Jefferson Luminary Retires: David Nash, MD, MBA, a Leader in Population Health

David Nash, MD, MBA, was ahead of his time. Decades before population health was recognized an important factor in reducing health disparities across different social and economic groups, he anticipated the need for a focus on an interdisciplinary approach to improving health outcomes by addressing social, economic, and environmental determinants alongside medical care.

Now, after more than three decades at Jefferson, Nash, the Founding Dean of Jefferson College of Population Health — the first such college in the U.S. — is retiring. In June, he was honored with a portrait unveiling at the Dorrance H. Hamilton Building at Jefferson.

Early in his career, Nash recognized that healthcare providers needed to pay more attention to the upstream causes of disease — the “social determinants of health.”

As a young doctor, Nash noticed that patients were being re-admitted to the hospital for the same problems. People were coming to the hospital with heart failure or out-of-control asthma or in a diabetic crisis. They were rescued by hospital physicians and then sent home, only to return later with the same afflictions but now in even worse shape.

He came to Jefferson in 1990, and was appointed director of the newly established Office of Health Policy. The office put together continuing education lessons for Jefferson’s medical staff on subjects such as practice guidelines and cost-effective test ordering.

Nash began teaching a course called “Introduction to the Healthcare System” to medical students. It covered fundamentals of healthcare basics such as Medicare, HMO, and how insurance works. After 13 years, he elevated the office into an academic department, which taught classes and conducted highly successful research regarding changes in the healthcare system.

In 2004, Nash became inaugural Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy at Thomas Jefferson University.

In 2008, he became the founding dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health, which focused on healthcare quality and safety, health economics and outcomes, health policy, and population health data analytics, as well as public health. It was renamed the Jefferson College of Population Health in 2015. He stepped down from the position in 2019 to rejoin the faculty.

Nash, who is internationally recognized for his work in public accountability for outcomes, physician leadership development, and quality-of-care improvement, publishes in journals and books, and lectures on the topic of Population Health. 

In 2021, Nash and his wife, Esther Nash, MD, deepened their commitment to Jefferson by creating the Drs. David and Es Nash Safety and Quality Awards — among the only such prizes nationwide that provide direct financial support to healthcare trainees. The awards recognize Jefferson students and trainees whose projects advance patient safety and care quality.