The field of implementation science seeks to systematically close the gap between what we know and what we do; the Implementation Science Program (IS Program) at the UW Department of Global Health (DGH) aims to do it better.
What if one of the leading contributors to disability and death worldwide wasn’t a disease, infection, or virus? What if it was a systematic failure to prioritize the question “how do you get what works to the people who need it?”
Even successful methods for diagnosing, treating and caring for people who are suffering from cancer are not enough without effective, practical tools and guidance for putting those methods into practice.
How do we connect what we know about population health with what we do to improve it? The 2017 issue of Northwest Public Health examines the ties between social determinants and population health outcomes, and the successful policies, systems changes, interventions, innovations, and strategies being used to improve the health of whole populations.
What if we had a systematic approach to bringing research findings to on-the-ground settings around the world? What if we could ensure that research findings did more than just populate academic journals, and in fact, improved health for millions of people?