UCLA School of Public Health

As part of the School of Public Health, the PMR can place Residents in all Departments and Centers within the School. The PMR enjoys particularly strong ties with the Departments of Community Health Sciences, Epidemiology and Health Services, and the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

• Academic Departments. The School is organized around five core Departments: Biostatistics, Community Health Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology and Health Services. The School's mission to "develop, disseminate, and apply pertinent knowledge that can assure conditions that promote health" is fulfilled in part by "training researchers in public health," "conducting research to define, protect and improve conditions for a healthy public," and by "contributing knowledge, expertise and service to the community." This is reflected in the high quality of research carried out in each Department.
  
  
• Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. As a joint venture of the Schools of Public Health and Medicine, the Center's mission includes conducting research related to health promotion and disease prevention. The Center collaborates with regional and national professional health organizations, such as the American College of Physicians, with whom the Center is distributing and evaluating the "Put Prevention Into Practice" program.
  
  
• Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. This Center was established in 1979 by the California State Legislature. In addition to educational and service components, its mission includes promoting and conducting research in occupational and environmental health.
  
  
• Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center. One of only eight CDC funded injury prevention research centers nationwide, is dedicated to the understanding and prevention of injuries of all kinds, particularly in high-risk and underserved populations.
  
  
• Center for Health Policy Research. In addition to its service and educational activities, this Center conducts research on national, state and local health policy issues, focusing on the health status of population groups, systems of health care, and community-based interventions to prevent disease and promote health.

The UCLA System

As one of the most respected research institutions in the world, UCLA provides a broad range of opportunities for the preventive medicine resident to engage in research outside the School of Public Health. Many of the units involved in prevention-oriented investigation have close historical ties with the PMR, and share faculty members and research interests. A few of these are listed here.

• Center for the Study of Latino Health. David Hayes-Bautista, a noted researcher in Latino studies, directs this Center. The activities of the Center embrace a wide range of issues, including the health status of immigrants, health beliefs and practices among Latinos, and the impact of this population on the health of California. This center has worked on a CDC sponsored demonstration project to help improve adult immunization levels in elderly Latinos in East Los Angeles.
  
  
• Clinical Nutrition Research Unit. Located in the School of Medicine, the CNRU is the only National Cancer Institute clinical nutrition research unit in the U.S. Its Director, Dr. David Heber, is a recognized expert in the prevention of cancer through dietary modification. A postdoctoral fellowship, the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases training program, focuses on obesity and nutrition. The Unit also has a National Cancer Institute nutrition curriculum development grant for integrating prevention and nutrition into the education of medical students.
  
  
• Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. This Center is one of only 28 National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S., and one of two in California. Directed by Patricia Ganz, M.D., the division is involved in the full spectrum of basic science research, clinical research, prevention and cancer control research, professional and public education, and information. Dr. Antronette Yancey, who sits on the PMR Advisory Committee, works at the Center. More than 40 disciplines are represented in the Center, with faculty from every school in the Center for Health Sciences.
  
  

UCLA Primary Affiliates

• Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Although not primarily a research institution, the "County" has through its long association with UCLA developed a considerable reputation as a center for applied research. Applied research is carried out in each of the numerous traditional public health sections of the Department on a daily basis. Some units, such as Acute Communicable Disease Control, publish regularly and are well known in their field. In addition there are numerous demonstration projects, consortia, and other applied research opportunities throughout the County.
  
  
• Sepulveda Veterans Administration Medical Center. The Sepulveda VA has a comprehensive clinical preventive medicine program and funds one full time UCLA preventive medicine resident. The Primary Ambulatory Care and Education Center is experimenting with providing primary/managed care within the VA. The "WellVet" Clinic focuses on health risk appraisal clinic and behavioral modification counseling. There is a Smoking Cessation clinic and a general Preventive Medicine Program which has working groups ranging from exercise to weight management to evaluation/ research: the resident is integrated into all aspects of these clinics. The VA also sponsors the VA/UCLA Multicampus Health Services and Primary Care Research Fellowship Program, which provides training in health services research and policy skills.
  
  
• West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center. The "Wadsworth" VA also offers a wide range of opportunities for research, particularly in the area of clinical preventive medicine.

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