What We Do

The Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH) was established in 2000 with an integrative mandate: to support research into the complex biological, social, cultural and environmental interactions that determine the health of individuals, communities and global populations; and to apply knowledge to improve the health of individuals and populations through strategic partnerships with population and public health (PPH) stakeholders and innovative research funding programs. The IPPH mission is to improve the health of populations and promote health equity in Canada and globally through research and its application to policies, programs and practice in public health and other sectors.

IPPH plays a dual role in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). It works externally with public health and population health researchers and partners and internally to enable CIHR portfolios and Institutes to meet their Theme 4 mandate under the CIHR Act (i.e., to support research focused on the health of populations, societal and cultural dimensions of health and environmental influences on health).

Research includes but is not limited to:

  • health promotion policies and strategies (individual, community, and population based); related health outcomes research
  • health determinants - to elucidate the multi-dimensional factors that affect the health of populations and lead to a differential prevalence of health concerns
  • identification of health advantage and health risk factors related to the interaction of environments (cultural, social, psychological, behavioural, physical, genetic)
  • methods and practice; education, information management, communications
  • disease, injury and disability prevention strategies at the individual and population levels; identification and study of special populations (e.g. rural populations)
  • environment and health (e.g. radiation, contaminants, ecosystem and health, air quality)
  • socio-economic and cultural determinants of health (e.g. poverty, social status, access to services, literacy, community characteristics)
  • public and community health issues - surveillance, monitoring, information and data, laboratory studies (e.g. safe water)
  • workplace and occupational health research including physical, chemical, biological and organizational factors in the workplace
  • health policy formation at community, regional, provincial, national and international levels; relation to health outcomes
  • basic methodology development (e.g. epidemiology, biostatistics, survey development, surveillance tools, tools for risk evaluation, risk perception, modeling complex interactions)
  • multiple interventions research to determine the best combination of interventions, providers, and conditions to address population health issues
  • underlying mechanisms through which social and physical environments influence human biology
  • development and implementation of health technologies and tools (e.g. surveillance technologies, detection devices, database design)
  • toxicology
  • ethics issues related to population health (e.g. poverty, exposure to hazards)