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Community

Our Health Priorities

Community and health build the foundation for our collective well-being. As our Utah community changes and grows, becoming more diverse, we are committed to changing with it. Part of that community outreach and engagement work means tackling the serious health problems faced in Utah. Every three years, we join a broad coalition of community representatives, civic leaders, nonprofit organizations, and residents to identify our greatest health needs. The resulting Community Health Needs Assessment outlines our collective priorities—and then becomes our north star. Fundamentally, this work is about people helping people. Collaborating. Sharing a common goal. Believing that we can make a difference. 

Citizen Montage

2023-2026 Community Health Needs Assessment

As an academic health center whose goal is to touch and support the lives of all people in the great state of Utah, it is imperative that we recognize that transformative solutions are already in the community. Our role is not to solve but to partner, convene, and amplify. We cannot implement programs without community at the table. Also, trust is not inherently given. In order for large institutions like University of Utah Health to be welcomed into these spaces, we have to work to demonstrate how we will show up differently. We have to listen. We have to reflect. We have to align. For the 2023-2026 Community Health Needs Assessment, we have aligned the community’s priorities with our system strategy and will spend the next three years focused on culturally responsive care, community partnership, and population health.

Our purpose is to make people’s lives better. As an academic health center, we believe that every individual deserves equal opportunity to live a healthy life.
Michael L. Good, MD CEO, University of Utah Health
Progress in Action Timeline

Progress in Action

The health needs of the community don’t stop at our hospital walls. Instead, remarkable ideas and tenacious work are required to cast a wide net. To treat endemic diseases. To care for racially and ethnically diverse populations. And to bridge the gap between a structured health system and an intricate web of nonprofit partners embedded in the community. University of Utah Health’s work on these fronts spans locations, methods, and outcomes, from COVID-19 crisis response to the remarkable spirit of volunteerism to caring for Utah's changing population.

Systemic racism is a public health crisis. That’s why, as a steward of the health of our community, we’re committed to restoring equity and championing anti-racism across our organization.
José E. Rodríguez, MD, FAAFP Associate Vice President for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

We believe society thrives when we give those who have been historically excluded the opportunity to succeed and live a healthy life. That begins by ending racism and bias in our workplaces—because health care performs at its best when equity, diversity, and inclusion become an essential part of our mission. We're reimagining our hiring programs and building pipelines for people of color to establish careers with us, investing in our community to create jobs and help rebuild oppressed economies, and listening to colleagues and patients of color to learn from their experiences moving forward. We’re committed to being the advocates and partners in the change we all want to see in the world.

Diversity Montage
Our schools and colleges provide highly individualized experiences. Learners apply science to personalized medicine, improving health care delivery—and the health of our communities.
Wendy Hobson-Rohrer, MD, MSPH, FAAP Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Education
Person Holding Lung Model

Training Future Leaders

Excellence in patient care, education, and research—all in service to our community—is the overall mission of University of Utah Health. In short, we exist to help people live healthier lives. Since our humble beginnings as a two-year medical school in 1905, we’ve been committed to discovering new knowledge and treatments, training the next generation of clinicians, and providing the highest-quality and most compassionate care to those who need us. We’ve grown over the past 115 years in both scale and reputation, and we’re proud that our success makes a profound and positive impact on people’s lives.

Through bi-directional learning and support, we can continue to develop programs and adapt clinical care to improve not only community health but community wealth.
RyLee Curtis, MPP Director, Community Engagement

Partner With Us

None of what’s highlighted here would have been possible without community partners. Thank you for allowing our committed faculty, students, and staff to work alongside you to improve the health and well-being of Utahns in every corner of the state, from all walks of life. It is our commitment to you that we will collaborate to better understand the needs of community partners. We’d love to hear from you about how we can work together to make our community healthier and stronger.

Food Bank Volunteers Loading Potatoes
Report to our Community Book Cover

Report To Our Community

All sources from the University of Utah Health Report to Our Community, printed in November 2020 and distributed to legislators, community leaders, non-profits, donors, and other audiences, can be accessed at the button below.

Community Resources

Bridging The Gap is an innovative new project that provides new Americans with virtual reality (VR) resources to help navigate health centers, pharmacies, grocery stores, parks, and public transportation.

Upcoming Events

    Sexual Assault Awareness Month

    National Minority Health Month

    National Arab Heritage Month

    March 13-April 15: National Deaf History Month

    March 22-April 21: Ramadan

    March 27-April 1: Pride Week at the U

    Mental Health Awareness Month

    National Foster Care Month

    Jewish American Heritage Month

    Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

    Older Americans Month

    May 5: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and LGBTQIA+ Awareness Day

    May 5: Cinco de Mayo

    May 14-20: National Women's Health Week

    LGBTQIA+ Pride Month

    June 19-20: Juneteenth

    Disability Pride Month

    July 24: Pioneer Day

    Pacific Islander Heritage Month

    September 15-October 15: National American Heritage Month

    September 15-October 15: National American Heritage Month

    National Disability Employment Awareness Month

    Domestic Violence Awareness Month

    Breast Cancer Awareness Month

    Youth Justice Awareness Month 

    National Work and Family Month

    National Italian American Heritage Month

    October 1: Diversity Day

    October 9: Indigenous Peoples' Day

    Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month

    January 14-20 — Choose Love Over Hate: MLK Week

    January 23 — Sundance Film Festival 2023 Short Film Premiere & Panel Discussion @ Filmmaker's Lodge in Park City

    January 25 — Sundance Film Festival 2023 Community Screening

    January 28 — Department of Orthopaedics Outreach Event at Surgical Knowledge Integration (SKI) Lab, University Orthopaedic Center

    Lunar New Year

    February 27-March 3: Women's Week

    National Women's History Month

    Irish-American Heritage Month

    March 13-April 15: National Deaf History Month

    February 27-March 3: Women's Week

    March 22-April 21: Ramadan

    March 27-April 1: Pride Week at the U

    News You Can Use

    Our monthly newsletter, In Good Health, delivers consumer-friendly news curated by experts at University of Utah Health.

    In Good Health