The Cambridge Institute of Public Health Research examines influences on population health throughtout the life course, from birth to death
Meeting the challenges of non-communicable disease
The Cambridge Institute of Public Health research examines influences on population health throughout the life course, from birth to death.
The four main non-communicable diseases; cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes, kill three in five people worldwide, and pose great challenges to society in the developed and developing world. Longer life can also raise an individual’s chance of developing dementia and other diseases associated with ageing.
The CIPH confronts these challenges through research programmes that range from the biological to the political, from the microscopic to the population level. For example, at the same time that the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit is examining blood based markers to predict and prevent heart disease, the Centre for Diet and Activity Research is studying the effect of transport infrastructure on physical activity.
The MRC Epidemiology Unit has studies looking at early growth and development in children and how this affects the likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes and obesity in childhood and adulthood. Whilst the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience is looking at cognitive abilities in late life including memory, attention, emotion and language.
An ideal setting
Cambridge has a strong tradition of innovative research in biological and health sciences, from William Harvey to the discovery of DNA, by Watson and Crick in 1953.
Cambridge’s scientific strengths are complemented by an integrated and vibrant healthcare community. Addenbrooke’s Hospital is both a large district general hospital and a tertiary referral centre, with a large and diverse patient population. Addenbrooke’s is part of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Academic Health Science Centre, which includes the University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Cambridgeshire has a county-wide mental health and community care service. This already has public health integrated with local authority which serves the same population, with potential for a county-wide clinical commissioning arrangement.
The region also has a mature public health observatory, which has been providing synthesised information for population within geographical boundaries for many years. East Anglia has a coherent, relatively stable population with a range of socio-demographics, rural and urban, rich and poor, young and old.
The Cambridge Institute of Public Health harnesses the expertise, structures, resources, communities and patient populations to generate high quality research outcomes. These benefit local communities and also provide learning that is transferable nationally and internationally.
