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Center for Public Health Practice (CPHP)
The Center for Public Health Practice advances evidence-based public health practice in Lebanon and the region. It creates opportunities for innovation and engagement that enrich the academic experience of students and faculty.
The Center nurtures the culture of collective responsibility, partnership building, diversity and social justice.
Within the framework of its mission, CPHP has adopted the following strategic goals:
- Generate and disseminate knowledge to inform public health practice, research, policy and curriculum.
- Respond to public health priorities and emerging crisis through innovative programming and sustained partnerships for health and development.
- Lead the field of workforce development in public health locally and regionally.
- Establish platforms for meaningful community engagement of FHS students, faculty and staff.
CPHP collaborates closely with a variety of partners including national, regional and international entities such as academic institutions, ministries, UN agencies, NGOs, municipalities and local communities in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world.
The Center for Systematic Reviews on Health Policy and Systems Research (SPARK)
The Center for Systematic Reviews on Health Policy and Systems Research (SPARK) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) is one of four Systematic Review Centers on Health Policy and Systems Research and the first of its kind in the Region. The Center is a joint collaboration between the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) and the Faculty of Medicine (FM). SPARK Center was appointed as the General Secretariat of the Global Evidence Synthesis Initiative (GESI).
SPARK specializes in the production of high-quality and timely systematic reviews and rapid reviews that respond to health policy and systems research priority issues at the national and regional level. SPARK also invests in developing individual and institutional capacity in the region in conducting systematic and rapid reviews of Health Policy and Systems Research.
SPARK Activities:
- Conduct priority setting exercises with policymakers and other stakeholders, researchers, and civil society to prioritize review topics on health policy and systems research
- Produce timely systematic reviews and rapid reviews on prioritized topics and review questions
- Hold national and regional capacity-building workshops to develop individual and institutional capacities in conducting different types of research evidence syntheses
- Prepare SUPPORT summaries and hold deliberative dialogues to promote the uptake of evidence from systematic reviews and rapid reviews into policies
- Contribute to the methodology of research synthesis and knowledge production
SPARK develops a diverse set of products including systematic reviews, rapid reviews, scoping reviews, SUPPORT summaries, and evidence gap maps.
Center for Research on Population and Health (CRPH)
The mission of the Center for Research on Population and Health is to support research on issues at the intersection of population and health in Lebanon, the region and internationally, and to disseminate findings to scientists, policymakers and the public.
The Center has led a multi-disciplinary research program on a variety of regional public health issues, including reproductive health, mental health, childbirth, youth, tobacco control, HIV and community interventions to improve nutrition. Members and affiliates of the Center are epidemiologists, physicians, social scientists and public health professionals, with concern for social determinants of health and how new evidence can contribute to policies and interventions to improve health, who combine expertise in particular public health issues.
The Center hosts a number of regional research networks. It conducts reviews of evidence and produces research syntheses on public health issues of importance in Arab countries. The Center promotes interdisciplinary research and innovative approaches to research, and fosters exchanges and collaborations among AUB faculty, graduate students and colleagues in the Arab region and beyond through conferences, workshops and seminars.
The Center hosts MPH practicum students, MS thesis projects and provides students and researchers at FHS with support in survey development and data management and analyses; access to regional data sets; and support for new areas of research. Pending availability of funds, CRPH also hosts researchers who wish to visit the Faculty of Health
Sciences with the goal of collaborating with FHS faculty or of pursuing innovative research or writing activities.
Knowledge to Policy Center (K2P)
Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center draws on an unparalleled breadth of synthesized evidence and context-specific knowledge by producing briefs and conducting policy dialogues to impact policy agendas and action. K2P produces high quality policy products to help policymakers and stakeholders have the clearest understanding of the most important messages, options and recommendations to address pressing health and social system problems.
K2P harnesses the best available evidence on pressing health and social systems priorities; convenes concerned policy makers, stakeholders, thinkers, researchers and doers; and prepares leaders to meet pressing health issues by building their capacity in public policymaking.
The K2P team comprises a program manager, communication officer, an advocacy lead and evidence lead specialists.
K2P Functions and Activities:
- Inform the production, packaging and sharing of research data and evidence in an objective manner and based on current and emerging policymaking priorities
- Utilize a rapid response system to inform policymaking in an objective manner using the best available evidence that can be prepared and packaged within time and resource constraints
- Conduct evidence informed advocacy and support implementation in policy and practice
- Conduct policy tracing research and develop models for knowledge translation that are context- specific, culturally appropriate, relevant and effective for the region
- Support research networks, civil society, researchers, policy makers and the media
- Engage with citizens to enhance their involvement in the decision and policymaking process on high priority issues
- Build the capacity of researchers, policymakers and media in knowledge translation (KT) and evidence communication methods to influence policy, practice and action
K2P develops a diverse set of KT products including K2P Policy Briefs, K2P Briefing Notes, K2P Rapid Response, K2P Evidence Summaries, K2P Dialogue Summaries, K2P Advocacy Briefs, K2P Citizens Briefs, K2P Citizen Consultation Summary, and K2P Media Bites. The center has the K2P Mentorship Program that supports research and policy organizations in the six regions of the World Health Organization (WHO). K2P leads the COVID-19 Rapid Response Series.
