The AAMC seeks to improve the integration of public and population health concepts into medical education, and enhance and expand a diverse and culturally prepared health workforce.
Initiatives
AAMC Nurturing Experiences for Tomorrow’s Community Leaders (NEXT) Grant
The AAMC NEXT Grant provides funding to institutions to develop or enhance a learning opportunity for medical students, residents, and other interprofessional learners that seeks to improve community health and eliminate health disparities with community partners.
AAMC Improving Clinical and Public Health Outcomes through National Partnerships to Prevent and Control Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Threats
As part of a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the AAMC began a strategic initiative in 2022 to support strategies to build confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among health care personnel and communities that are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and to address medical misinformation and mistrust through education in health professions contexts.
Building a Systems Approach to Community Health and Health Equity for Academic Health Centers
The AAMC is helping academic health centers achieve health and health care equity by building their capacity to create community health systems. These community health systems will strategically weave together institutional community health initiatives and partnerships with local organizations.
CDC’s Collaboration with Academia to Strengthen Public Health Workforce Capacity
From 2000-2023, the AAMC partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in cooperative agreements to facilitate a wide range of activities to improve and increase collaborations between academic medicine and public health, support enhanced teaching of concepts of population health, and provide practical hands-on experience at the community level.
Climate Action and Sustainability in Academic Medicine
Climate change is the greatest public health threat of the 21st century. And the health care sector is part of the problem, responsible for almost 4.4% of carbon pollution worldwide and 8.5% in the United States. Academic health systems and medical schools are responding to the climate crisis in meaningful ways. Likewise, the AAMC has integrated climate action into its core work, aligned with the AAMC Strategic Plan.
Medical Education's Active Response to the Opioid Epidemic
The AAMC shares the successful practices and approaches of educators, clinicians, and future physicians at its member institutions as they work to address the opioid epidemic.
Tools & Resources
Academic Medicine Collection: The Role of Academic Medicine in Firearm Injury Prevention
This collection features articles on firearm injury prevention, including descriptions of firearm injury education and discussions about the role of health professionals in responding to this public health crisis.
Beyond the White Coat Podcast: At the Crossroads: Public Health and Gun Violence
AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Roger A. Mitchell Jr., MD, chair of the Department of Pathology at Howard University College of Medicine, have a compelling and informative conversation on gun violence as a public health crisis and how the academic medicine community can come together to address prevention.
MD-MPH and MD-MPP Combined Degree Programs
Information and resources on earning a Master of Public Health or Master of Public Policy alongside an MD.
MedEdPORTAL Population Health Education Modules
MedEdPORTAL is the AAMC's MEDLINE-indexed, open-access journal of peer-reviewed teaching and learning resources. MedEdPORTAL publications are stand-alone, complete teaching or learning modules that have been implemented and evaluated with physician trainees or practitioners.
Navigating a Foodborne Outbreak: Preparation for Interprofessional Practice
A free, self-paced, interactive, online module that demonstrates the importance of interprofessional practice among health professionals to improve and protect population health. With over 35,000 users since 2018, this module works as a standalone resource or fits into existing curricula.
Public Health Pathways
A directory of domestic and international public health training opportunities in academic, government, and community settings for every level in the education continuum.
Publications
Public and Population Health in U.S. Medical Education: A Review of Guidance in Extraordinary Times
This review provides an inventory of existing guidance to assist educators in establishing public and population health (PPH) as an essential foundation of physician training and practice.
Health Equity in Academic Medicine: Recommendations From an AAMC Community Roundtable in Washington, D.C.
This AAMC report details promising practices, critical challenges, and points for collaboration that medical schools, teaching hospitals, and residency programs across the country can implement to advance health equity in their local communities.
Teaching Public and Population Health in Medical Education: An Evaluation Framework
The AAMC convened 20 U.S. medical faculty to develop a framework to measure the effectiveness of public and population health (PPH) education in medical education programs.
Teaching Residents Population Health Management
This AAMC report profiles successful practices at primary care residency programs to help residency program directors incorporate population health management into education programs.