Public Health Systems, Services & Research

Learn about Advancing the State of the Art in Community Benefit projects

The Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) is a nationally recognized leader in transforming public health practice to advance health equity to create healthier communities. It is a collaborative of public health directors, officers, senior managers and staff from the 11 San Francisco Bay Area health departments and the California Department of Public Health.

At BARHII, lessons learned are shared and strategies and resources developed; committees focus on data, community engagement, built environment, social determinants of health, structural racism and building health departments’ capacity.

Learn about Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative projects

Berkeley Media Studies Group works with community groups, journalists and public health professionals to use the power of the media to advance healthy public policy. To do this, BMSG conducts research to understand how news, entertainment and advertising portray health and social issues. Through media advocacy training and consultation, BMSG helps advocates harness lessons from that research and develop the skills they need to become stronger voices in policy debate and illuminate the need for improving the places where all people live, learn, work and play.

Learn about Berkeley Media Studies Group projects

The California Environmental Health Tracking Network emphasizes the development of spatial analysis and visualization methods that enable state-of-the-art systems for predicting geographically related exposures to environmental hazards and relating those exposures to health indicators.

Learn about California Environmental Health Tracking Network Program projects

The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the nation's largest state health survey, is a collaboration of PHI, the California Department of Public Health, the California Department of Health Care Services and the University of California at Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research. CHIS data are a critical tool in developing programs and policies to fight health threats such as obesity.

Learn about California Health Interview Survey projects

California's current health workforce is composed of more than one million individuals. In order to supplement and replace the retiring professionals with California residents over the next 30 years, CHWA works to educate and develop more than one million new and upcoming healthcare professionals.

Learn about California Health Workforce Alliance projects

PHI assists the California Department of Public Health, Cancer Surveillance and Research Branch with the administration of the California Cancer Registry for California Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7/10. These regions comprise the Cancer Registry of Greater California (CRGC) and geographically cover the entire state except for Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast regions.  Registry operations include collecting, processing and compiling cancer data.  PHI also uses the data to support regional cancer surveillance and cancer control activities.

Learn about Cancer Registry of Greater California projects

Today's public health challenges are complex and rapidly evolving, and they call for a new approach to leadership development. The Center for Health Leadership and Practice (CHLP) brings leaders together to improve population health in their communities. Using diverse strategies, we lead programs for teams, coalitions, initiatives and professional networks. Current and previous partners include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The California Endowment, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits Southern California.

Learn about Center for Health Leadership and Practice projects

In Asia, the two largest consumers of tobacco are China and Indonesia, together representing 412 million smokers. The Center for International Tobacco Control (CITC) was established in 2006 to conduct research studies and programs to address the tobacco problem in these two countries. CITC promotes effective tobacco tax policy and tobacco policy alternatives; works on tobacco farming issues and crop substitution; promotes public education around tobacco; promotes smoke-free environments; and trains local tobacco control researchers.

Learn about Center for International Tobacco Control projects

The Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development integrates research, training, and advocacy in adolescent sexual health and rights with two primary goals. First, we promote better sexuality education and communication for youth and parents, with special attention to the sexual health needs and rights of foster youth and other underserved populations. Second--providing a critical foundation for the first--we work to enhance the field's understanding, critical appraisal, and appropriate use of social science theory, research evidence, and rigorous scientific inquiry.

Learn about Center for Research on Adolescent Health & Development projects

The Pacific ADA Center (Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center - DBTAC) works to build a partnership between the disability and business communities and to promote full and unrestricted participation in society for persons with disabilities through education and technical assistance.

Learn about DBTAC: Pacific ADA Center projects

GOJoven is a multi-year youth development fellowship program focused on building the capacity of young leaders and their organizations in Mesoamerica to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes through reducing adolescent pregnancy, maternal mortality, and HIV/STI rates and strengthen the enabling environment to sustain this progress.

Learn about GOJoven projects

The Health in All Policies Task Force is a collaborative project between the Public Health Institute, the California Department of Public Health, and the California Strategic Growth Council. Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improving population health by incorporating health considerations into decision-making across sectors and policy areas. HiAP is an innovative response to increasingly siloed government structures, rising healthcare costs, growing inequities, and growing awareness of the impact of the social determinants of health.

Learn about Health in All Policies projects

Data is the foundation of sound decision making, especially when tackling complex health issues. Organizations have literally hundreds of thousands of data points available to them, from publicly available data to their own in-house information. Capturing those numbers and translating them into a meaningful story is challenging. Public Health Data Solutions (PHDS) harnesses powerful online technologies that allow organizations to easily collect, manage and share data. PHI leverages decades of experience in improving health outcomes to help clients identify which tools and technologies will provide the greatest impact, integrate these custom solutions into their work and bring their data to life. Read the overview.

Learn about Public Health Data Solutions projects

The Public Health Trust (PHT) works with private attorneys, government agencies and public health organizations interested in using litigation settlement funds to improve public health. PHT manages settlement funds with a focus on transparency and accountability. PHT grantees address a wide range of public health issues from marketing of food, tobacco products, exposure to toxic substances, medication access, and air and water quality.

Learn about Public Health Trust projects

The Regional Asthma Management and Prevention (RAMP) program is a collaborative that promotes strategies for reducing asthma through a broad and comprehensive approach that includes clinical management and environmental protection. RAMP brings together diverse partners such as public health and community-based organizations, schools, medical providers, and environmental health and justice groups to join forces in reducing the burden of asthma with a focus on communities inequitably affected by the disease.

Learn about Regional Asthma Management and Prevention Program projects

The Survey Research Group (SRG) specializes in conducting population based health-related surveys, using one of the most technologically advanced call centers in the country. Since 1987, public health officials, advocates and researchers use the data for a variety of purposes: tracking health risks, identifying emerging problems, improving treatment, and evaluating programs. SRG’s mission is to foster health, well-being, and quality of life through rigorous quantitative and qualitative research guided by the principles of equity in health, environment, education and economic context.

Learn about Survey Research Group projects