Research

Researchers at The Insitute are discovering solutions for healthier living and improved health services. 

View recent project abstracts in:
Aging
Biomedical Ethics
Cancer
Child and Adolescent Health
Chronic Disease
Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology
Global Health
Health Behavior and Health Education
Healthcare Research
Infectious Disease
Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Nutrition and Physical Activity
Pharmacoepidemiology
Women’s and Reproductive Health

 

Research Opportunities and Guidance

 

Featured Institute Studies

Vanderbilt-Shanghai Chronic Disease Research Training Program (VU-Shanghai CDRTP)
The Vanderbilt Institute for Medicine and Public Health and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health are partnering with the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control (Shanghai CDC) and Prevention, Fudan University, and the Shanghai Cancer Institute (SCI) to establish the Vanderbilt-Shanghai Chronic Disease Research Training Program (VU-Shanghai CDRTP) to train the next generation of chronic disease researchers and build research capacity and local training facilities in China. This program will have a significant impact on chronic disease research and prevention in China, and possibly extend to other developing countries.

The CDRTP will:  (1) train a cadre of experts to conduct multi-disciplinary research in chronic disease and build training capacity in China; (2) train a new generation of scientists and future leaders in chronic disease research in China; (3) build research capacity in China and to establish long-term collaborative relationships with Vanderbilt chronic disease researchers; (4) ensure and document the long-term success of the training program in China as facilitated and upgraded through this award; and (5) build national and international leadership in chronic disease research and  prevention through existing and newly established networks. The training program includes short-term scholar training (3-months at Vanderbilt), graduate training (1-2 years of didactic course work at Fudan University, a 3-month research practicum at the Shanghai CDC or SCI, and 1 year of thesis research at Vanderbilt), workshops, and an international conference. The training will focus on advanced epidemiological and biostatistical methodology, design and execution of multidisciplinary research projects, and building expertise on cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes research, as well as grant writing skills. The Vanderbilt-Shanghai CDRTP, building upon the strength of existing research and training programs and long-standing collaborations among the participating institutes, will have a significant and long-term impact on chronic disease research and prevention in China.  Funded by the NIH Fogarty International Center

Providing Choice to Nursing Home Residents: A Quality of Life Intervention
Offering nursing home (NH) residents choices about their daily life activities is intuitively important for both residents’ psychological well-being and their quality of life. Recognizing this, federal regulations require that NH staff offer choices to residents during daily care provision.1 However, there is little data about how to train staff to offer residents’ choice and the associated labor costs of adding this component to daily care provision (e.g., is more staff time needed to offer and comply with residents’ choices?). In addition, there are sparse data that describe the resident outcomes associated with staff provision of choice during daily care (e.g., effects on psychological well-being, quality of life, depression). We will present preliminary data that illuminate challenges to offering and complying with NH residents’ choices, including the prevalence of cognitive impairment among residents and apathy in the NH population. In addition, we will present data from a nationwide sample of NHs that suggests two underlying problems: 1) documentation of residents’ preferences for daily care is often absent from care plans, and 2) staff do not consistently communicate with residents during care delivery in a manner that encourages active choice. It should be noted that only limited conclusions about care quality can be drawn from these preliminary data for two reasons. First, it is unclear how many residents are capable of stating stable preferences for daily care useful for care planning purposes. Second, it is unclear how many residents actually want to be offered choices about their daily care activities. The purpose of the proposed study is to develop assessment and intervention strategies that NH staff can use to increase resident involvement in making choices about four activities of daily living that occur during morning care. Funded by the National Institute on Aging