Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Practice-Based Research Network in Public Health

The Foundation's initiative, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Practice-Based Research Network in Public Health, was designed to develop a practice-based research network for public health to help stakeholders understand how public health systems research can be used to improve public health performance and impact.The evidence base on how best to organize, finance, and deliver public health services across U.S. communities remains thin, leaving policymakers and administrators with limited empirical guidance for establishing public health programs, laws, and budgets. The purpose of the Foundation's Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRN) program is to expand the volume and quality of evidence on effective public health practice through networks of practitioners and researchers that collaborate to conduct studies in real-world practice settings. A Public Health PBRN brings multiple public health agencies together with research partners to design, implement, translate, and disseminate studies that are both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to practice and policy decisions. To date, 12 Primary PBRNs have received core RWJF funding and support through the program, and an additional 13 Affiliate PBRNs participate in program activities without having received core RWJF funding. The PBRNs focus their studies on public health services and systems research, a field of inquiry that identifies how best to organize, finance, and deliver public health strategies and to elucidate the comparative health and economic effects of these strategies. As of July 2012, more than 900 state and local public health organizations have participated in designing and implementing 45 funded PHSSR studies through the 25 public health PBRNs.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $538,239.00

Awarded on: 10/25/2012

Time frame: 11/1/2012 - 10/31/2013

Grant Number: 70363