Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 19, 2007|Volume 36, Number 7

Yale to create ‘think tank’
for improving public health

The Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) will lead an initiative to develop a blueprint for improving the nation’s public programs with support from a $400,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Paul Cleary, dean of YSPH, will convene the nation’s leading public health experts and stakeholders to develop Public Health Services and Systems Research (PHSSR). This is a growing field that focuses on the organization, staffing, financing and management of systems that are the backbone of public health services.

“This project will bring a number of the best thinkers in the areas of health care and private sector services and systems together with leaders in public health,” Cleary says. “We hope that sharing ideas and approaches will help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of systems that promote and protect health across different populations.”

The field of Public Health Services and Systems Research, says Dr. James Marks, senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “is imperative in building the evidence to help public health agencies improve the quality and efficiency of their performance, be accountable to the communities they serve and ultimately help all Americans live healthier lives.”

A number of activities are planned. These include convening a panel of government officials, academicians, researchers and practitioners to develop an agenda for future research; sponsoring presentations at national meetings to foster relationships with policymakers and practitioners and to identify the resources that are needed to expand PHSSR activities; and holding a meeting at the foundation next year in which grantees and junior investigators can discuss progress made in the field and to identify opportunities for collaboration and dissemination.

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Yale to create ‘think tank’ for improving public health

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Campus Notes