The mission of the Center for Public Health Systems Science (CPHSS) in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis is “to create sustainable solutions to public health problems, leading to healthier individuals and communities.” The center’s team conducts research and evaluation to create a better understanding of how evidence-based policies and organizational systems affect these problems, then translates research results to inform chronic disease prevention policy and improve public health practice.
Systems Science
The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been instrumental in supporting new research and training in systems science, including some of the research being conducted at CPHSS. Researchers in this area analyze networks and relationships, model systems and agents within those systems, and offer a promising approach for tackling the complex nature of public health.