Bielefeld School of Public Health

Prof. Dr. med. Kayvan Bozorgmehr has been appointed head of the Department of Population Medicine and Health Services Research (AG 2) in the School of Public Health in March 2019.

The Department of Population Medicine and Health Services Research conducts innovative, interdisciplinary research to consolidate and expand empirical and theoretical knowledge on systemic challenges to health and society. We aim to explore the reciprocal interaction of multiple, relevant and overlapping factors and health determinants at population level. The department aims to synthesize and generate practical and policy-oriented evidence. This includes the production of knowledge that is relevant for decision-makers and practitioners at different levels of the health system and which enables scientifically informed policy decisions to reduce health inequalities at national and international level.

The department maintains numerous interdisciplinary cooperations with university institutions, health authorities, civil society organisations and medical care providers within Germany. Internationally, we cooperate with universities, civil society actors and organisations of the United Nations to generate scientific evidence on the influence of social determinants on health and health services.

The transfer of our study results into practice is of particular concern to us. In addition to the publication of scientific publications in respected German- and English-language journals, we report on our research results in public specialist forums, news media and directly to public interest groups, authorities and ministries. Through our teaching activities, we contribute at various levels to the training of future public health and healthcare professionals.

Population medicine extends the consideration of individual patients to the investigation of the distribution of diseases and health in entire populations, population groups, regions and communities (i.e. population health, community health, public health). It focuses in particular on the contribution of the medical system to the distribution of disease and health at the population level or examines factors that can be modified at the population level by measures of the health system.

Health services research, on the other hand, is concerned with ensuring health care for the respective population groups, as well as the quality and improvement of health care systems and processes. This includes research into different aspects such as individual medical and health services, structural questions of the health system and health policy. In both areas, interdisciplinary cooperation with other public health sub-disciplines such as social sciences, health economics, environmental sciences and life sciences is necessary. In the age of the information society with increasing globalisation, the international dimensions of health and disease are given special consideration.