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Population Health

Improving the health and well-being of all the residents of Maryland, and the U.S. more broadly, is at the core of UM-IHC’s mission, vision, and goals. Real-world data, advanced computational methods, community and stakeholder engagement, and interdisciplinary partnerships drive precision medicine at population scale. These approaches enable classification of high-risk subpopulations, identification of the drivers of health and disease under routine care conditions, and the development, testing, implementation, and dissemination of tailored interventions and care delivery models that meet patient, community, and health system needs and improve health for all.

Rozalina McCoy, MD MS

Director: Rozalina McCoy, MD MS

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Precision Medicine at Population Scale

The UM-IHC Center for Population Health, led by Dr. Rozalina G. McCoy, MD MS, is an interdisciplinary research program poised to improve the health and well-being of communities and individuals across Maryland, the U.S., and worldwide through the study of how healthcare is organized, delivered, experienced, and improved. The Center for Population Health is grounded in epidemiological, health services, data science, and biostatistics research aimed at:

  • Elucidating, evaluating, and addressing the multi-level drivers of health and disease
  • Improving the quality of healthcare and health outcomes through population health interventions and research
  • Collaborating with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) to evaluate the impacts of innovative care delivery interventions with regard to health outcomes, patient experience, access to care, cost of care, and practice efficiencies
  • Collaborating with other Centers and areas of discovery within the UM-IHC to support the population health focus of research being conducted within the Institute
  • Partnering with public health, community-based, and policy-making organizations to evaluate community-based interventions to improve population health

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The Population Health research team

Our Faculty

Our Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Mallory Harris, PhD (Disease Dynamics Modeling Group)
  • Dian Hu, PhD (Social Epidemiology Group)
  • Shuo (Jim) Huang, MPH, PhD (THRIVE Lab)
  • Kaitlynn Robinson-Ector, MPH, PhD (THRIVE Lab)
  • Ren Hao Wang (THRIVE Lab)
  • Tong Wen (THRIVE Lab)

Our Staff

  • Rui Zhang, MS
  • Connor Begle, MPH

Our Students

  • UMSOM: Sinan Aktay, Elisha Barrientos, Urja Kalathiya, Stacey Sklepinski, Aditi Singh, Umailla Naeem, Tahreem Riaz, Ozi Iyalomhe, Divya Hosangadi
  • UMD: Abby Abaku, Sean Chun, Marissa Ding, Avishi Gupta, Alicia Hawkins, Grace Huang, Davi Jacobs, Haley Ko, Kathleen Tokar
  • UMBC: Haoyu Ren
  • Matthew Chin
  • Vineeth Gohimukkula
  • Reni Kaza
  • Sunil Pateel
  • Lola Akintoye

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The Center for Population Health leverages the unique data infrastructure of the UM-IHC for epidemiologic, health care delivery, comparative effectiveness and safety, organizational science, and health policy research. Data assets uniquely available at the IHC include the UMMS electronic health record, a state-wide network of community and academic clinics and hospitals serving >2 million patients across 20 (of 23) Maryland counties and the city of Baltimore, the Premier database, Maryland’s GPS-Health, as well as the OptumLabs Data Warehouse (OLDW).

Investigators and trainees within the Center for Population Health harness real-world data to improve how healthcare is delivered, accessed, organized, and paid for to ensure high quality, accessible, affordable, and sustainable care for all.

Inspired by Our Communities

Research priorities of the UM-IHC Center for Population Health and inspired and guided by the needs of the citizens of Maryland. These include mental health and substance use disorders; diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease; maternal and neonatal health; healthy aging; and structural and social determinants of health, among others. The recent Community Health Needs Assessments conducted over the past five years across Maryland counties identified the following core areas of need, which serve as the guiding principles for the UM-IHC Population Health Program. 

Ongoing research areas include: 

  • Type 1 and type 2 diabetes 
  • Maternal and neonatal health  
  • Osteoporosis 
  • Obesity 
  • Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias  
  • Multiple long-term conditions 
  • Hearing loss
  • Organization and delivery of primary care
  • Social and structural drivers of health
  • Rural health
Abby Abaku presenting a research poster
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