solutions", appointing the former Dean of Mayo Medical School as the inaugural leader. Wait, there is more!! Northwestern University in Chicago is opening its "Center for Population Health Sciences with a special focus on information technology. The venerable Massachusetts Medical Society, the folks who bring us among other things the New England Journal of Medicine, labeled their Annual Meeting--"The Secret Sauce--Population Health as a Recipe for Transforming Health Care" ( and I had the privilege of delivering the plenary address). Finally, the July cover story of TRUSTEE magazine, from the American Hospital Association, is all about Population Health. Well, half a dozen  or so data points may not mean much but I believe these institutions are following the leader...skating to where we all know the "puck is headed". I am incredibly proud of our team and I hope you will visit our school website to learn more about the Real Leader...JSPH. DAVID NASH.......................www.jefferson.edu/population_health