SWCOEH’s Dr. Brett Perkison leading a DPP partnership with San José Clinic

Monday, March 6, 2023 (Houston) – William “Brett” Perkison, the Occupational Medicine Residency Program Director for the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SWCOEH), is leading a new partnership with the San José Clinic and The Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR) to provide Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) referrals.

UTHealth Houston partner San José Clinic provides a wide variety of primary and specialty healthcare services to uninsured and underserved communities in Houston using a volunteer provider model.

“The San José clinic works with some of our most underserved populations in Houston,” Dr. Perkison said. “Providing our students to the San José clinic enables the San José clinic staff to have the time to help develop the diabetes prevention program we are implementing."

San José Clinic has partnered with CHPPR's "Improving the Health of Americans through Prevention and Management of Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Stroke" project to provide referrals for patients at risk of diabetes to join the Harris County Public Health Diabetes Prevention Program. Enrollment in a DPP can cut a patient's risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58% or more.

“What I like most about the partnership is that it involves students learning a valuable experience in clinical medicine and working with underserved populations,” Dr. Perkison said. “The clinic is getting a sorely needed extra clinical health care provider in return.”

The SWCOEH provides graduate-level training opportunities for occupational and environmental health professionals through our industrial hygiene, occupational and environmental medicine, occupational epidemiology, and Total Worker Health^®.