A number of established research centers at the University of Connecticut perform work relevant to public health. Many are important, dynamic resources with strong community connections. Many of the directors of these Centers are involved and make important contributions to the public health initiative. Opportunities will be sought to enhance their work, visibility, and interactions across the University and the State. The descriptions and brief summaries listed here have come from either Center directors or from the web sites maintained by the respective center.

The Alcohol Research Center (ARC)

The Alcohol Research Center (ARC) at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine was established in 1978 by a research center grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a branch of the National Institutes of Health. The Center is the first funded by the NIAAA to focus on both the etiology and treatment of alcoholism. Although alcohol research remains the central focus, the ARC now has programs that encompass research on other psychoactive substances, (including heroin, marijuana, cocaine), pathological gambling, and HIV/AIDS. The ARC’s research programs have grown to include grant and contract support from several NIH institutes, the World Health Organization, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, private industry, and other sources.

Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development (CHHD)

Director: Sara Harkness, Ph.D., MPH, Professor of Human Development, Family Studies, and Anthropology.; CPHHP Faculty member, Ph.D. in Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Web site: http://www.familystudies.uconn.edu/centers/centers/chhd/main.html

The Center for the Study of Culture, Health and Human Development (CHHD), and its related Graduate Certificate Program, were established with the goal of addressing the need for interdisciplinary scientific collaboration, training, and outreach related to human development and health in cultural context. In 1999, University Chancellor Fred Maryanski appointed Sara Harkness as Director of the Center and Codirector, with Charles M. Super, of the Graduate Certificate Program. A core CHHD activity is an interdisciplinary colloquium series, offered annually in the spring semester, in which leading and emerging researchers from UCONN and other universities present their current work related to the intersecting concerns of the three fields. The CHHD Certificate program offers two core courses: A seminar in CHHD (coordinated with the colloquium series) and a project seminar in which students develop and carry out a research project of publishable quality, under the supervision of the program Director and CHHD faculty mentors. To date, six doctoral students have completed all requirements for the program and have been awarded their Graduate Certificate in Culture, Health and Human Development. At least three of these projects have been presented at major scientific meetings in the U.S. and internationally. The CHHD has also served as a context for interdisciplinary communication and the generation of research collaborations among participating faculty members, an effort supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation from 2001 to 2003.

Center for Environmental Health

Director: Lawrence Silbart, MPH, Ph.D., Professor and Department Head; Allied Health Sciences; CPHHP Coordinating Committee, Academic Development Task Force, Academic Executive/Admissions Committee, Ph.D. in Public Health (Toxicology); MPH (Toxicology and Industrial Hygiene), Concentration co-chair, Occupational and Environmental Health
Web site: http://ceh.uconn.edu/

Originally established in 1986 by a competitive grant award from the Connecticut Department of Higher Education under the Fund for Excellence Program, The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has continued to pursue its research and outreach activities designed to examine and discuss environmental health matters of concern to Connecticut and beyone. The Center is committed to improving the quality of life for our citizens by enhancing the quality of the environment in which they live and has consciously fostered an interdisciplinary approach to the resolution of environmental problems.

The mission of the Center for Environmental Health at the University of Connecticut is to facilitate environmentally related research and to provide a resource for accessing scientific information related to the environment. The major activities of the Center include sponsoring a conference series entitled “Connecticut’s Environmental Health Concerns” and supporting graduate students involved in environmental health research. In view of the multidisciplinary nature of environmental problems, the Center has approached its mission by bringing together individuals and groups representing diverse areas of expertise. In 2007, the CEH migrated to the Department of Allied Health Sciences, with Dr. Silbart named as its director.

Connecticut Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (CEHDL)

The mission of The Connecticut Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos(CEHDL) is to contribute to the elimination of health disparities among Latino(a)s through the formation of human resources, community-based research, and culturally appropriate outreach/extension. CEHDL is an EXPORT Center funded by the NIH Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. CEHDL is structured as a consortium led by The University of Connecticut (PI: Rafael Pérez-Escamilla) in close partnership with The Hispanic Health Council (Co-PI: Grace Damio), and Hartford Hospital (Co-PI: Laurine Bow). CEHDL has four cores and coordinates a type 2 diabetes randomized community trial.
The Administrative Core is based at UCONN’s Department of Nutritional Sciences with the goal of providing overall coordination and direction to CEHDL. The Center director is advised by an internal and an external advisory board and works in strong partnership with CEHDL’s steering committee, deputy director, and assistant director.
The Research Core is responsible for promoting scientific exchanges in the area of health disparities through a seminar series, an annual conference, interactive workshops, and an annual mini-grant competition.
The Research Education and Training Core concentrates on the recruitment, retention, and formation of underrepresented minorities in the area of health disparities. This is achieved through high school recruitment, undergraduate and graduate curriculum development, cross-cultural community field experiences, summer stipends, and research assistantships.
The Community Connections Core is based at The Hispanic Health Council and is responsible for developing and testing innovative training, applied research, and outreach partnerships with minority communities.
CEHDL is also conducting a randomized community longitudinal trial at Hartford Hospital examining the impact of home based peer counseling on behavioral, metabolic, and health outcomes among inner-city Latino(a)s with type 2 diabetes. In addition to its scientific contribution toward reducing health disparities, this study serves as a prime mechanism for CEHDL’s training and outreach activities.
Last update: 02/21/08

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Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE)

Comprising over 80 faculty members in most of the Colleges and Schools at the University, CESE has a mission to catalyze multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach in environmental sciences, engineering, policy, and sustainability. To support this mission, CESE directly funds a number of faculty lines (Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering; Chemical, Materials, & Biomolecular Engineering; and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology), provides infrastructural support via EPA-certified Analytical Laboratories in Metals and Nutirents, operates an Office of Business Services, and funds Graduate Research Fellowships as well as Multidisciplinary Summer Research Awards for Graduate Students. In addition, CESE is a collaboratory and synthesis center for multidisciplinary environmental research and graduate education.

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Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP)

The Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to the study of the dynamics of health risk behavior and processes of health behavior change in individuals and targeted at-risk populations. CHIP, under the direction of Jeffrey Fisher, Ph.D., provides theory-based health behavior and health behavior change expertise and services at the international, national, state, university, and community levels. Since its founding, CHIP researchers have launched major new health behavior change initiatives at the University of Connecticut, including new work in the areas of HIV prevention, medical adherence, diabetes management, cancer prevention, nutrition, pharmacology, substance abuse, health information technology, and other health domains.
CHIP serves as nexus for investigators at the University of Connecticut and other institutions as a means to stimulate collaborative partnerships for the development of major research initiatives in health behavior change. CHIP has created a multidisciplinary network of over 90 affiliate investigators at the University of Connecticut with expertise in health behavior change and intervention that spans several University of Connecticut campuses and represents nearly all Schools and Colleges within the UCONN system. The network enables CHIP to assemble teams of investigators able to respond within short time frames to large-scale research funding opportunities as they arise. In addition to of stimulating multi-disciplinary collaborations and major funded research initiatives in health behavior change, CHIP is also committed to the science of disseminating effective interventions and providing scientifically-based behavior change expertise, capacity building, and technology transfer for national, international, and local agencies and organizations performing health behavior change intervention.
Chip Cancer Prevention Group
In 2005 CHIP began to expand its research focus to specifically target cancer prevention and control and has made significant efforts to identify existing research strengths at UCONN in this area, to build upon these existing strengths, and to build collaborative relationships with researchers from the University of Connecticut Health Center who are also interested in cancer prevention and control. In September, 2005 CHIP hired Stacy Cruess, Ph.D. to lead our efforts in promoting behavioral cancer prevention research, both within and across the university campuses. Tremendous gains have been made in the past year toward the development of a Storrs-based research program in cancer prevention and control as well as further strengthening the relationship between researchers from CHIP and the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
We have identified over 30 researchers from the UCONN Storrs campus and UCHC, as well as CHIP affiliates from nearby institutions that have an interest in cancer prevention related research. Communication among this group is facilitated both formally and informally through e-mail listserves and periodic meetings. Efforts are made to promote members’ cancer related research by regular communication of relevant funding opportunities, resources and scholarly articles and through referral to potential collaborators within and across the university campuses.

Center for Health Communication and Marketing

The Center for Health Communication and Marketing, housed within UCONN’s Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP), is the one of the first federally-funded centers to focus on health communication. During the three-year funding time frame, two communication tools will be developed using what is known as “an educational entertainment approach,” to deliver messages about safe sex and the dangers of using club drugs to hard-to-reach teen and young adult audiences. The Center also will work with public health departments in all 50 states to analyze their health communication activities and identify programs they have designed that may be appropriate for duplication in other states or nationwide.

Center for Health Promotion

The Center for Health Promotion offers interdisciplinary health promotion programs that prevent and/or attenuate disease and disability progression, restore and maintain function, and foster optimal physical and psychosocial well being. The intent of Center’s collaborative activities is to provide a rich resource for faculty and student learning and research that expands the existent body of scientific knowledge relating to health promotion and disease and disability prevention. The potential benefactors of the Center for Health Promotion initiatives are the University of Connecticut student , faculty and staff, the community, business and industry, and school systems. The Center for Health Promotion targets under served persons of all ages within these various settings.

The Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Practice and Policy (Ethel Donaghue TRIPP Center)

Web site: http://trippcenter.uchc.edu

The TRIPP Center’s mission is to facilitate health services and practice-oriented translational (T2) research of practical benefit to the University, local and regional primary care providers, patients, health systems, and policy organizations (including local and state governments). Accordingly, it is designed to provide an interdisciplinary collaborative home where University-affiliated clinicians, researchers, staff, and students will have access to research capacity and training and where Community researchers, clinicians and other interested parties can seek research guidance and opportunities for collaboration. These supports are essential for local health care providers, educators, state agencies, health systems and other Community stakeholders who often lack the resources, time or expertise to develop fundable research solutions independently (Community is defined as local and regional primary care providers, patients, health systems, and policy organizations including local and state governments).

Center for Nursing Research

Mission: The Center for Nursing Research (CNR) was established in 1991 to support faculty, staff, students, and community health care professionals in developing research programs. Resources for these groups include an 800 sq. ft. research lab with fourteen workstations having direct access to the mainframe computer, library, and internet. Software programs available on the PCs in the lab include: SPSS, BIOSTAT Power and Precision, BIOSTAT Meta-Analysis, Nudist6, and NVIV07, and other research-related software.
Various support personnel are available through the CNR and School of Nursing. Work-study students, graduate assistants, and administrative specialists are available to support research efforts from an idea to publication. In addition, every doctoral student in the program must participate in a minimum of two semesters of mentored research activity often occurring through affiliation with faculty members engaged in sponsored research. This requirement provides highly motivated, pre-doctoral scholars who collaborate in ongoing research efforts at no cost to grants, in effect, providing some matching effort from the School of Nursing.

Occupational and Environmental Health Center

The Occupational and Environmental Health Center (OEHC) at UCONN Health Center combines clinical services, research, training, and consultation designed to improve occupational health for workers and businesses in Connecticut and the region. We at the OEHC pride ourselves in translating the latest discoveries and knowledge in occupational health into useful services for workers, employers, and professionals. We have a multi-disciplinary team that includes medical professionals (physicians, nurses, and support staff), industrial hygienists, ergonomists, bioengineers, epidemiologists, and public health professionals.
The OEHC has specialty programs in ergonomics, indoor air environments, acoustics, and reproductive health hazards. Resources include the Ergonomic Technology Center, the Center for Indoor Environments and Health, and the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace (CPH-NEW), a collaboration with UMass-Lowell and UCONN Storrs.
In addition to routine occupational health services, we offer:

• Medical Director services by physicians board-certified in occupational medicine
• training and educational programs for workers, companies, and professionals
• expert consultation by industrial hygienists, ergonomists, and physicians
• cutting edge research on vibration, ergonomics, indoor air quality and mold, reproductive health hazards, and occupational disease surveillance.
• professional training for occupational medicine residents and other physicians
• teaching in the Masters of Public Health Program
• Employee Assistance programs for state agencies and private employers
• Employee Health services for UCONN Health Center employees
• Adoption Assistance Program for Connecticut families

A.J. Pappanikou Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities

The Center for Public Health and Health Policy (CPHHP)

The Center for Public Health and Health was established in 2003 as a cross-campus initiative to coordinate and promote public health efforts across the University. A new Ph.D. in Public Health program began in January 2007 with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. A second concentration in Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences has been approved and will begin in Fall 2008.