CWRU is one of only 12 networks in the country to help improve services to the public
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine (SOM) has received a Robert Wood Johnson grant to fund a Public Health Practice Based Research Network called The Ohio Research Association for Public Health Improvement (RAPHI). The grant, $90,000 over two years, was one of 7 practice-based research networks awarded this year, making the School of Medicine one of only 12 networks in the country.
"With increasing threats to public health and safety from emerging infections such as H1N1, climate change, and infections spread through the food chain, the need for public health is greater and more visible than ever," said Scott Frank, MD, MS, Co-Principal Investigator, Director of the CWRU SOM Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, and Health Commissioner for Shaker Heights, Ohio. "Finding solutions to health problems such as chronic disease, obesity, mental health, and substance abuse will depend on an effective public health system."
Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks (PHBRN) is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that supports the development of research networks for studying the reach, effectiveness, efficiency and equity of public health practice. A practice-based research network brings multiple public health agencies together to design and implement studies in real-world practice settings. Networks collaborate on individual and multi-site research through the Public Health PBRN National Coordinating Center located at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Findings will advance RWJF's efforts to enhance the evidence base for public health policy and practice.
The purpose of the RAPHI is to allow local health departments and their communities from across Ohio to work collaboratively to conduct cutting-edge research to address the ever changing health challenges facing the nation. RAPHI is intended to investigate what public health does; how public health does what it does; how well public health does what it does; what public health is not doing that it should be doing; and how public health can do what it does better.
The CWRU Master of Public Health program will function as the fiscal agent and lead agency for RAPHI. It will focus initially on how public health can use information technology to improve services to the public by conducting cutting-edge research in public health practice settings with local health departments and their communities, serving as the laboratory and with public health practitioners, developing the research questions of interest.