Primary Care & Public Health: Transforming Health Through Partnership

Primary care is widely recognized as the foundation of a strong health system. Yet, in the United States, it remains under-resourced, increasingly strained, and at times isolated from the broader public health systems that help shape population health before and after individuals enter the clinic. As the nation confronts rising rates of chronic disease, persistent health inequities, workforce crises, and growing pressure on front-line providers, we face the urgent need to strengthen primary care-public health partnership to improve health for individuals and communities alike. WashU Bursky School of Public Health and the School of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine hosted a half-day convening on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, exploring how to revitalize the primary care and public health partnerships and innovation on the topics of health care delivery, workforce strengthening, and health policy and community engagement. Through keynotes and panel discussions, national leaders in primary care, health policy, and workforce design discussed new models of care, the role of the academic research community, and community partnerships. Welcome: Speaker: Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH - Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the Bursky School of Public Health, the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health and the vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives at Washington University Keynote: Building Integrated Systems in the U.S.: From Policy to Practice Speaker: Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH - Executive Director, Ariadne Labs; Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Panel discussion: Primary Care as Public Health Strategy: Closing the Divide Moderator: Molly McNairy, MD, MSc - David C. and Betty Farrell Distinguished Professor of Medicine; Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine, WashU Medicine Panelists: Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD - Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Joyce and Chauncy Buchheit Professor in Public Health, WashU Bursky School of Public Health Jennifer Schmidt, MD - Section Chief, Ambulatory General Internal Medicine, WashU Medicine Lisa Rotenstein, MD, MBA -Associate Professor, University of California at San Francisco; Director of the Center to Advance Digital Physician Practice Transformation and Center for Physician Experience; Medical Director, Ambulatory Quality and Safety, UCSF Health Keynote: Promoting Health Equity Through Primary Care and Public Health Research and Training Speaker: Andrea Cherrington, MD, MPH - Professor and Director, Division of General Internal Medicine & Population Science, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham Panel discussion: Primary Care as Public Health Strategy to Improve Health Moderator: Jennifer Layden, MD, PhD - Associate Dean of Practice, Professor, WashU Bursky School of Public Health Panelists: Abigail Barker, PhD - Associate Research Professor, WashU Bursky School of Public Health Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH -Niess-Gain Professor of Surgery, WashU Medicine Margaret Kruk, MD, MPH -Distinguished Professor of Health Systems and Medicine, WashU Bursky School of Public Health Tracy McCreery - Missouri State Senator Closing remarks: Speaker: Sandro Galea For more visit: https://publichealth.washu.edu/ Video by WashU Bursky Public Health