RESEARCH AND COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTERS AND PROGRAMS
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 in this section.
Formed in September 1997, the Health Research and Policy Centers (HRPCs) are a constellation of five all-university centers that focus on the development and conduct of interdisciplinary health research and the training of future researchers in interdisciplinary research on health behaviors, health promotion, disease prevention, health services/outcomes, and health policy. A 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 five 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.
The Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center (HPDPRC), led by Susan R. Levy, PhD, CHES, professor emerita, community health sciences, encompasses the CDC-supported Prevention Research Center and studies the translation of research into practice, including research on the real-world effectiveness and dissemination of health promotion and disease prevention interventions.
Additionally, a Methodology Research Core, co-directed by Michael L. Berbaum, PhD, senior biostatistician, and 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 throughout UIC who share research interests in these areas are active participants in projects.
Currently, the HRPCs house over fifty research projects and two 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 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 HRPCs’ website at http://www.uic.edu/depts/ovcr/hrpc.
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, Agriculture, and Engineering; 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, funded by the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center for international research and training in environmental and occupational health. Center faculty are currently conducting sponsored research on the effects of the environment on the health of children in Ukraine, biomonitoring of community members exposed to household methyl parathion in Chicago, lung disease in Ukrainian coalminers, and effects of in utero exposure to Chernobyl radiation.
The centers also house 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 two Research Centers of Excellence in Ukraine 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/.
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 visit CADE’s website at http://www.uic.edu/sph/cade/about.htm.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.E.P.A.) operates a network of centers and institutes at universities throughout the U.S. that provide professional training experiences for air pollution control professionals. The Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division has operated one of these centers/institutes for ten years. The purpose of the institute is to assist state and local air pollution control agencies in the acquisition of professional-level skills needed for effective conduct of air pollution abatement programs. The program is carried out using one of three types of training: conventional academic training, intensive short course instruction, and special seminars and short courses on the U.S.E.P.A.'s Distance Learning Network. Conventional academic training offers instruction in air pollution control science and related subjects as required for professional training of air pollution abatement practitioners. Academic training supports students in academic programs leading to the Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Science (MS) in public health degrees. Short courses and distance learning seminars are scheduled throughout the year.
For further information about this program, contact Peter Scheff, PhD, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division, at 312-996-0800.
Housed in the Community Health Sciences Division, the Center for Public Health Practice promotes improvement in public health practice. The following programs provide opportunities for participation by various targeted audiences.
• 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.
• The Illinois Institute for Maternal and Child Health Leadership (IIMCHL) is a year-long fellowship program created to teach 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 312-355-9659 or Drone@uic.edu
• The Illinois MCH DataUse Academy is a year-long training program on how to use data effectively in maternal and child health programs and policy development, with skills-building in the translation of data to action in communities. Director: Louis Rowitz, PhD. For information, contact Ronald Markwardt, PhD, Program Manager, at 312-355-9659 or Drone@uic.edu.
• The Illinois Public Health Administrator Certification Board (IPHACB) program certifies individuals who demonstrate competency in the core skill areas established as essential to conducting administrative activities within public health. Applications are being accepted from individuals in Illinois and Missouri. 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 on-line training courses in instructor-led, self-study formats that address the various needs of the public health workforce. The courses emphasize crosscutting public health skills and competencies in public health practice, public health administration, community health improvement strategies, bioterrorism preparedness, infectious disease prevention and control, public health nursing, and environmental health. 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 is developing and will be offering competency-based, coordinated training programs to address public health workforce development issues in Illinois and Indiana. Director: Louis Rowitz, PhD. For information, contact Sophie Maali, Program Coordinator, at 312-355-3825 or SMaali@uic.edu
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.
For further information, contact Victoria Persky, MD, Director, Chicago Environmental Epidemiology Center, at 312-996-4783.
The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention was formed in 1995 as a strategic public health initiative to support accelerated community-based and citywide violence prevention. The Chicago Project partners with community-based organizations that take the lead in developing comprehensive strategic plans to reduce violence. An advisory board and steering committee comprised of criminal justice, health, religious, and civic leaders provide support to develop strategies and leverage city and county resources for the project and its partners. The project is a national demonstration project supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, The Chicago Community Trust, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The LaSalle Adams Fund, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Michael Reese Health Trust, The Field Foundation of Illinois, the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, The Smart Family Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and the UIC School of Public Health.
The mission of the Chicago Project is to work with its community, city, and county partners in order to reduce violence in all forms. This includes youth violence, gang violence, family and partner violence, elder and child abuse, and sexual assault. The project accomplishes this mission by:
• helping develop comprehensive violence reduction plans in high-risk neighborhoods
• assisting community-based organizations in monitoring and evaluating progress
• facilitating a steering committee for community, city, county, state, and federal cooperation and strategy development
• providing information and training in best practices, prevention technology, and management
• focusing key agency attention on gaps in resources and implementation.
The project offers students valuable training and experience in the areas of community-based prevention planning, evaluation methods and practice, building public health collaborations, and research into best practices. Internships and independent study are both available.
For further information, contact Gary Slutkin, MD, Director, The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, at 312-996-8775.
UIC's Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) was formed in 1998 to respond to a high rate of asthma hospitalization and mortality in low-income and African-American Chicago neighborhoods. Asthma prevalence in Chicago is high, with 13 percent of Head Start children and 16 percent of Chicago seventh and eighth grade students having been diagnosed with the disease. Rates of hospitalization and mortality are significantly higher in low-income and African-American neighborhoods, suggesting that other factors, such as reduced access to health care, are affecting the differential mortality rates. A community-based peer educator program has been developed and is aimed at decreasing risk factors for asthma. In the program, parents of inner-city, asthmatic children are hired and trained to make a series of home visits to modify the home environments of other families with asthmatic children. A randomized trial (funded by the Otho S.A. Sprague Memorial Institute) to examine the effects of the peer educator program on indoor allergens has been completed. Currently funded trials include an examination of the effectiveness of the peer educator program on asthma morbidity in the Chicago Public Schools (funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Mobile C.A.R.E. Foundation), an examination of the effectiveness of peer education on asthma in residents of Chicago Housing Authority developments (funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), and a more extensive trial (also funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) to examine the effects of the peer educator program on the development of wheezing and the development of the immune system in children of pregnant women who are at risk for having children with asthma. The goals of the project are to increase understanding of the dynamic process by which asthma develops in children, identify modifiable risk factors, and demonstrate the effectiveness of intervention strategies that target the needs of underserved populations. In addition, CAPP is working with the Chicago Public Schools on two grants funded by the Joyce Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust to examine the indoor environment of selected schools. In collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Chicago Housing Authority, the Chicago Public Schools, the Health Care Consortium of Illinois, Mobile C.A.R.E Foundation, the Grand Boulevard Federation, the University of Chicago, Access Community Health Network, Lawndale Christian Health Center, and the Chicago Asthma Consortium, CAPP was recently funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a program to reduce asthma morbidity in Region 4 of the Chicago Public Schools.
Opportunities are available for a limited number of students to participate in CAPP. For further information, contact Victoria Persky, MD, Director, Community Asthma Prevention Program, at 312-996-4783.
Established in 1986 as an HIV/AIDS prevention project targeting injection drug users, the Community Outreach Intervention Projects (COIP) currently serve over fifty neighborhoods across Chicago and its suburbs with an array of public health interventions and research studies. The staff of over seventy members includes researchers, service providers, administrators, student assistants, and volunteers. Five storefront fieldstations, a motorhome, and a mobile van unit form the base for COIP's operations. COIP's interventions are known for their use of the Indigenous Leader Outreach Model, which employs members of targeted populations to deliver community-based services. Among the services offered at COIP's sites are: street outreach; prevention education addressing HIV, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases common among impoverished and substance-abusing populations; counseling and testing for HIV, hepatitis, and syphilis; case management; syringe exchange; drug abuse counseling; and free medical care for persons living with HIV.
COIP's research is characterized by the use of longitudinal study designs that employ both epidemiologic and qualitative research methods. Recent or ongoing studies include investigations or evaluations of: 1) HIV and hepatitis infection and associated risk practices among young injecting drug users; 2) the use of indigenous outreach workers to identify and treat tuberculosis infections among hardcore substance users; 3) transitions into drug injection by young people who use noninjected heroin; 4) the impact of syringe exchange on HIV prevention; 5) an intervention designed to prevent hepatitis C transmission among young drug injectors; 6) the virologic and clinical characteristics of early chronic HCV infection, and factors associated with response to treatment for HCV infection; and 7) an intervention that includes the parents of young drug injectors.
COIP has been cited as a model program by the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and a Carnegie Foundation commission. Graduate assistantships and volunteer opportunities are available. For further information, contact Larry Ouellet, PhD, Director, Community Outreach Intervention Projects, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, at 312-355-0145 or LJO@uic.edu.
The Department of Disability and Human Development (DHD) provides interdisciplinary training and field experience in disability and related aspects of human development. DHD, which is closely affiliated with the School of Public Health through joint faculty appointments, offers master's-level students the knowledge and skills needed to serve as leadership personnel in community-based programs serving persons with disabilities. It also provides opportunities for students seeking PhD-level training to become immersed in a richly textured research and academic setting. Coursework and guided study allow in-depth examination of public policy aspects of disability in American society and disability in the context of the U.S. health care system. Qualified students have the opportunity to gain valuable experience in a broad variety of research, clinical, and community service programs carried out within DHD.
While DHD has historically been strong in mental retardation and developmental disabilities, current projects are broadly cross-disability. Forty-five externally funded projects are underway in areas including the Americans with Disabilities Act, assistive technology, health promotion, family adaptation to disability, disabled women's health, the changing demography of disability, empowering people with disabilities, the economics of disability, aging and disability, and a number of related areas. DHD faculty teach courses in the School of Public Health, the College of Applied Health Sciences, the Department of Psychology, and the Jane Addams College of Social Work. Students may combine a specialization in disability with a concentration in areas such as maternal and child health, gerontology, or health promotion and education. Courses in this topic area are CHSC 421 Family Perspectives on Disability, CHSC 464 Survey of Developmental Disabilities, and CHSC 564 Community Integration in Developmental Disabilities. Additional courses are available through DHD. Numerous graduate assistantships are available for DHD students pursuing careers in disability and human development.
For further information, contact Tamar Heller, PhD, Professor of Human Development and Community Health Sciences and Interim Head, Department of Disability and Human Development, at 312-413-1647.
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.
The center's approach is to build upon experience and skills to help program participants strengthen their bridge-building abilities and ultimately to have an impact on collaborative efforts to improve the health of local communities. To accomplish this task, the center is engaged in activities including a fellowship program, policy briefs, workshops, research, and consulting services. ICHLD provides a continuum of services: helping to identify problems, assisting others who are trying to deal with similar problems, and providing opportunities for these individuals to explore what they know and what the center brings as resources to share with program participants.
The Health Partners Fellowship Program is a two-year leadership development program that seeks to prepare a group of leaders committed to creating organizational collaborations between communities and academic institutions to improve health. Persons selected as Health Partners Fellows are likely to be working in health professions education programs, academic health centers, community health centers, community health organizations, or foundations. The Health Partners Fellowship Program focuses on the exploration of the nature of communities, academic institutions, the linkages between them, and strategies for successfully leading a redirection of health professions education and health services.
The center conducts a series of introspective, interactive, and experiential workshops designed to attract individuals who are recognized as having leadership qualities by the people they work with but who are not necessarily "official" leaders with executive titles. The general goal of these workshops is to improve skills of individuals who are addressing health needs by building bridges between institutions and communities.
For further information, contact Virginia Martinez, JD, Director, International Center for Health Leadership Development, at 312-355-1087.
The mission of the Quantitative Methods Support Core for Biomedical Researchers is to provide biostatistical, epidemiological, and data management support throughout the research process and particularly at the proposal-writing stage. Established in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division in 1999, the core identifies and addresses gaps in the methodological expertise on campus that is needed to conduct biomedical research. It supports the Health Science Deans’ Council goal of increasing the number of externally funded biomedical research projects undertaken at UIC, and develops related workshops and short courses on the research process for faculty and staff. Faculty from all campus units are encouraged to avail themselves of the core's resources.
Opportunities occasionally become available for a limited number of students to participate in core projects. For further information, contact Paul S. Levy, ScD, interim director, Quantitative Methods Support Core for Biomedical Researchers, at quantcor@uic.edu, or visit the website at http://www.uic.edu/sph/quantcore/.
UIC AIDS International Training in Research Program
The AIDS International Training in Research Program (AITRP) at the University of Illinois at Chicago is funded through the Fogarty International Center, which is the international training arm of the National Institutes of Health. The UIC AITRP is designed to build long-term scientific capacities that help to address the AIDS epidemic in Chile, Indonesia, and Malawi. The AITRP is a collaborative effort of the UIC School of Public Health, the UIC College of Nursing, the Great Lakes Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) at Northwestern University, and key institutional participants in the three participating countries. The collaborating partners overseas are: The Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, the University of Malawi, the Center for Health Research at the University of Indonesia, and Family Health International in Indonesia. The AITRP is designed to provide biomedical and behavioral science training in HIV/AIDS prevention at the MS, PhD, and post-doctoral levels at UIC for students and practicing professionals from the three participating countries. The program also sponsors short-term "in-country" AIDS research training for U.S. minority scholars and helps to foster cooperative scientific relationships between the program's collaborating countries, UIC, and the Great Lakes CFAR. The program focuses on Indonesia, Malawi, and Chile as training sites because of the gravity of the AIDS epidemic in each area, the need for clinical and behavioral science research to meet this increasing problem, and the presence of existing collaborative relationships with the proposed partners upon which to build and sustain a research infrastructure in each country.
For further information, contact Judith A. Levy, PhD, Director, AIDS International Training in Research Program, at 312-996-7825, or Beverly McElmurry, EdD, RN, FAAN, Co-Director, at 312-996-3035, or view AITRP's website at http://www.uic.edu/sph/aitrp.
The UIC School of Public Health has developed the Health Professional Partnership Initiative (HPPI) in collaboration with the Early Outreach Program of the UIC College of Education, the Illinois Area Health Education Center, and ten Chicago Public Schools. As part of a national initiative by the Association of Schools of Public Health, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve the diversity of the health care workforce, HPPI's purpose is to create a K-12 and post-secondary public health education pipeline that will increase the number of master's and doctoral degrees achieved by students from groups underrepresented in the health care professions. Such diversity is necessary given rapidly changing demographics. It is also aimed at contributing to the elimination of disparities between the health of minorities and non-minorities.
The program will follow a cohort of students from participating schools for a period of five to ten years. During this time, the project will increase the visibility of public health and public health career options among students; provide services that will increase the performance of students in reading, mathematics, and sciences; support science and mathematics fairs; develop bridge programs for students transitioning between grammar school and high school and between high school and college; work to increase the participation of students in UIC's Guaranteed Professional Program Admissions Initiative; provide SAT/ACT skills-building training; provide paid summer-enrichment programs; provide a public health speakers’ bureau for schools; and conduct teacher in-services on public health for counselors and teachers of science and mathematics to enhance their knowledge of the field.
For further information, contact Shaffdeen A. Amuwo, PhD, MPH, Associate Dean for Community, Government, and Alumni Affairs, at 312-996-5955.