A new Iowa Institute of Public Health Research and Policy (IIPHRP) will bring together researchers, public health practitioners, community leaders, private partners, and policy makers to expand the scope, scale, and impact of public health research at the University of Iowa.

The institute, based in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, was approved Thursday, Oct. 23, by the Iowa Board of Regents at its meeting in Iowa City.

“This new institute will promote cutting-edge public health research to address grand challenges in population health,” says Sue Curry, dean of the UI College of Public Health. “Today’s public health researchers are exploring the origins and transmission of epidemic diseases, designing clinical trials, speeding translation of biomedical advances into front-line clinical practice, and evaluating community-based efforts to improve public health in areas such as childhood obesity, women’s health, and agricultural safety.

“The IIPHRP will provide significant infrastructure to foster new research collaborations, promote public-private partnerships, and showcase the transformative public health research taking place here,” says Curry.

The institute will gather existing collegiate expertise and infrastructure such as research study design, analysis, implementation, and dissemination, as well as financial management, human resources, research staff training, and career development. Plans also call for pilot grant funding for new investigators, sponsorship of mini-conferences and seminars, hosting visiting scholars and ‘executives in residence’ from the private sector, and incubator initiatives to help junior faculty build collaborative research teams, compete successfully for grant funding, and establish effective community relationships.

“Community engagement is the cornerstone of public health research,” says Curry. “Ultimately, the IIPHRP will be a pipeline to speed translation of public health research to communities in Iowa and beyond our state to help achieve the goal of better health for individuals, families, and society as a whole.”

Initial IIPHRP activities will be supported by collegiate and extramural resources and sustained by grants and private philanthropy. The Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, a federally funded center directed by Keith Mueller, UI professor and head of health management and policy, will be a flagship component of the new institute. Public-private partnerships, such as the College of Public Health’s Business Leadership Network, which is building relationships with small- and medium-sized business leaders in Iowa communities, will be fostered through the institute as well. A competitive application process will be established for teams of faculty to develop center and other large-scale research proposals to be based in the institute.

The IIPHRP will further the UI’s strategic vision of being a distinguished research institution with vibrant academic programs, according to UI Provost and Executive Vice President P. Barry Butler.

“In addition to making the University of Iowa a more effective research enterprise, this institute will enhance scholarly collaborations for faculty and provide exciting new educational opportunities for students,” says Butler. “Visiting scholars, experts, and in-residence leaders from the private sector will enrich students’ educational experience, and enhance faculty recruitment and retention.”