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College of Pharmacy

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P-HOPER Center

What is Population Health?

Population health is the body of scientific disciplines interested in the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease states in the population. It addresses overlapping factors or determinants of health, such as the environment, social structures, and resource distribution, to reduce disparities and eliminate diseases and injuries.

Many of the population's health goals require pharmaceutical products such as vaccines, medicinal agents, and others for the prevention and treatment of diseases. If epidemiology is the foundation for population health, pharmacoepidemiology is an integral component of population health practices that need pharmaceutical intervention.

Pharmacoepidemiology is the study of the use and effects of drugs in a large population; it provides an estimate of the probability of beneficial effects of a drug in a population and the probability of adverse effects. For example, pharmacoepidemiologists are interested in understanding the patterns of drug prescribing, appropriate and inappropriate medication use, and beneficial and adverse effects of medications across populations.

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About Us

The Center for Population Health Outcomes and Pharmacoepidemiology Education and Research (P-HOPER Center) will be the first in the nation dedicated to research and education in the area of population health outcomes and pharmacoepidemiology. The center is uniquely positioned to strengthen the partnership between public health and pharmacy, help remove the barriers to collaborations, and promote the integration of population-based pharmaceuticals outcomes assessment into community health needs assessments, disease surveillance, and monitoring of health outcomes. These synergic areas are of national importance as many of the population health goals require pharmaceutical products such as vaccines, medicinal agents, and others for the prevention and treatment of diseases.

The P-HOPER Center team will collaborate on projects both within the center and through an extensive network of community centers and patient care facilities in the Texas Medical Center and across the state to develop solutions to improve population health outcomes.

Center Members

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Vision, Mission, Values & Goals

The vision of the Center for Population Health Outcomes and Pharmacoepidemiology Education and Research (P-HOPER Center) is to improve population health outcomes through innovative research, education, and practices.

Our mission is to conduct innovative population health outcomes research and offer educational programs and population practices with an impact on the region and the nation.

Core Values: Excellence | Innovation | Collaboration | Equity | Inclusiveness | Leadership | Impactful

To achieve the mission, the center will:

  1. Provide educational programs to students and the community at large in the areas of population health and pharmacoepidemiology;
  2. Conduct population health outcomes research in general and pharmacoepidemiology in specific to improve health outcomes; and
  3. Provide leadership, service, and expertise to the community in the areas of population health and pharmacoepidemiology.