The University of Pennsylvania Prevention Research Center (UPenn PRC) was established in the fall of 2014 with a five year, $4,350,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It serves as a hub for interdisciplinary chronic disease prevention research, training, and dissemination at the University of Pennsylvania. The UPenn PRC is one of only 26 Prevention Research Centers in the nation and is the first in Philadelphia.

The UPenn PRC brings together Penn researchers from a variety of disciplines to conduct innovative public health and disease management research aimed at preventing chronic disease and reducing health disparities in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It aims to strengthen public and private sector community partnerships, improve understanding of how behavioral economics and public health strategies can reduce health risks, and extend training, education, and communication in high-risk and underserved populations in the region.

The UPenn PRC is directed by Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, George A. Weiss University Professor and professor of epidemiology and nursing, and Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, professor in the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and professor of health care management at The Wharton School. Drs. Glanz and Volpp are joined by researchers and faculty members from the Perelman School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the Wharton School, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The UPenn PRC team is dedicated to promoting well-being, health equity, research translation, and evaluation of population-based and sustainable community health and clinical interventions.