Public Health and Primary Care: University of Cambridge

The Department of Public Health and Primary Care was founded in 1976 (called the Department of Community Medicine until 2000).

Key research areas

The major research themes underlying the work of the Department are:

• epidemiological research to understand the causes and natural history of diseases
• the study of the interactions of genetic and environmental determinants of common disease
• the development of biostatistical methodology
• the translation of research into practice and evaluation of the outcomes

Under these research themes, the Department's specific aim is to generate scientific evidence that will help prevent premature death and disability, particularly in relation to common chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, common cancers, dementia, diabetes and obesity, and to help translate this evidence into preventive medicine.

Research collaborations

They maintain strong links with:

• the MRC Biostatistics Unit, the MRC Epidemiology Unit, the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, the Eastern Regional Public Health Observatory (ERPHO), the Health Protection Agency (HPA), NHS Authorities in the Eastern Region, and NHS Trusts
• the Departments of Clinical Biochemistry, Medical Genetics, Oncology and Psychiatry
• the Public Health Genetics Unit and the Cambridge Genetics Knowledge Park.

Further information:

• www.phpc.cam.ac.uk