Trina Thompson, DrPH, BSN, has been named the executive director for the 1889 Jefferson Center for Population Health in Johnstown. The Center was established last year through a $7.5 million, five-year gift from the 1889 Foundation to the Jefferson College of Population Health of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
In her new position, Thompson will establish the Center’s operational framework and research agenda and position the Center as a community resource for improving population health. The Center’s mission is to identify, quantify, develop and evaluate strategies that improve the health of the citizens of Cambria and Somerset Counties.
Thompson has more than 30 years of experience in public health and healthcare, in academic, business, and clinical settings. Originally trained as a registered nurse, she later went on to get a master’s and doctorate in public health from the University of Pittsburgh. She has held several consultant positions with Highmark, Inc., and the University of Pittsburgh, and taught college-level courses at Duquesne, the University of Pittsburgh, and St. Francis University.
In Thompson’s most recent position, she developed and implemented the new Public Health Program at St. Francis University’s School of Health Sciences, where she also served as the program’s director. Throughout her career, she has published numerous peer-reviewed academic articles and abstracts and collaborated on many grant-funded research projects, most focusing on cardiovascular disease.
For a complete press release about Thompson’s hire, click here.
