The Department of Population Health, formerly known as the Health Policy Institute (HPI), of the Medical College of Wisconsin is the organizational home for several divisions and graduate programs including:
The Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Bioethics, and Health and Society Divisions all house major educational programs and provide an academic home for their respective disciplines within the college.
In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on public and community health and clinical and translational sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). One example is the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment funds, which provide support for three complementary programs, each of which encompasses public and community health and certain translational activities that aim to improve the health of the people of Wisconsin. In addition, the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) collaborated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to develop a doctoral degree program in public and community health; and the Healthy Wisconsin Leadership Institute, an advanced leadership training program for the existing public health workforce, was implemented in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
In coming years, the programs of the Department of Population Health will be profoundly impacted by the Clinical and Translational Sciences (CTSA) initiative of NIH, which emphasizes enhancing the infrastructure for clinical and translational research and expanding training in research methods.
In order to strengthen the academic disciplines needed for further growth in public and community health and clinical and translational sciences, a reorganization of the HPI was proposed which transformed the Institute into a new Department of Population Health.