GUSOM Population Health Scholar Track Honored for Innovation

Three individuals stand together, one holding an award — (Pictured from r) Track leaders Monica Ajinkya, MD, Yumi Jarris, MD, and Richard Waldhorn, MD, accepted the APTR Outstanding Educational Program Award at a ceremony on March 12.

Posted in News Stories | Tagged longitudinal academic track, medical education, population health, Population Health Scholar Track

(March 14, 2024) — The Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR), a national association dedicated to advancing prevention and public health education, training, and research, has awarded the School of Medicine’s Population Health Scholar Track with its APTR Outstanding Educational Program Award.

The award honors “an innovative program, department or academic institution for advancing education in prevention and public health.” The award also recognizes individuals responsible for the “establishment, success, growth or management of the academic program, which furthers students’ interest in the field.”

Track leaders Monica Ajinkya, MD, Yumi Jarris, MD, and Richard Waldhorn, MD, (pictured above) accepted the award at a ceremony on March 12 in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Population Health Scholar Track is one of the longitudinal academic tracks in the School of Medicine available to students to explore various areas of interest in conjunction with the four-year medical school curriculum. The goals of the longitudinal tracks are to promote intellectual curiosity, appreciation of scholarly inquiry, interprofessional collaboration, and cura personalis.

The Population Health Scholar Track trains students to become leaders who will promote health equity for their patients and communities. It is a comprehensive curriculum that provides students with foundational population health knowledge and research skills, which will enable them to approach clinical care with a broader understanding of the determinants of health.