The Center for Healthcare Policy and Research has close to 100 members who are able to take advantage of these valuable offerings. If you would like to join them, please download and complete a membership application.

The Center for Healthcare Policy and Research (CHPR) facilitates research activities in the areas of health policy, healthcare delivery, quality, and comparative effectiveness. 

Under the direction of Joy Melnikow, M.D., M.P.H., the CHPR is a valuable resource to researchers in these areas who need assistance in grants development, project implementation and management, or financial administration.  Center members work with our experienced teams to move research projects through all phases, from proposal to final reporting, and everything in-between. 

Grants Development

Our pre-award team has recently responded to calls from a variety of funding agencies, including:

• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• The National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH)
• American Cancer Society (ACS)
• UC Berkeley California Program on Access to Care (CPAC)
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Grants development team members are familiar with a variety of funding agency requirements, and can navigate the maze of paperwork and online submission materials that typically accompany calls for proposals.

Team members obtain ongoing training to assure that they are knowledgeable in the most current requirements, both from funding agencies and from the UC Davis Office of Research.

Project Management and Experienced Research Teams

Funded projects need strong project managers and research teams.  Our staff includes seasoned managers who are familiar with the nuanced requirements of health services related research.  Project managers work with investigators and stakeholders (both internal and external) to oversee skilled teams of researchers, research assistants, analysts, and biostatisticians, all with specialized expertise in the areas of health services, health policy, healthcare quality and cost effectiveness research. 

Financial Management

Nowhere is the unique nature of academic research more fully apparent than in the often frustrating area of financial management.   Our financial managers are adept at working with the special needs associated with complicated research budgets.   We pleasantly and proactively work with investigators to make sure projects stay on track and within budget. 

Educational Opportunities

In addition to our project expertise, the CHPR regularly sponsors a variety of educational events.  Annual conferences provide in-depth opportunities to learn more about a topic related to the work that we do, and typically feature presentations from renowned subject matter experts. 

Our popular weekly Seminar Series features research-related presentations on a wide variety of topics, and also provides an opportunity for junior faculty and others to present preliminary results or discuss work-in-progress with senior faculty and research mentors. 

The Center also manages the Primary Care Outcomes Research Fellowship Program, under the direction of PCOR Fellowship Director Patrick S. Romano, M.D.  In this program, primary care physicians are trained and mentored for academic careers in primary care research. 

CHPR History and Mission

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.  Dr. Bertakis resumed as Director in 2007, and Dr. Melnikow became director in 2008. 

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Center is to facilitate research, promote education and inform policy about health and healthcare.

The Goals of this Mission are to improve the health of the public by contributing new knowledge about:
          • access
          • delivery
          • cost
          • outcomes

Current emphases include disparities, clinician-patient interaction, utilization, cost-effectiveness and quality.

The Center is an interdisciplinary, collaborative research unit that will perform the following Functions:
          • development and support of interdisciplinary collaboration on research projects related to the Center’s Mission
          • education and career development for scholars with interests in health services and health policy research
          • synthesis, interpretation and dissemination of research findings that assist healthcare policy formation and improve health services delivery