Harnessing Research to Improve Health

The Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy is the nexus for health research at UConn.

InCHIP-affiliated faculty and students work across many health domains, tackling issues that impact human health from a multitude of analytic lenses and approaches. Together they work toward a shared goal of improving human health and well-being.

The future of health behavior change research is in innovative, advanced methodologies that harness technology and prioritize equity, diversity, and inclusion to prevent and treat chronic diseases.

InCHIP’s scientific wheelhouse lies in the behavioral and social health sciences, with existing or emerging strengths in several key health domains (e.g., food/nutrition policy and obesity, global health, HIV, school and child health, substance use, emotional well-being), cross-cutting issues (e.g., intersectionality, self-regulation, health equity, social drivers of health), and methodologies (e.g., advanced quantitative methods, community-based participatory research, meta-analyses, mHealth and social media, qualitative research, randomized controlled trials, mixed methods).

Project Highlights

With 122 active InCHIP PIs, it is nearly impossible to showcase all the exciting research going on. Below is a brief overview of some of the recently funded projects currently being undertaken by our PIs.

  • hiv metaslider

    HIV Prevention

    Pablo Kokay Valente, assistant professor of Allied Health Sciences, co-authored a study analyzing the preferences for taking PrEP among young men who have sex with men. The study found that participants preferred daily oral PrEP over other forms.

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InCHIP Centers

UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media

The Center for mHealth and Social Media (CHASM) advances the science of digital health by applying existing and developing novel digital technologies to the study of health promotion through research and intervention.

UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health is dedicated to promoting solutions to childhood obesity, poor diet, and weight bias through research and policy.

Collaboratory on School and Child Health

The Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH) facilitates innovative and impactful connections across research, policy, and practice arenas to advance equity in school and child health. CSCH is committed to anti-racist work that prioritizes inclusion, reduces disparities, and creates systemic change

UConn Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention

The UConn Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention (ARMS) is an interdisciplinary research initiative that advances UConn’s institutional capacity to conduct high quality gun injury and violence prevention policy (GVP) scholarship.

InCHIP Funded Projects

InCHIP hosts annual seed grant competitions for faculty pilot projects. Listed below are the projects funded during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

InCHIP Faculty Seed Grants

  • Nicola Bulled, PhD, (Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy) for “Syndemic Analysis of HIV and Cardiovascular Diseases in Urban South Africa” 
  • Pablo Kokay Valente, MD, MPH, PhD, (Allied Health Sciences) for “Evaluating Readiness to Provide HIV Prevention Care Among Healthcare Providers in Sao Paulo, Brazil” 

Seed Grants in College Student Mental Health

  • Natalie J. Shook, PhD, (Nursing) and Katherine Bernier Carney, PhD, RN, (Nursing) for “Developing a Mindfulness Intervention for Undergraduate Nursing Students' Mental Health and Resilience” 
  • Caitlin Elsaesser, PhD, (Social Work) and Gio Iacono, PhD, (Social Work) for “Creating a Socially Engaged Mindfulness-based Intervention: Enhancing Social Work Students' Capacity for Well-being and Social Action” 

Seed Grants Addressing U.S. Health Disparities

  • Sherry Pagoto, PhD, (Center for mHealth and Social Media; Allied Health Sciences) for “A Proof-of-Concept Trial of a Social Media Delivered HPV Vaccine Intervention in Sexual Minority Women” 
  • Crystal Park, PhD, (Psychological Sciences), and Beth Russell, PhD, (Collaboratory on School and Child Health; Human Development and Family Sciences) for “Feasibility of Mindful Yoga for Sex and Gender Minorities to Bolster Young Adults' Wellbeing (the SAGE study): A Randomized Controlled Trial” 
  • Xiang (Peter) Chen, PhD, (Geography) for “Developing Activity-Based Retail Food Environment Measures as a Policy-Relevant Tool to Address Dietary Health Disparities”