Who We Are
The Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR), founded in 1990, is dedicated to providing policymakers, public health officials, health care administrators and advocates with the information and ideas they need to improve access to quality, affordable health care. As a key component of the Department of Health Policy, CHPR has a research and policy agenda that spans a wide range of timely topics mirroring our areas of study; this provides maximum research-based learning for students.
Research Activities
The Center for Health Policy Research is home to several extensive policy-based programs representing national initiatives of major foundations.
- Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy
- Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
- Medical Education Futures Study
- Speaking Together: National Language Services Network
- Strategties to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance
- Urgent Matters
- Expecting Success: Excellence in Cardiac Care
- GWU YES Center
Other key areas of research in the CHPR include:
- Federal and state legislation, laws and policies
- Managed care
- Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
- Medicare
- Health disparities, and civil rights and health policy
- Safety net providers and underserved populations
- Welfare reform
- People with disabilities
- Behavioral health policy, including mental illness and addiction disorders
- Maternal and child health
- Immunization law and policy
What We Do
The Center's research activities are designed to develop practical solutions to real-world problems, to inform public debate and to assist all stakeholders in the policymaking process. Our work emphasizes research aimed at strengthening insurance coverage, improving health care for low-income, medically underserved and vulnerable populations, tackling complex problems that are found at the intersection of public health and health care, and strengthening the health care safety net. The Center's research serves as the training ground for new leaders in health services and public health research and policy.
In order to transfer its research and policy findings to those who need them, CHPR faculty and staff:
- Oversee national research and policy programs for major foundations.
- Publish in a wide array of settings aimed at reaching policy makers, from peer-reviewed journals to rapid-turnaround policy briefs on cutting-edge issues.
- Develop textbooks and textbook materials.
- Make presentations in every setting in which policy gets made, from Congressional hearings and formal briefings for senior Executive agency officials to national conferences and community forums.
- Provide technical assistance and training on a wide range of topics to federal, state and local policymakers and agencies, as well as to community and philanthropic organizations.
Faculty
At the core of CHPR's research and policy initiatives are the faculty and staff of the Department, whose academic training has been bolstered by professional experiences in government service, law, public health, clinical practice, management, research, and politics. Together they have dedicated hundreds of person-years of work on virtually every cutting-edge issue in U.S. health policy today.
Contact Us
Center for Health Policy Research
2021 K St., NW, Suite 800
Department of Health Policy
School of Public Health and Health Services
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 296-6922
Fax: (202) 296-0025
Email: info@gwhealthpolicy.org
Web site: Center for Health Policy Research
Director: Leighton Ku, Ph.D
