Centers
Our commitment to expanding the science supporting our disciplines has
placed our college first or second in National Institutes of Health funding
for colleges of health professions over the last few years, and among the
top 20 in NIH funding for colleges of public health.
The work of the College of Public Health and Health Professions faculty promises to greatly enhance our understanding of why treatments work and which treatments hold promise for future examination.
Florida Center for Medicaid and the Uninsured | More »
The mission of the FCMU is to conduct research, policy analysis, and education on issues related to access, quality, and cost of health care for underserved populations. Critical to our mission is the timely dissemination of information to policy makers, providers, and advocates. FCMU serves as a campuswide home for researchers and analysts interested in issues related to access to quality health care for Florida's diverse and vulnerable populations with significantly lower rates of employer-sponsored health insurance and higher rates of uninsurance relative to national averages.
Lessons learned in Florida have implications for the nation as a whole. The center advances its mission in a number of ways. First, the center actively pursues grants and contracts from national foundations and agencies to support the work of UF health services researchers interested in underserved populations. Second, the center serves as a resource to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) for the study of issues pertaining to state health policy. In this regard, the center engages in a contractual arrangement with AHCA to research issues that pertain to the development of policy options for Florida Medicaid. The dissemination of data, findings, and policy options to stakeholders is a key element of the center's work. In addition to publication in major health services research journals, the center produces and distributes policy papers, issue briefs, and fact sheets. The center also holds periodic meetings and forums that engage Florida's lawmakers, their staff, and other advocates in health policy debates. Critical to the expansion and sustainability of health services research is the development of younger researchers and analysts. The center is committed to serving as a research base for graduate students interested in low-income and vulnerable populations.
Director: R. Paul Duncan, Ph.D.
Department: Health Services Research, Management and Policy
Phone: (352) 273-5059
Web: http://fcmu.phhp.ufl.edu/
Institute on Community Mobility | More »
This center addresses the safety needs and independence of older drivers and involves an interdisciplinary group of faculty and Ph.D. students with backgrounds in occupational therapy, cognitive psychology, medicine, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science.
The center is funded or has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Highway Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Florida Department of Transportation to address the safety needs and independence of older drivers.
Current collaborative projects involve the UF Transportation Research Center, UF Transportation Center for Traffic Congestion Mitigation, Rensselaer Polytech Institute’s Lighting Research Center, UF Movement Disorders Clinic, UF Department of Ophthalmology, AAA National Office, American Society on Aging, American Occupational Therapy Association, Canadian Driving Research Initiative for Vehicular Safety in the Elderly (CanDRIVE), and Systems Technology, Inc..
Director: Sherrilene Classen, PhD, MPH, OTR/L
Department: Occupational Therapy
Phone: (352) 273-6062
National Rural Behavioral Health Center | More »
A collaboration between the College and the UF Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), the NRBHC supports behavioral health scientists, educators, scholars, and practitioners dedicated to improving the health care status of rural Americans and focuses on: 1) recovery from rural disaster and trauma, 2) violence prevention, and 3) innovative models of health service delivery. NRBHC faculty have traveled to various states training Cooperative Extension professionals, health providers, mental health specialists, EMS personnel, policy makers, and teachers regarding the mental health effects of disasters, school violence, and other critical events.
The center’s activities have included the development of a curriculum entitled Triumph Over Tragedy: A Community Response to Managing Post-Disaster Stress targeted for Cooperative Extension, community leaders, first responders, health professionals, and mental health professionals who play an integral role in helping a community prepare for, respond to, and recover following a disaster. The curriculum was recently expanded to include community-wide mental health approaches to terrorism and bioterrorism, with a special focus on the needs of rural communities. In another partnership, the NRBHC has worked with the Columbia County School District on several grant projects aimed at reducing youth violence and the risk factors associated with violence. Faculty are also working with the Columbia County School District, Dixie County Public Health Department, and Veteran’s Administration primary care clinics to provide behavioral health services in rural communities.
Director: Brenda Wiens, Ph.D.
Department: Clinical and Health Psychology
Phone: (352) 273-5125
Web: http://nrbhc.phhp.ufl.edu/
Hearing Research Center | More »
The Hearing Research Center has recently been re-established and brings together researchers, clinicians, and public health policy professionals interested in issues related to hearing and communication. The center's missions are two-fold, including the discovery of new fundamental knowledge about hearing, hearing disorders, and the physical and biochemical processes that drive those disorders; and translation/application of those findings with corresponding public health outreach to effectively educate health professionals and public populations.
To achieve this mission, the center draws on faculty from the College of Public Health and Health Professions (Clinical and Health Psychology; Communicative Disorders; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Health Services Research, Management and Policy), the College of Medicine (Otolaryngology), and the College of Liberal Arts (Communication Sciences and Disorders; Psychology).
Center-initiated collaborations will complement efforts within the College of Public Health and Health Professions targeted towards joining public health professionals with their counterparts in the health professions. Pooled resources and expertise provide an opportunity for future scientists and health professionals to receive multidisciplinary research training and clinical training with the most current knowledge in the area of hearing loss and hearing protection. The center emphasizes the importance of translational research, and information dissemination to health professionals and the general public.
Director: Colleen Le Prell, Ph.D.
Department: Communicative Disorders
Phone: (352) 273-6163
Center for Telehealth and Healthcare Communications | More »
This center facilitates collaborative multidisciplinary research and clinical training in telehealth by providing specialized technology research, educational, and clinical support services resulting in improved access to health care throughout the state.
The following organizations and departments are currently involved in center activities. The American Telemedicine Association, the Department of Elder Affairs, the Florida Council on Aging, the North and Central Florida Alzheimer's Association, the Northwest Florida Area Agency on Aging, the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Advisory Committee, Easter Seals of Miami/Dade County in Florida, the National Rehabilitation Hospital, the Veterans Health Administration, and the University of Florida College of Dentistry. The Center, in partnership with Elder Affairs, currently sponsors the AlzOnline project, an Internet and telephone-based system of support and information for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease.
Director: William Mann, Ph.D.
Department: Occupational Therapy
Phone: (352) 273-5216
Web: http://telehealth.phhp.ufl.edu/
Center for Pediatric Psychology and Family Studies | More »
The focus of this center is on the relationships between physical and behavioral health, illness, and adjustment in children, youth, and families. Clinical child and pediatric psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and their students work collaboratively on a variety of research activities related to quality of life, adherence to medical treatments, pain and discomfort, coping with issues associated with chronic illness or injury, and the behavioral and social adjustment of children and families. The Center currently supports projects evaluating treatment for children with ADHD, HIV, obesity, traumatic brain injury, asthma, obsessive compulsive disorders, and other health related problems. These interdisciplinary projects involve collaborative efforts between the UF Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, the UF Department of Psychiatry, and the UF Department of Pediatrics (e.g., Divisions of Immunology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Hematology/Oncology). In addition, the Center is active in supporting and organizing national conferences related to research in clinical child and pediatric psychology. For example, in 2006 the Center was a co-sponsor of both the National Conference on Child Health Psychology and the National Conference on Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.
Director: Stephen R. Boggs, Ph.D., ABPP
Department: Clinical and Health Psychology
Phone: (352) 273-6146
Web: http://ppr.phhp.ufl.edu/
Center for Research in Psychophysiology | More »
The Center for Research in Psychophysiology facilitates basic and applied research in human psychophysiology, coordinates training in psychophysiology at the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels, and encourages interaction and scientific communication among psychophysiologists at the University of Florida and between scientists at UF and the broader international community of psychophysiological researchers.
The related NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention is a multi-site, multidisciplinary, and international behavioral science research center, where scientists and scholars share a strong interest in the study of emotion, motivation, and attention. This center is fully funded by NIMH (P50 MH-72850). In addition to the headquarters at UF, with co-investigators from PHHP, Medicine, Engineering, and CLAS, it includes major collaborative projects at Emory University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Chicago, and Karolinska Institute and Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden.
In addition, the CSEA also has a number of affiliated investigators. The affiliated researchers share the general theoretical orientation of the primary center investigators, and have related, active programs of study in the area of emotion and attentional processes. They benefit from their association with the center in having access to the cores for technical consultation and media development, collaborative opportunities with CSEA investigators, and par-ticipation in CSEA meetings and conferences. There are currently 21 formally affiliated investigators, with laboratories both in the U.S. and abroad.
Director: Peter J. Lang, Ph.D.
Department: Clinical and Health Psychology
Phone: (352) 392-2439
Web: http://csea.phhp.ufl.edu/
Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health | More »
Dedicated to the investigation and understanding of the experience of pain in humans and to educate future scientists and health professionals consistent with the most current knowledge in the area of pain, the center involves a collaboration of scientists from several disciplines (clinical psychology, dentistry, medicine, neuroscience, physical therapy, nursing) who have pooled their resources and expertise to more fully understand the etiology, diagnosis, and rehabilitation of pain conditions. Projects range from understanding factors contributing to differences in pain perception to prediction of treatment outcome in chronic pain. Students working in the lab also conduct research in several clinical settings including the Facial Pain Center, the Spine Center, Psychiatry Pain Center, and Rheumatology.
Director: Michael E. Robinson, Ph.D.
Department: Clinical and Health Psychology
Phone: (352) 265-0490
Web: http://www.painlab.org/