Research Initiatives
Center for Healthy Living
Good health is fostered when health is approached from a broad-based ecological perspective that recognizes the complex interaction of biology, behavior and environment as basic determinants of health.
Throughout the course of a lifetime, there are critical periods when interventions can make an important difference—primary interventions during childhood, secondary interventions during the teenage and early adulthood years, and tertiary interventions for mid and later life when one may already have a chronic illness. The Center for Healthy Living works to address health problems from this multi-dimensional perspective, with an understanding that social disparities (in mental health, physical health, education attainment, etc.) are also a central factor in ultimately determining health status.
The research conducted by the Center will be closely linked to policy and practice. There is an emphasis and commitment to move the findings of the laboratory and office to the community—transferring best practices from "publication" to "public action." This is reflected in current projects that are linked with various communities throughout California, the nation and the world. Some examples include the following:
Children and pesticide exposure: CHAMACOS
CHAMACOS is a community-university partnership investigating the environment and children's health in the Salinas Valley, Monterey County, California. CHAMACOS is examining routes of pesticide exposure to children and their potential health effects and developing sustainable strategies to reduce pesticide exposure among children. CHAMACOS is also engaged in studying which factors in the environment might cause or exacerbate asthma in children. Overall, the goal of CHAMACOS is understand the relationship of the environment to children's health and develop interventions that reduce the incidence of environmentally related childhood disease.
Asthma project: FACES
The Fresno Asthmatic Children's Environmental Study (FACES) will measure the effect of air pollution among children aged 6-11 years with asthma. FACES is divided into two separate but fully integrated components. The first component assesses the health effects of selected air pollutants on asthmatic children. The second component is designed to characterize the daily air pollution exposure of participants to selected pollutants in Fresno.
Obesity
The long-term health of California adults and children is in serious trouble because of a combination of bad eating habits and inactivity. The number of overweight or obese people rose nearly 50 percent between 1984 and 1997, with the number of people frequenting fast food establishments rising from 33 percent in 1989 to nearly 50 percent in 1997. The treatment of illnesses related to obesity costs Americans $93 billion a year, rivaling the financial toll of smoking-related diseases. The School of Public Health's Center for Healthy Living, in collaboration with the College of Natural Resource's Center for Weight and Health, will focus on nutrition, exercise, and stress management to address the obesity epidemic facing the nation. Special attention will be given to addressing the eating and exercise behavior of children and adolescents with a focus on California's diverse ethnic population. The Center will also provide public advocacy and technical assistance services to family organizations, schools, and others addressing the obesity epidemic.
Multicultural Health and Health Disparities
Understanding the persistence of significant health disparities among our communities, the Center for Health Living will focus on analyzing the social determinants of health disparities and strengthening cultural competency in clinical and agency settings. Support will be used in part to more closely connect students to underserved low-income communities and to foster community-based research and practice initiatives.
Public Health Practice
The Center for Healthy Living helps link teaching, research, and the practice of public health. It accomplishes this in part by working with numerous community partners to offer students with paid internships during the summer and academic year, paid and volunteer jobs, practice-based class projects and case studies and workshops with leading practitioners. Through these opportunities, students can contribute to the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions designed to reduce health disparities and/or improve the access and quality of programs and services.
Aging
A special initiative of the Center for Healthy Living will be a focus on aging. With the aging of the baby boomers, California's elderly population is expected to nearly double in the next 25 years. These unprecedented numbers of elders in the coming decades will face the risks of disease, frailty, and dependence. The need to understand the factors that promote health and independence and those that lead to disease and disability has never been more urgent. The challenge is to make these added years as healthy and productive as possible. This initiative will build on the School©ös continuing work on aging and the Geriatric Resource Center. Longitudinal studies of the diet, physical activity, social support and community environments of older citizens will be undertaken. Funds will also be used to expand the School©ös curriculum and educational offerings on issues of healthy aging. Current ties to retirement communities, nursing homes, and adult day health centers will be expanded. Further study will be undertaken to examine technological advances, such as smart cars, in home technology for independent living, stem cell research, telemedicine, and related developments.
Because of the diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area, it is an ideal testing ground for public health interventions—interventions and findings that can serve as models for communities throughout the nation and can be used to develop local, regional and national policies.
Targeted Financial Goal: $10 million
