Greetings and Welcome to the Medicine and Public Health Initiative (MPHI)

MPHI was founded in 1994 as a result of a collaborative endeavor between the leadership of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Public Health Association (APHA). The collaboration was first conceptualized in a lecture delivered at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston by Dr. M. Roy Schwarz that illuminated the “costly estrangement” between clinical medicine and public health practice. 

MPHI working with the Health Science Center held a Congress in 1996, where over 400 leaders in all aspects of healthcare came together to put the ideas of MPHI into action. The Congress supported the need for a close working relationship between the healthcare and the public health sectors and developed the following evaluative criteria to guide the development of community health partnerships, and joint research and education activities:

•   Engaging the community

•   Changing the educational process

•   Creating joint research efforts

•   Working together in provision of healthcare

•   Jointly developing healthcare assessment measures

The Restructuring of the Medicine and Public Health Initiative

In order to position the MPHI for maximum effectiveness in the 21st century, the following steps have been taken:

1.) MPHI was incorporated as a non-profit foundation in Feb. 2006.

2.) A Board of Directors has been created for the MPHI which consists of a group of distinguished individuals.

3.) The following individuals are responsible for conducting the operations of MPHI:

• Jay H. Glasser, PhD, MS, President/CEO

• Richard A. Levinson, MD, DPA, Vice-President

4.) Efforts are ongoing under the guidance and direction of the MPHI Board of Directors. A strategic plan and an operations plan are under development to define a table of organization, to initiate a set of programs and activities, and to raise funding support.

Areas of Concern for MPHI

Potential areas of MPHI activities and programs in the immediate future include the following:

•   Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases

•   Chronic diseases

•   Racial, ethnic and geographic disparities in health

•   Global health security

•   National Health

•   Health manpower training and credentialing

•   Universal access to health care

•   Patient safety

•   Health professional ethics

•   Evaluation of health care and public health systems

•   Biomedical and public health research objectives for the 21st century

•   Interdisciplinary curriculum development

Operating Principles of the Reorganized MPHI

The national MPHI endeavors to develop programs and activities in health education, applied research, and community demonstration projects. Our organization is adding inclusion of health professions into MPHI and also fosters students’ involvement. MPHI assists in forming collaborative health actions among health professionals. A major objective of the MPHI program is the development of strong state and local MPHI chapters. These chapters will be independent organizations that will maintain an affiliation with the national MPHI, and will work collaboratively to develop and implement the national agenda. However, the chapters will also pursue MPHI issues specific to their local situations, with the support of national MPHI.