About Us

The Department of Population Medicine (DPM) is a unique research and academic partnership between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) and Harvard Medical School (HMS). The Department, formerly the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (DACP), was created in 1992 to focus on research and education as they relate to the care of large defined populations. We are the nation’s first medical school appointing department that sits in a health plan. Since 2009, the Department has been housed in the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, a limited liability corporation that includes DPM and the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Our Harvard-appointed faculty use our position within both a medical school and a health plan to conduct research to identify effective interventions and systems of care that can improve health care delivery, inform and enhance prevention efforts, evaluate and inform health care policy, and contribute to public health. Our research spans many axes: from prenatal care to palliative care; from ambulatory clinics to intensive care units; and from policy to practice. Although faculty research interests are diverse, the common thread of all of our work is a focus on population health. This big-picture perspective connects individual care to wider systems of care to improve health across the country and the world.

The mission of our Department includes educational programs that give physicians and population scientists-in-training the tools they need to become health care leaders of the future. We take education beyond the classroom and into the types of settings where these trainees will eventually practice. Our teaching programs are enriched by our focus on the health of populations and our understanding of the kinds of diverse health issues that face our society in the 21st century.

For more information on DPM, please click here.


Mission

To improve health care delivery and population health through research and education, in partnership with health plans, delivery systems, and public health agencies.


Our History

We invite you to learn more about how we started and what we've been up to via our twenty-fifth anniversary brochure


Statement of Diversity

The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute is committed to building and nurturing an inclusive professional community in which diversity is valued and every person feels they have a rightful place, are welcome and respected, and are supported in their endeavors. Read our full statement here