Centre for Health Research

The Centre for Health Research is an interdisciplinary centre that conducts world-class research on health services and the factors that determine their use, costs and outcomes. The Centre for Health Research is a part of the School of Medicine.

Mission

The Centre for Health Research conducts large-scale, multidisciplinary research to tackle major health challenges for Western Sydney, and similar communities nationally and globally.

As well as collecting original health and clinical outcome data, the Centre aims to make best use of existing health data collections. It has unique expertise in using large, linked health datasets and applying innovative analytic techniques (including multilevel modelling, methods for spatial and geographic analysis and data mining), in conducting randomised controlled trials to assess self-management and preventive interventions and in qualitative research examining the construction and experience of health

Goals

The four key goals of the Centre are to:
1.    Generate new knowledge about health services and their outcomes
2.    Build capacity for health services and outcomes research
3.    Engage industry partners
4.    Ensure good research governance

Research themes

The Centre for Health Research works in partnership with health services and policy agencies to conduct its research across four major themes:

• Health policies and services: This research identifies variations and disparities in the use, outcomes and costs of health services, investigates the factors that drive these, and develops and tests interventions to improve the organisation and delivery of health services.
• Preventing chronic disease: This research investigates biological, behavioural, environmental and social determinants of chronic diseases, their impacts on quality of life, morbidity, and mortality, and interventions to prevent and control them and to promote health.
• Mental health and wellbeing: This research investigates approaches to improving the quality of life of people who experience depression, stress and anxiety, sexual and reproductive health concerns, physical problems including pain and cancer, and weight and eating disorders.
• Healthy Environments: This research elucidates relationships between features of the environment–natural, social and built–and health in order to model health impacts and to identify ways to manage and adapt to environmental challenges to health.