Geiger Gibson Program

Established in 2004, the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health is named in honor of Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Count Dillon Gibson, pioneers in community health practice and tireless advocates for civil and human rights. Over 50 years ago, Drs. Geiger and Gibson founded the nation's first community health centers in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and Boston, Massachusetts.  In 2021, nearly 1,400 health centers, operating in more than 14,000 urban and rural sites, served more than 30 million medically underserved people. 

Located within the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, the Geiger Gibson Program aims to provide a deeper understanding of how policies can be used to advance health equity. Our chief focus is on community health centers, one of the most compelling examples of how health policy can be used to advance health equity for the nation’s most medically underserved urban and rural communities. The Geiger Gibson Program also helps illuminate the challenges and opportunities facing community health centers today.

Founded with generous gifts from community health centers and state and regional primary care associations, the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health is the nation’s academic home for community health centers. A major gift from the RCHN Community Health Foundation provides ongoing core support for the Program’s research, scholarship and educational activities.