Research & Centers
Research
Our faculty, staff, and students perform impact-oriented research to improve human health and wellbeing. Most of our work focuses on the wicked problems of the world, which are “wicked” because of their complexity. Whether dealing with inequities in access to healthcare or nutrition, or the negative health impacts of climate change or biodiversity loss, the challenges we face are part of complex systems. We need input from the full diversity of biophysical and social sciences, from ecologists to economists, computer scientists to communication specialists, and population modelers to policy scholars. But more than that, we need (and have!) faculty who collaborate across their disciplinary areas of expertise and develop lasting partnerships outside of academia. Transdisciplinary, engaged research is essential to understand how these complex systems work, so we can achieve significant and lasting change.
Areas of Focus
Our faculty work on topics related to environment and health, the social determinants of health, infectious disease, and healthy food systems. Many of our faculty, and many individual projects, cross even these very broad categories. Our faculty lead several national basic and applied research and practice centers as well as international efforts to effect positive change at scale. Our research is funded by a wide variety of federal and state agencies, foundations, and even the private sector.
Environment & Health
Human health depends on the health of both the natural and built environments.
Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the systems and conditions in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age.
Infectious Disease
Infectious disease research focuses on the ecology, biology, and health impacts of viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic agents, as well as the arthropod vectors that can carry and transmit diseases.
Healthy Food Systems
Healthy food systems ensure access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food for all, while promoting sustainable, equitable practices across the entire food chain, from production to consumption.
Centers
Cornell Public Health is proud to be recognized as a leader in impact-oriented health research and professional practice. Our transdisciplinary approach positions us to attack pressing health challenges and needs at an upstream level—preventing problems before they occur.
Our NIH-funded Center for Research on Climate, Health and Equity in a Changing Environment (C-CHANGE) performs community-engaged research designed to proactively prevent spillover of viral pathogens and disease outbreaks, instead of reactively responding to them.
In a national partnership with the CDC, we focus on strengthening public health systems and the public health workforce through our Health Impacts Core, equipping them to promote health, wellness, and resilience within rural communities.