KU School of Medicine-Wichita

23 "If you look back over the last few years, you see academic medical centers — meaning medical schools and their aliated health systems — around the country creating departments or divisions of population health within medical schools," Lee said, citing numbers from an organization he leads, the Population Health Leaders in Academic Medicine. Statistics from PHLAM, an aliate of the Association of American Medical Colleges, show a quadrupling in the number of population health departments or divisions within medical schools, going from only 11 in 2016 to well over 40 in 2022. The mission of both the medical school and the population health department has been tied to improving the health of Kansans, whether it be to provide doctors or strengthen public health programs across the state. competencies for a Dr.PH program, schools determine their own approach in crafting the degree program. "Because Kansas and much of the region don't have access to this terminal professional degree program, we want to make sure that what we oer will be the most pertinent to public health practice," said Simon Craddock Lee, Ph.D., MPH, who became chair of the Department of Population Health at KU School of Medicine in 2022. Currently, the nearest Dr.PH programs in the region are at the University of Colorado and the University of Nebraska while none exist in Missouri, Oklahoma or Iowa. Ahead of its time When the University of Kansas moved to create the Department of Population Health in 2019 by integrating two existing departments within its medical school, it was making a strategic decision with an eye to the future. And there could be more to come. The Department of Population Health is exploring oering the Doctor of Public Health. The Dr.PH is an advanced terminal professional degree that prepares public health professionals for leadership roles and emphasizes fieldwork and practice, in contrast to a Doctor of Philosophy degree which focuses on advancing research. "Our alumni want it, our community wants it and we want it," said Melissa Armstrong, the longtime site director for the Master of Public Health degree program at KU School of Medicine-Wichita. The department is creating an advisory group of faculty and MPH alumni to help strategize and make recommendations for a Dr.PH program at KUMC. That move is the first step in the lengthy process of starting a new degree program, which involves designing a curriculum with courses focused on enhancing the skills of mid-career professionals. It can take more than two years of review to gain final approval from the Kansas Board of Regents. It would also need accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Education. While the CEPH sets core "This has been a deliberate eort on the part of medical schools to attend to public health issues and to integrate the role of medicine in eorts to address social determinants of health but not lose the tie to the health systems where our clinicians practice." — Simon Craddock Lee, chair "While we'll look at best practices, the guiding star will be what works best for Kansas." — Melissa Armstrong, assistant professor In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic — which brought increased attention to the importance of public health — new education pathways were created within the KU Medical Center public health degree program: an online Master of Public Health degree option and three graduate certificates. Melissa Armstrong, Ed.D., M.A., education assistant professor MPH director Population Health

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