Stanford Population Health Project

The Stanford School of Medicine inaugurated its Population Health Curriculum in 2006. Housed within the Practice of Medicine course, this program involves all first-year students and is coordinated through the Office of Community Health. The new curriculum provides students with background on the social and economic determinants of health, health disparities, and the unique physician role in addressing the community- and population-level factors impacting health.

An experiential component to the curriculum was incorporated by refining and folding in what was previously a stand-alone advocacy project requirement for first year students. The Population Health Projects, as they are now known, give students the opportunity to integrate and apply their understanding of health determinants and physician advocacy, and to contribute to addressing some of the most pressing health challenges faced by the local community.