Jaime Gofin, MD, MPHJaime Gofin is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Prevention and Community Health and Director of the department's MPH--Community-Oriented Primary Care Program. 
Dr. Gofin has always wanted to build things, which is why he once struggled with the decision about whether to pursue medicine or architecture. Fortunately, he has found ways to satisfy both drives by helping to strengthen the infrastructure of the Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) movement, which integrates individual care and community medicine/public health, around the world. After completing his medical training in Uruguay, Dr. Gofin earned a scholarship to pursue public health training in Israel just as political strife engulfed his native country. In Jerusalem, where he resides, Dr. Gofin trained with Professor Sidney Kark, who had launched the model for COPC in South Africa in 1940 and later adapted it to Jerusalem. After Professor Kark's retirement, Dr. Gofin assumed responsibility for teaching COPC at Hebrew University. In subsequent decades, as a faculty member of the Hadassah Hebrew University's School of Public Health and Community Medicine, he has introduced the paradigm-changing concept to thousands of students on five continents at the behest of health ministries, universities, and nongovernmental organizations. Dr. Gofin was invited to GW in 1992 to share his ideas about community medicine in the teaching of public health, and soon accepted an adjunct position here. Since then, he has bolstered the teaching component of SPHHS's COPC initiative with research, practice, consultancy and networking activities. He also launched a one-year International Certificate Distance Learning Program, a joint endeavor between SPHHS and Hebrew University. After retiring from Hebrew University, Dr. Gofin continued to teach, write and consult on COPC, and became director of the SPHHS COPC program in 2008. EducationUndergraduate studies (Biology and Pre-medical studies), Montevideo, Uruguay, 1958 TeachingDr. Gofin will be serving as advisor to all MPH-COPC students and participating in teaching PubH 361 Introduction to COPC and other MPH COPC courses. ResearchDr. Gofin's major areas of research interest are focused on evaluating community health and COPC programs and managing quality in education by planning and assessing teaching and teacher training programs. Community ServiceDr. Gofin won the 2007 Gordon Wyon Award of the American Public Health Association's International Health Section for his "outstanding leadership and contribution in COPC." As director of the Community Health Center at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he had played an important role in promoting community participation in health center activities. Dr. Gofin is also involved in neighborhood governance and health activities in his home neighborhood of Ramot in Jerusalem. DepartmentsPublications |
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