Policy Statement for Core Research Projects

This policy states the Prevention Research Centers’ overarching research philosophy.

The PRCs conduct participatory, community-based research to prevent disease and promote health. The outcomes are intended to be applicable to public health programs and policies.

The PRCs’ interdisciplinary researchers and community-based advisory boards use rigorous scientific methods to design, test, and disseminate feasible, effective, and responsive strategies to improve community and personal health.

The research focus of each PRC reflects both the scientific expertise of its faculty and the goals of its community partners. Further, the PRCs focus on populations with the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality, especially those in which health disparities are related to adverse social and economic conditions.

The major core projects are intervention or dissemination research projects that address mutual goals of the community, academic, and practice partners. The projects are designed to be readily translatable into strategies that can be implemented at the community, state, or regional level. PRCs also conduct analytic and descriptive research on the determinants of health designed to lead to interventions or policies that can improve the health of communities.