Title: Research and Community Service Centers
     
 

Faculty members of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health are involved in an extensive range of research and service projects funded from federal, state, and private sources. These initiatives, pursued at the local, state, national, and international levels, contribute resources and assistance to communities from the school's immediate neighborhoods to locations around the world. They also inform and enrich the education offered to students in public health, providing opportunities for learning, collaboration, and discovery. The centers and units in which these activities take place are described below.

 

 

Health Research and Policy Centers

Formed in September 1997, the Health Research and Policy Centers (HRPCs) are a constellation of four all-university centers that focus on the development and conduct of transdisciplinary health research and the training of future researchers to engage in research on health behaviors, health promotion, disease prevention, health services/outcomes, and health policy. The mission of the centers is to promote collaborative effort among investigators in these project areas. The work of the centers incorporates: basic science (including methods and theory development); health behavior research and intervention development; clinical and efficacy trials; effectiveness trials and health services research; demonstration projects and dissemination research; and research-to-practice and practice-to-policy translation. Susan J. Curry, PhD, known for her work in cancer control and community-based and self-help interventions, leads the centers.

The four participating centers and their leadership are:

The Center for Health Behavior Research (CHBR) is directed by Robin J. Mermelstein, PhD, associate professor of psychology, who also serves as deputy director of the HRPCs. The CHBR focuses on research on understanding the etiology, progression, and change of health-compromising and health-promoting behaviors, and on the development and testing of behavioral interventions, including behavioral medicine, to reduce risk or promote health.

The Center for Research on Health and Aging (CRHA), co-directed by Susan L. Hughes, DSW, and Thomas R. Prohaska, PhD, both professors of community health sciences, focuses on understanding the health of the aging, factors affecting it, and strategies to promote healthy aging.

The Health Policy Center (HPC) is led by Frank J. Chaloupka, PhD, associate professor of economics. The work of the Health Policy Center includes ImpacTeen, a policy research partnership to reduce youth substance abuse. The HPC addresses research on health policies and the development and communication of public health policy information to policymakers and the public.

The Center for Health Services Research (CHSR) is directed by Richard B. Warnecke, PhD, professor of urban planning and public affairs, sociology, and epidemiology/biostatistics. The CHSR conducts research on the availability of, access to, utilization of, and effectiveness (outcomes) of health care services to identify best practices.

Additionally, a Methodology Research Core, directed by Michael L. Berbaum, PhD, senior biostatistician, and including Donald Hedeker, PhD, professor, epidemiology and biostatistics, provides statistical and methodological expertise to the component centers.

The centers focus on the development of new knowledge and its application through the conduct of research. The HRPCs offer a unique opportunity for faculty collaboration and training on health behavior, policy, and services research by providing a critical mass of investigators who can share expertise to create an environment rich in research resources. Opportunities for achieving synergies across lines of research are maximized as, for example, knowledge developed in etiological research can be used in designing interventions, and intervention study results can be used to inform effectiveness research and later dissemination and policy studies. Faculty members throughout UIC who share research interests in these areas are active participants in projects.

Currently, the HRPCs house over fifty research projects and several federal training grants that provide rich opportunities for research training. Over the past several years the HRPCs have trained an average of forty predoctoral graduate students and seven post-doctoral students annually from disciplines across the UIC campus through funded research and training projects. The HRPCs provide an environment rich in educational opportunities with a wide array of active research projects, numerous faculty collaborators who offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, and a robust methodological research core with strengths in sampling, survey design, random effects modeling, longitudinal data analysis, analysis of missing data, and analysis of large data sets. The HRPCs also provide educational opportunities through an active seminar series that focuses on topics ranging from community-based projects to methodological innovations.

For further information, contact William Baldyga, DrPH, Associate Director, at 312-996-0786 or BBaldyga@uic.edu or view HRPC's website at http://www.uic.edu/depts/ovcr/hrpc.

 
 



Center for Public Health Practice

Housed in the Community Health Sciences Division, the Center for Public Health Practice promotes improvement in public health practice. The following programs provide opportunities to advance professional skills for persons working in public health.

  • The Mid-America Regional Public Health Leadership Institute (MARPHLI) is a year-long leadership development program which trains public health practitioners and community partners to improve the public health infrastructure in order to meet national health objectives in the states of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Director: Louis Rowitz, PhD. For information, contact Ramon Bonzon, MPH, Project Coordinator, at 312-413-1088 or RBonzon@uic.edu or, visit our website at www.uic.edu/sph/chs/php/.

  • The Illinois Institute for Maternal and Child Health Leadership (IIMCHL) is a year-long fellowship program which teaches leadership skills and the assessment, assurance, and policy development core functions of public health to persons with leadership potential. Director: Louis Rowitz, PhD. For information, contact Ronald Markwardt, PhD, Program Manager, at 312-355-1134 or drone@uic.edu.

  • The Illinois MCH Data Use Academy is a year-long training program in which teams from a community learn to use data to effectively influence maternal and child health programs and policy development. It will be offered again in 2004. Director: Louis Rowitz, PhD. For information, contact Ronald Markwardt, PhD, Program Manager, at 312-355-1134 or drone@uic.edu.

  • The Public Health Practitioner Certification Board (PHPCB) program certifies Public Health Administrators (individuals who demonstrate competency in the core skill areas established as essential to conducting administrative activities within public health) and Emergency Response Coordinators hired by each of the public health departments throughout the state. Information and applications are available online at: http://www.phpcb.org. Director: Bernard J. Turnock, MD, MPH. For information, contact Vikki Wiebel, MPH, Program Manager, at 312-996-6531 or Vikki@uic.edu.

  • The Illinois Public Health Preparedness Center (IPHPC) offers over sixty competency-based, completely online courses that are continuously available, at no cost, and offered in a unique, self-directed, instructor-led format. The courses address basic competencies for all public health workers, cross-cutting competencies for frontline and more senior public health professionals, and specialized competencies in emergency preparedness and response. Director: Bernard J. Turnock, MD, MPH. For information, log on to http://www.uic.edu/sph/prepare or contact Vikki Wiebel, MPH, Program Manager, at 312-996-6531 or vikki@uic.edu.

  • The Mid-America Public Health Training Center offers competency-based, coordinated training programs to address public health workforce development issues in Illinois and Indiana. The vision of the center is to develop a collaborative, integrated approach to training the public health workforce using existing resources to enhance current and build new infrastructure for attainment of Healthy People 2010 objectives. Content areas which are addressed include: basic health sciences, public health sciences, public health informatics/data use leadership management, board of health training, and urban and rural public health. Director: Louis Rowitz, PhD. For information, log on to http://www.uic.edu/sph/maphtc or contact Sophie Naji, Program Manager, at 312-355-3825 or smaali@uic.edu.
 
 



Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health

The Great Lakes Centers for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health (GLC) are a group of multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary teaching, research, and service centers. Participating institutions include: the School of Public Health; Colleges of Nursing and Agriculture; Institute for Labor and Industrial Relations; and Cook County Hospital. The centers' core is located at the School of Public Health. The centers house a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Occupational and Environmental Health with emphasis on eastern Europe and the Americas. The Centers' global programs are funded by the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center. Center faculty are currently conducting sponsored research on the effects of the environment on the health of children in Ukraine, reproductive outcomes in workers exposed to dioxins in the Russian federation, lung disease in Ukrainian coalminers, and effects of in utero exposure to Chernobyl radiation.

The centers include one of fifteen Education and Research Centers (ERC) funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The ERC includes graduate programs in occupational and environmental medicine, industrial hygiene, occupational health nursing, and hazardous materials, and offers continuing education to professionals in occupational safety and health, hazardous materials, and agricultural safety and health, and worker and professional training in asbestos, radon, and lead. The ERC also supports a fire fighter health and safety project and a radiation health effects project.

The centers' Occupational Health Service Institute allows faculty and students to provide needed expertise to workers, companies, communities, and the university, contributing to UIC's commitment to interdisciplinary, applied urban research known as the Great Cities Initiative. The institute's occupational medicine physicians run the university employee Health Service, operate two Association of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinics, and serve as medical advisors for major corporations in the region. A Health Hazard Evaluation Program, established in partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health, addresses challenging occupational and environmental health problems in Illinois.

The Center for Children's Environmental Health is a regional center for pediatric environmental health with support from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Association of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinics. This center exists to evaluate, treat, and prevent environmental illnesses in children, train pediatricians and other health care professionals in pediatric environmental health issues, expand our knowledge of children's environmental health problems through research, and promote children's environmental health in communities.

The Center for Global Environmental and Occupational Health includes the Fogarty International Program and the Global Environmental Health Policy Program. Center activities include conducting binational research programs, organizing international conferences and workshops, and supporting research training of visiting scientists. UIC maintains Research Centers of Excellence in Ukraine and Belarus that work to support international research and training programs.

For further information, contact Daniel O. Hryhorczuk, MD, MPH, Director, Great Lakes Centers for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health, at 312-996-7887, or visit the center's website at http://www.uic.edu/sph/glakes/.

  
 

 

Center for the Advancement of Distance Education (CADE)

The Center for the Advancement of Distance Education (CADE) works to promote the development and marketing of distance education courses for the School of Public Health, including on-line degree courses and continuing education courses. The center also provides technical assistance to faculty to facilitate the incorporation of appropriate technology into their courses. The center collaborates with projects on and off campus to develop on-line solutions for a variety of educational applications. This includes web-based programming and database connectivity (e.g., active server pages, on-line surveys, etc.), live broadcasts of events, website development, and more. CADE will assist UIC faculty and staff in developing proposals and budgets that include these types of activities.

For further information, contact Colleen Monahan, DC, MPH, Director, Center for the Advancement of Distance Education, and Director, Information Technology, at 312-996-1360 or email cade@uic.edu. Visit CADE's website at http://www.uic.edu/sph/cade.

  
 



International Center for Health Leadership Development

The International Center for Health Leadership Development (ICHLD) conducts leadership development activities that help to better prepare leaders from communities, community health centers, and health professions education to build linkages between communities and institutions that provide health care.

Increasingly, government agencies, foundations and health and social service providers are calling for collaboration to improve the health of our communities.

Since its inception in 1997, ICHLD has worked to identify core competencies for leading collaborations and to develop methods of effectively teaching these competencies, including interactive exercises as well as the presentation of essential information. Participants in ICHLD's workshops and fellowship program improve their skills in areas such as visioning, identifying common values, assessing community needs and assets, building appropriate organizational structures for collaboration, win-win negotiation, planning for sustainability, and evaluating outcomes. Graduates of ICHLD's programs have gone on to create innovative, wide-ranging, and successful collaborative relationships.

ICHLD programs are designed to serve mid-career level professionals and advocates working with organizations currently involved in or planning to start collaborative efforts to improve health in their communities.

For further information, contact Virginia Martinez, JD, Director, International Center for Health Leadership Development, at 312-355-1087. Visit their website at: http://www.uic.edu/sph/healthleaders/

  
 



Mid-America Public Health Training Center

The Mid-America Public Health Training Center (MAPHTC) uses a collaborative, comprehensive, integrated approach to training the public health workforce in Illinois and Indiana. The Center uses existing resources in the two states to enhance current and build new infrastructure for attainment of Healthy People 2010 objectives through competency-based, coordinated public health training programs.

  
 



Chicago Environmental Epidemiology Center

The Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Divisions of the UIC School of Public Health house the Chicago Environmental Epidemiology Center. Building upon the school's expanding research and training in environmental epidemiology, the center focuses on the Chicago area, creating a multidisciplinary program which works with other scientists, community groups, and public health professionals to identify and address local environmental public health problems.


 
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