RAND-University of Pittsburgh Health Institute
Activities and Programs
RUPHI’s current activities focus on establishing productive working relationships among health services researchers at RAND, the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences and other partnering institutions, and developing financial (and other) mechanisms to support this process.
- In FY 2007, RUPHI established a Pilot Grant Program which provides funding for junior investigators at both institutions to collaborate on health services research projects. The projects are required to collect pilot data that will be used in the development of extramural proposals in each of RUPHI’s strategic areas of growth.
- A RUPHI Postdoctoral Scholars Program in Health Services Research and Health Policy is also underway. The RAND-University of Pittsburgh Scholars Program is a unique two-year post-doctoral fellowship opportunity open to individuals seeking to pursue careers in health services research and/or health policy. The Program is sponsored by RUPHI, supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and housed jointly within the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Health Care and RAND Health in Pittsburgh.
- Additional mechanisms for facilitating inter-institutional relationship building include the University of Pittsburgh Center For Research on Health Care (CRHC), the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP), and RAND research seminar series; a community-wide health services researchers’ email list serve; and the RUPHI website.
RUPHI’s future goals include the development of a broad-based health services research agenda that will address health policy issues of importance to the Pittsburgh community.