"Health is the first wealth." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Whatever you dream you can do. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." - Goethe
Thomas Jefferson, the University’s founder, created the university as a fount for useful knowledge. To him, this meant knowledge being put to use. At UVA Health, our mission is clear: “Transforming health and inspiring hope for all Virginians and beyond.” While direct medical interventions are crucial, true transformation transcends traditional healthcare practices. As health professionals, we accomplish wholehearted transformation when the smaller, yet profound and commonly overlooked elements are effectively addressed through sociopolitical interventions. These elements include, but are not limited to:
- Expanding and enriching employment opportunities
- Ensuring safe housing
- Improving access to nutritious and affordable food
- Providing reliable and accessible transportation
- Fostering social connections and community cohesion
- Promoting public policy that protects health
UVA Health Protectors embodies the mission to celebrate the activities of individuals and organizations within and around the University who go beyond conventional medical care to safeguard and promote health – both individual and community. These individuals promote sociopolitical initiatives that support health transformation and aim to protect health itself through nontraditional means. While many worthy innovations are closely aligned with traditional care, others stem from creative initiatives driven by desire to address cultural, societal, or global health concerns.
Our aim is to champion the people and groups who create and sustain these impactful actions and encourage a cultural shift where proactive engagement is standard practice for healthcare professionals. Through this effort, we seek to inspire others and spread perspectives by illuminating a renewed professional work ethic. The goal of Health Protectors is to celebrate those in the community of local initiatives who unequivocally contribute to protecting health. We hope that this website will attract interest from others at various ages and stages of their life and work, resulting in careers dedicated to health protection.
The University of Virginia has a distinguished history in healthcare reform that can be traced back to its founder, Thomas Jefferson. Since the 1900s, American medicine has disproportionally focused on restoring health or reducing illness rather than being equally committed to preserving health. According to UVA Professor Robert S. Gibson and his book, Thomas Jefferson and Early American Healthcare: Academic Medicine in the Nineteenth Century, Thomas Jefferson’s approach to medical research and education was to ensure that it was evidence-based and focused on health preservation. Jefferson noted in a colleague's letter that “without health, there can be no happiness. An attention to health, then, should take the place of every other object.” He lived according to that creed and even researched to improve the capacity of cowpox to best immunize against smallpox. Regrettably, despite later parallel efforts of his academic acolytes, Robley Dunglison and Joseph Cabell, American medicine essentially lost this vision of health as the primary priority for medical professionals.
Please see the list of individuals and organizations on this page to learn more about current and past activities at the University of Virginia and surrounding Charlottesville community that demonstrate new and creative ways to transform, improve, and preserve health.
Innovative national healthcare efforts and resources are highlighted here:
If you would like to connect with us or tell us about relevant work you believe should be included here, please complete and submit a contact form.
UVA Health Protectors is a new initiative, so please submit a contact form to deliver your feedback and suggestions.