Research and Service for a Healthier Community
Oregon Tech’s Population Health Management Research Center (PHMRC) was founded in September of 2015 as a community-based, collaborative organization contributing to research and programs that support community health. The PHMRC is located off campus, and serves as an academic hub for research partnerships in an environment that offers students experiential learning in a professional setting.
The mission of the PHMRC is to provide research, evaluation, and programming to partner organizations in the government, private, and not for profit sectors. The PHMRC team includes academic consultants, student externs, and support staff who work collaboratively on sponsored projects. Visit our projects page to learn more about how Oregon Tech’s Population Health Management Students are making a difference in their community.
Community collaborations support the academic quality of Oregon Tech programs, enabling faculty to be engaged professionally at the cutting edge of their fields while immediately translating professional development into curricula. Consults provided by the PHMRC offer a wealth of academic expertise, a strong network of affiliated institutions with professional expertise, and a growing cohort of student externs receiving state of the art training in Population Health Management.
The Interdisciplinary Team: Faculty Consultants at the PHMRC
- Dr. Sophie Nathenson, Ph.D., Population Health Management
- Dr. Kyle Chapman, Ph.D., Population Health Management
- Jeff Dickson, MS., Health Informatics
- Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy, M.S., Resource Specialist
- Dr. John Ritter, Geographical Information Systems
- Joe Reid, Applied Statistics
- Oregon Health and Sciences University
- Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Biostatistics
- OHSU Evaluation Core, Program Evaluation
Contact the Research Center
Dr. Sophie Nathenson is a medical sociologist, health consultant, and the designer and founding Director of Oregon Tech’s Population Health Management B.S. program (BS-PHM). Dr. Nathenson launched a Population Health Management Research Center (PHMRC) in 2015. Through her directorship at the PHMRC, she led coalition-based research projects on emergency preparedness, nutrition and food security programs, and youth perspectives on educational attainment and social problems. Clients and community partners include Klamath County Public Health, Red Cross of America, Prepare Redmond, Tribal Health, Oregon State University Extension Office, Oregon Health and Science University, Blue Zones Project, Sky Lakes Medical Center, Sky Lakes Live Young Wellness Center, Klamath Food Bank, and Klamath City and County School Districts.
As a research consultant, coach, and educator, Dr. Nathenson provides insight into the strategy of initiatives that seek to address the social determinants of health. She applies the sociological perspective to the analysis of population health problems and seeks to empower students with the tools needed to design and launch solutions.
Dr. Nathenson is based on the Portland-Metro campus, having spent 7 years at the Klamath Falls campus. In addition to teaching in the PHM program and medical sociology minor, she is a professor in the Masters of Allied Health program.
Dr. Nathenson presents on sociological perspectives of health issues, curriculum design, research centers, and innovation. She integrates health, entrepreneurship, and holistic perspectives in her work, often collaborating with health professionals on scholarly works. Her most recent publication is “A Holistic Transcendental Leadership Model for Enhancing Innovation and Creativity in Healthcare”. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga, meditation, trail running, swimming, camping, and art.