The Center for Healthcare Policy and Research (CHPR) was established in 1994 by Founding Director Klea D. Bertakis, MD, MPH.  Originally known as the Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, the Center’s mission is to facilitate research, promote education and inform policy about health and healthcare.  

The CHPR is an Organized Research Unit which brings together the talents of researchers representing a broad spectrum of disciplines from the School of Medicine, the Davis Campus, and other organizations.   With this multidisciplinary approach, the CHPR helps investigators wishing to examine questions pertinent to health services access, delivery, cost and outcomes, with an emphasis on healthcare policy. 

For more than a decade, the Center has provided the administrative resources and technical expertise crucial to implementing this kind of focused, collaborative research.  The Center has provided educational opportunities to students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and has, through seminars, symposia, expert testimony and consultation, provided opportunities to inform those responsible for making decisions that affect healthcare policy. 

In 1996, Richard L. Kravitz, MD, MSPH, was appointed Director, and he served in that office until 2006.  Today, Dr. Bertakis, always active as a member of the Center’s Executive Committee, once again serves the Center as its Director.   Under her direction, the Center continues to provide quality services to Health Services researchers and investigators.