John Meurer MD, MBA | Professor and Director | Medical College of Wisconsin

John Meurer, MD, MBA

Professor & Director, Institute for Health & Equity

Locations

Institute for Health & Equity - Professor and Director

Division of Community Health - Professor and Director

Midtown Clinic | Children's Hospital of Wisconsin - Pediatrician

Contact Information

Biography

“The greatest challenge as the director of the Institute for Health & Equity is that there isn't enough time for all the exciting opportunities.”
- John Meurer

Dr. John Meurer has served as the director of the Institute for Health & Equity since 2011. In his role, he enjoys cultivating engagement and collegiality as well as supporting innovative research and excellence in education. Under his leadership, the Institute for Health & Equity continues to develop talented leaders, faculty, staff and students with a vast array of research and education experience. During his 23 years at MCW, Dr. Meurer has served on advisory boards of the Children’s Hospital and Health System in health education, community services, and advocacy.

My role as Director of the Institute for Health & Equity is a natural progression of my work and interest in public health and academic management. My mother was a nurse who instilled in us a commitment to altruism and service. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be a pediatrician in public health to serve children and families and help populations of vulnerable kids. Now I’m living my dream!

Through his research at MCW, Dr. Meurer continues to transform the field of Public Health and Public Health Policy. He has been awarded more than $28 million in grants as a principal investigator of community-engagement, health services, and population health research. Through community-engaged work, the Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies coalition, directed by Dr. Meurer, contributed to a 50% reduction in asthma admissions at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin over a decade.

Currently, Dr. Meurer co-chairs the Cancer Center Community Advisory Board which helps address cancer disparities in southeast Wisconsin through authentic community engagement in research in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. He serves on the advisory boards of the MCW Cardiovascular Center (CVC) and Community Engagement Core (CEC). Outside MCW, Dr. Meurer also serves on advisory boards of the Children’s Health System Community Services and Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative. In honor of his community service, Dr. Meurer received the MCW President’s community engagement award in 2017.

As a pediatrician and health systems and policy management educator, Dr. Meurer is committed to training future physicians, scientists, and public health practitioners. Along with several colleagues, he co-directs the Primary Care Research Fellowship, a program that offers opportunities for inter-professional learning and research to explore new models of team-based care delivery. He guides and mentors students as the co-director of the Health Systems Management and Policy Pathway for medical and pharmacy students, a course created to help students understand health policy and the business and economics of medicine. Dr. Meurer also directs the Population Health Management and Policy courses for MPH students. In total, during his two decades with MCW, Dr. Meurer has mentored and advised more than 180 faculty, residents, and students. He has been awarded "Outstanding Teacher" six times, a student/peer nominated award for excellent teaching services given annually.

Dr. Meurer loves helping children, families, and the Milwaukee community to be healthy and well. He has practiced at Downtown Health Center, now Children’s Medical Group-Midtown Center, since 1994. During his tenure, he served as Chief of General Pediatrics and Medical Director. He has been selected as a Best Doctor in America for 10 years in a row.

He has published more than 60 chapters and articles in journals such as JAMA Pediatrics¹ and American Journal of Preventive Medicine². As part of his dedication to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Dr. Meurer has lead several initiatives to foster collaboration across different disciplines, institutions, and communities including initiatives with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Dr. Meurer earned his Medical Degree at the University Wisconsin - Madison and his Masters of Business Administration at Northwestern University. He is married to Linda Meurer, MD, MPH, a distinguished Family and Community Medicine educator at MCW. He is also a proud dad of 3 adventurous and successful children.

Honors and Awards

Best Doctors in America (8 years in a row)
MCW Outstanding Graduate Education Award
MCW Faculty Service Award

Education

MD, UW-Madison
Baylor College of Medicine, Pediatrics Residency
Voluntary Hospitals of America , Policy Fellowship
BS, Marquette University

Research Interests

MCW AHW grant 2017-22 for Research in Early Child Development to Improve Resiliency and Equity (REDIRECT)
Four MCW HWPP grants to improve early child development in 5 counties

Non-parametric recurrent events analysis with BART and an application to the hospital admissions of patients with diabetes.

(Sparapani RA, Rein LE, Tarima SS, Jackson TA, Meurer JR.) Biostatistics. 2018 Jul 28.
Use of secondary clinical data for research related to diabetes self-management education.

(Azam LS, Jackson TA, Knudson PE, Meurer JR, Tarima SS.) Res Social Adm Pharm. 2017 May - Jun;13(3):494-502.
The Influence of Patient and Provider Communication on Diabetes Care Delivery.

(Young SA, Azam LS, Meurer JR, Hill RS, Cui C.) J Ambul Care Manage. 2016 Jul-Sep;39(3):272-8.
The Relationship between Metformin and Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

(Lin D, Rein L, Tarima S, Woodson BT, Meurer JR.) J Sleep Med Disord. 2015;2(4).
Medical Student Views of the Affordable Care Act.

(Meurer JR, Ferda NM, Chelius T, Schapiro R, Corden TE, Cassidy LD, Seibert CS.) WMJ. 2015 Dec;114(6):247-52.
Randomized controlled trial of a Wellness Action Plan to promote healthy diet and activity in pediatric primary care.

(Kharofa RY, Copeland KA, Sucharew H, Meurer JR.) Prev Med Rep. 2015;2:899-905.
Using group model building to understand factors that influence childhood obesity in an urban environment.

(Nelson DA, Simenz CJ, OʼConnor SP, Greer YD, Bachrach AL, Shields T, Fuller BA, Horrigan K, Pritchard K, Springer JB, Meurer JR.) J Public Health Manag Pract. 2015 May-Jun;21 Suppl 3:S74-8.
Incidence of behavior problems in toddlers and preschool children from families living in poverty.

(Holtz CA, Fox RA, Meurer JR.) J Psychol. 2015 Jan-Apr;149(1-2):161-74.
Towards Building a Bridge between Community Engagement in Research (CEnR) and Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER).

(Ahmed SM, Nelson D, Kissack A, Franco Z, Whittle J, Kotchen T, Meurer JR, Morzinski J, Brandenburg T.) Clin Transl Sci. 2015 Apr;8(2):160-5.
Chronic care model as a framework to improve diabetes care at an academic internal medicine faculty-resident practice.

(Hariharan J, Tarima S, Azam L, Meurer J.) J Ambul Care Manage. 2014 Jan-Mar;37(1):42-50.
Perceptions about eating healthy in WIC participants.

(Kharofa RY, Meurer JR, Nelson D.) Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2014 Apr;53(4):403-6.
The urban and community health pathway: preparing socially responsive physicians through community-engaged learning.

(Meurer LN, Young SA, Meurer JR, Johnson SL, Gilbert IA, Diehr S, Urban and Community Health Pathway Planning Council.) Am J Prev Med. 2011 Oct;41(4 Suppl 3):S228-36.

John Meurer, MD, MBA