Mission
To teach and promote health system science to medical students and residents, and improve the health of their future patients and communities.
Background + Goals
PSP was tasked with reviewing the undergraduate medical curriculum to identify and enhance PSP materials. As one of only 15 medical schools in the country with a Population Health or Population Science Department, PSP sought to expand the “third pillar” of medical education in Health Systems Science (HSS), as outlined in the American Medical Association Education Consortium. In doing so, the PSP Education Team has developed a robust undergraduate and graduate curriculum in HSS.
Members
- Population Science and Policy Education Team -
Tracie Johnson, MA
Instructor for Education and Innovation
Carol Coniglio
Medical Education Program Coordinator
- Population Science and Policy Faculty -
Wiley Jenkins, PhD, MPH, FACE
Research Professor
Anne Scheer, PhD
Assistant Professor
Min Jee Lee, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Kyle Miller, PhD, MSW, LCSW
Research Assistant Professor
- Contributing SIU Faculty -
Sowmy Thuppal, MD, PhD
Center for Clinical Research
Alex Hopkins, DPS
Medical Humanities
Michal Dynda, MD
Family Medicine
L. Joy Houston, MD
Psychiatry
Laura Molony, MD
Psychiatry
Tyler Fulks, MD
Emergency Medicine
Kelly Hurst, M.Ed
EDI and Medical Humanities
Linda Rene Baker, PhD
Paul Simon Public Policy Institute
- Community Physicians -
Jennifer M. DeLuka, MD
Springfield Clinic - Pediatrics
Safiya McNeese-Ruffin, MD
SIU Alton Family Medicine
Obstetrics and Women's Health
Educational components
PSP provides educational experiences throughout all four years of undergraduate education. These include didactics in the pre-clinical years (Y1 and Y2), and experiential cases and learning and specific electives in the clinical years (Y3 and Y4).
In addition to providing information and learning around the Health Systems Science (HSS) Curriculum domains as outlined by the American Medical Association, PSP curriculum aims to help students identify the clinical correlations between what was taught in pre-clinical years and what they practice in clinical spaces.
The core functional and foundational domains of Health Systems Science Curriculum as outlined by the American Medical Association are listed below with the didactics that cover each listed.
Population, Public and Social Determinants of Health
Orientation to PSP (Y1), Introduction to PSP/SDOH (Y1), Introduction to Biostatistics (Y1), Study Design I and II (Y1), Understanding Data and Interpretation (Y1), Diagnostic and Screening Tests (Y1), PSP in the Real World (Y2), History of the Opioid Crisis, Outbreak Investigation and Test Evaluation (Y2), Social and Structural Determinants of Health in Mental Illness (Y2), Understanding Our Biases (Y2), PSP Experience (Y2)
Healthcare Structure and Process
Healthcare Delivery (Y1), PSP in the Real World (Y2), Rural Healthcare Delivery (Y2)
Health Systems Improvement
Safety Culture & Quality Improvement (Y2), Physician Leadership & Systems-based Practice (Y2)
Healthcare Policy and Economics
PSP in the Real World (Y2), The Chronic Care Policy (Y2), Clinical Informatics (Y2)
Value in Healthcare
Quality Improvement (Y2)
Clinical Informatics and Health Technology
Clinical Informatics (Y2)
Ethics and Legal
Complex Ethical Issues (Y2)
Teaming
Physician Leadership & Systems-based Practice (Y2)
Leadership
Physician Leadership & Systems-based Practice (Y2)
Change Agency, Management and Advocacy
Social and Structural Determinants of Health in Mental Illness (Y2)
PSP in Practice, a specialty-specific curriculum developed by PSP and embedded in the eight core clerkship rotations (Y3), provides learning experiences that incorporate aspects of all the HSS domains. The HSS domains covered in each specialty are listed below:
Teaming
Emergency Medicine
Clinical Informatics and Health Technology
Family and Community Medicine
Value in Healthcare
Internal Medicine
Ethics and Legal
Neurology
Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health (with focus on Women's Health and Maternal Health Disparities)
OBGyn
Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health
Pediatrics
Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health (with focus on Stigma)
Psychiatry
Population Public, and Social Determinants of Health (with focus on Nutrition and Associated Surgical Outcomes)
Surgery
In addition, PSP Electives, available in the fourth year, provide additional concentrated learning and experiences. The domains and their corresponding electives are listed below:
Population, Public and Social Determinants of Health
Cancer Health Disparities, Clinical Epidemiology, Emerging Trends in Public Health
Value in Healthcare
Advancing Health Equity in Clinical Practice
Teaming
Population Health Leadership, All Hazards Preparedness & Response
Leadership
Population Health Leadership
Healthcare Structure and Process
Advancing Health Equity in Clinical Practice
Health Systems Improvement
All Hazards Preparedness and Response
Change Agency, Management & Advocacy
Health Policy Government Relations
Healthcare Policy and Economics
Health Policy Government Relations
For graduate students (residents and fellows) PSP curriculum includes an annual experience at graduate medical education orientation, a Quality Improvement and Patient Safety seminar, and various didactics in conjunction with clinical departments.
The MD/MPH program aims to graduate physicians who are prepared to become leaders in public and population health. Administration of this program is overseen by PSP Education and requires the recruitment of potential candidates, interviews, coordination of acceptance and enrollment, teaching required electives, and duties associated with ensuring students complete their six-week practicum. It also entails collaboration with the faculty and program administration at the MPH program in Carbondale, and the Admissions office at SIU SOM.
Student involvement
Understanding Differences between CHNAS and Implementation Plans
- Presentations -
Illinois State Medical Society Annual Meeting, April 22, 2023
Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Salt Lake City, March 23-25, 2023
RSV Vaccines in Pregnancy
- 2024 Excellence in Public Health Award -
Hannah Wickham
- Larry A. Green Visiting Scholar at the Robert Graham Center -
Kaitlyn Frick
- 2023 Excellence in Public Health Award -
- 2024 Illinois Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship -
Avani Yaganti
Results
i. "Teaching Up" Health Systems Science in the Clinical Clerkships. doi: 10.21955/mep.1115318.1
i. M.Volle, T.Johnson, A.Hartman. PSP In Practice: Integrating Population Science and Policy in the Pediatric Clerkships. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition; October, 2022; Anaheim, CA.
ii. T.Johnson, M.Volle. Population Science and Policy in Practice: Integrating PSP in the Clinical Clerkships. Association of American Medical Colleges Central Group on Educational Affairs Annual Meeting; April 2023; Indianapolis, IN.
iii. M.Volle, T.Johnson, A.Hartman, M.Miner, S.Yockey, J.Patterson. We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident: Pediatric Populations are NOT All Treated Equally – A Pediatrics Residency Curriculum for Learning about Healthcare Disparities and Social Determinants Through Clinical Experience. American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition; October 2023; Washington, D.C.
iv. M.Volle, T.Johnson. “Teaching Up” Health Systems Science in the Clinical Clerkships. Association of Medical Educators in Europe; August 2023; Glasgow, Scotland.
doi: 10.21955/mep.1115318.1.
v. M.Volle, T.Johnson, A.Hartman, M.Miner, S.Yockey, J.Patterson. PSP in Practice – A Pediatrics Curriculum for Learning About Health Care Disparities and Social Determinants Through Clinical Experience. Pediatric Academic Societies; May 2024; Toronto, Canada.