UCLA Center for Health Advancement

An elderly couple on bikes

Mission

The UCLA Center for Health Advancement (the center) provides enhanced analysis and evidence-based information to help policy makers decide which policies and programs can best improve health and reduce health disparities.

Projects

Our research projects include:

The center analyzes a wide range of timely health-improvement opportunities, identifying those supported by strong evidence. It presents and disseminates the results of these analyses in plain language to those who make and influence public and private-sector policies and programs. The center also provides training and technical assistance to facilitate implementation of recommended approaches.

The work of the center is supported by scientific staff and faculty from multiple academic departments of the Fielding School of Public Health and other UCLA schools reflecting a wide range of subject matter and methodological expertise, including expertise in non-health sectors, such as education, transportation, housing, environmental protection, community planning, agriculture, public welfare, and economics. It has strong collaborations with governmental public health agencies, foundations, academic institutions and other not-for-profit organizations. Within the health sector, its work is focused on how alternative investments to wasteful expenditures in health care can yield greater returns.

With its core expertise in health equity and population health, the center's research collaborations enable an enhanced, broadened understanding of how to improve the public's health and health equity effectively and efficiently. Topics for analysis are selected based on an understanding that the major determinants of our collective health and health disparities are the social, economic and physical environments.

Center News

August 25, 2020
State-level Earned Income Tax Credit linked to reduction in high-risk HIV behavior among single mothers

Dr. Nina Harawa, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of epidemiology, co-authored research published in the journal AIDS and Behavior that found a 10% tax credit was associated with a 21% reduction in high-risk HIV behavior among single mothers.

Source: UCLA Health Read Full Article
Two scientists in laboratory
March 10, 2022
Report: Premium cigar ingredients as harmful as cigars and cigarettes

Dr. Steven Teutsch, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management, led a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine team investigating the health effects of "premium" cigars.

Source: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Read Full Article