Linking Research and Public Health Practice: A Review of CDC's Program of Centers for Research and Demonstration of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (1997)

In response to a request from CDC, the Institute of Medicine has established a committee to evaluate the Centers program to see if the program is providing the public health community with workable strategies to address major public health problems. The committee 's report will discuss and make recommendations regarding (1) the overall quality of the health promotion and disease prevention research and demonstration projects being carried out at the Prevention Centers, and (2) CDC's management and oversight of the Prevention Centers.

During its deliberations, the committee will address the following questions:

1. How innovative is the research conducted by the Prevention Centers? To what extent are university-initiated research and demonstration projects devoted to new and significant public health issues, new intervention strategies, or new methods to improve the practice of public health?

2. What criteria do and should CDC and the universities use to select health promotion and disease prevention research and demonstration projects and to judge their results?

3. To what extent are the findings of the research and demonstration projects and related research disseminated? What methods are used to disseminate the results of the research and demonstration projects? Are they effective?

4. To what extent are the findings of research and demonstration projects incorporated into prevention practice, particularly by state and local health departments?

5. What is the appropriate balance between research supported by core center funding, special interest projects, and other research funding programs; between health promotion research and disease prevention research; and between basic research in health promotion and disease prevention and development of interventions?