To advance implementation science research, practice, and education, in partnership with communities, to reduce health disparities.

Building a healthier and more equitable world through implementation science.

Community partnership is central to everything we do. To us, community partnership means engaging with community members from start to finish. The process begins with collaboratively determining a community’s self-identified needs. It continues with participatory processes that treat academics and community partners as equals in research and implementation. It highlights community partners’ roles as experts in the issues they are facing. And it ends with the creation of shared networks of committed relationships characterized by sustainable mutual benefit and reciprocity.

We strive to produce rigorous scientific evidence that meaningfully and sustainably impacts health outcomes. We set high standards for ourselves in the research we conduct and maintain these standards through the development of research and administrative infrastructure and the codification of successful protocols and procedures. The Center infrastructure enables us to apply cutting-edge research methods to test innovative solutions to pressing public health problems. It also creates ample space for professional development, producing the next generation of implementation scientists.

We take an expansive view of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), both in the interventions we implement and within our organization. To us, DE&I means centering the experiences of people who have historically been marginalized, especially on the basis of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, language, and/or ability. We strive to develop interventions in partnership with marginalized communities to directly address structural determinants of health, confront social inequities, and work for social justice. We recognize that the achievement of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce within our Center requires the involvement of marginalized community members in leadership and decision-making processes.

We highly value multidisciplinary collaboration. To us, a multidisciplinary approach entails drawing from a wide range of fields, from psychology to sociology to public health and medicine. We use and appreciate the power of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, and intentionally apply each of these. We treat each other and our collaborators—across departments and schools, at all career levels—with high levels of collegiality, professionalism, and respect. We emphasize practices that facilitate team cohesion, making our Center a place where faculty and staff can thrive.