Rationale: A New Kind of Institute
Most Texas Universities organize their research programs into centers and institutes as a way to marshal funds and focus highly-specialized expertise. Since research priorities are set within the scientific community, findings and results tend to stay there as well, restricted to the readership of scholarly journals and conference attendees. Just as specialized knowledge from academic studies seldom finds its way to outside audiences, problems and issues of concern to policymakers and to the health care community have a difficult time making their way into university-based research.
The Institute for Health Policy is organized differently than conventional research centers and institutes to ensure that pressing problems get in and relevant results flow out. Rather than having its own cadre of research scientists and grant portfolio, it relies on alliances with other research centers throughout the campus for its scientific expertise and combines this with active partnerships among potential, external users. The result is a flexible and adaptive mechanism for synthesizing and communicating findings, while linking them to external needs. The central focus on health policy aligns the Institute with efforts to solve public health problems and ensures that these remain a legitimate part of the academic health science center’s curriculum and research responsibilities.
