Introduction
In 1992, Dr. Kerr L. White donated his personal collection of health care resources to the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library; a collection which he acquired over five decades. Dr. White is an internationally recognized pioneer in the fields of Health Services Research and Primary Care Medicine. Within the collection are books, reports, journals and White’s own papers dealing with a variety of health issues and problems experienced by diverse populations. The collection is especially strong in six areas that White helped define and focused his research.
Health Services Research–The “study of the relative benefits, risks, and costs of health interventions for individuals and populations.”
Health Statistics and Epidemiology–“The capture and transformation of raw data describing health problems, attributes and services into numeric and graphic expressions understandable by both novices and experts.”
Primary Medical Care–“The provision of preventive and therapeutic health care and counseling for problems presented by individuals from a general population with no more than 5-10% requiring referral to specialists.”
Public Health and Population Health–“Evidenced-based community-wide interventions directed at monitoring, improving or maintaining the health status of large groups or societies.”
Caring and Curing–“Recognition and study of the importance of stressful and supportive interpersonal, occupational, societal and medical experiences and situations on health and disease.”
Hospitals and Health Services Systems - "The institutionalization and organization of health services in order to concentrate and optimize their provision in timely, effective and efficient fashion."
This collection is unique in that it includes a wide array of works dealing with the many facets of human experience that impinge on the health and welfare of individuals and populations and those who seek to prevent or alleviate human suffering. It is Dr. White’s hope that this collection will help students and others to appreciate the many complex relationships among those entrusted with the population’s health.
Dr. White may be reached at klw2j@virginia.edu.