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Our Story

The Innovation Learning Laboratory for Population Health has nearly a decade of experience building a community-based workforce and mobilizing community outreach workers, patient navigators, and social support specialists. These health outreach workers create care links to the most vulnerable medically underserved communities, including racial and ethnic minority groups to bridge the gap between underserved communities and healthcare providers.

The Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) Innovation Learning Laboratory for Population Health was founded in 2014 by our Director, Arletha Livingston (Lizana), PhD, MPH, MBA. Dr. Lizana has provided 25+ years of experience in project management, health improvement, innovation strategy, curriculum design, training, technical assistance, and evaluation at the international, federal, state, and local levels. Moreover, she cultivated a laboratory designed to improve population health. 

The Innovation Learning Laboratory for Population Health designs and implements demonstration projects that generate innovative technology-driven healthcare models and fuel teaching and learning for population health improvement. The overall mission aligns closely with the overall mission of Morehouse School of Medicine, which exists to: 1. Improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities; 2) Increase the diversity of health professionals and the scientific workforce; and 3) Address primary healthcare through programs in education, research, and service, with an emphasis on people of color and the underserved urban and rural populations in Georgia, the nation, and the world.

The Innovation Learning Laboratory is designed to enhance service, research, teaching, and learning to improve the abilities of the global health workforce, patient care, and community and population health outcomes. The Laboratory serves three main functions: 1) Identify, design, develop, demonstrate, and disseminate innovative models of healthcare improvement; 2) Study and foster population health through patient, community consumer and provider engagement; and 3) Prepare 21^st-century healthcare leaders/workers-including training for students, community, faculty, and providers.

In April 2015, MSM announced the receipt of $200,000 in a planning grant, as well as an additional $400,000 grant from the United Health Foundation, and a $600,000 grant totaling $1.2 million. The grant helped to support the institution’s patient-centered medical home, where doctors train, support, and advocate for community health workers. This work became housed in the Innovation Learning Laboratory. Since then, the staff size has quadrupled, and the Innovation Lab has become a pioneer in developing and disseminating community health worker training programs, curricula, curricula adaptations, health technology, health promotion products, health IQ and CHW apps, and an array of Innovation Academies.

The Innovation Lab has been featured in over 20 media features and awards, has over 7 manuscripts accepted for publication in professional journals, completed over 25 professional presentations, and secured over $13 million in grant funding. Moreover, the Innovation Lab has trained over 500 community health workers either at MSM or through our digital curricula and has generated over $750,000 in revenue through curriculum sales and donations.