Current Status
Public health agencies increasingly rely on scientific evidence for solutions to issues of health promotion and disease prevention and control. Some success has already been achieved in developing multidisciplinary health research teams within Wayne State University and the University of Windsor, and collaborative teams between the universities. Currently, WSU and UW conduct public health research through various groups, centers and institutes, including:
- The WSU-UW Vaccination Research Group, which investigates the cause for variations in vaccination rates between Canada and the US, and strategies for improvement;
- The WSU-UW Gambling Research Group, which looks at gambling addiction on both sides of the Detroit River and its financial and social impact;
- The WSU-UW Women and Violence Research Group, which focuses on sexual assault perpetration and victimizatio n;
- The WSU-UW Childhood Obesity Research Group, which examines large educational systems as they relate to child health outcomes;
- The WSU-UW Public Health Mapping Group, which relates land use to health outcomes;
- The WSU-UW Language and Communication in Health Research Group, which studies language and communication for multilingual, multicultural patients and providers;
- The WSU-UW Workplace Safety Research Group, which looks at issues of occupational health and safety;
- The WSU-Henry Ford Health System INPHAASE program, which funds research devoted to understanding the biological and social bases for health disparities among populations of differing demographics and to testing alternative strategies to overcome the reasons for these disparities. The core of INPHAASE research is directed toward the problems of disease prevention and management and health promotion in large urban areas;
- WSU’s Center for Urban and African American Health, which focuses on disparities in health outcomes for cardiovascular disease and cancer in urban populations;
- WSU’s Center for Health Research which targets urban health and self-care;
- WSU’s Karmanos Cancer Institute, which investigates cancer outcomes in various racial and ethnic study populations;
- UW’s Health Research Group, which fosters collaborative interactions among the 40 or so researchers at the University of Windsor involved in diverse aspects of health research. Research focus areas include Health Services and Policy Research, Infection and Immunity, Population and Public Health, Gender and Health, Cancer Research, Circulatory and Respiratory Health.
Issues of ethnic based disparities in health outcomes, of chronic disease detection and control, of effective healthcare delivery, of community based health promotion, and of protection from bioterrorist threats are ideally addressed by developing solutions based on comparing approaches and results from differing health systems.