Established in 1990, the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRC) is the only such center in Federal Region 7. The IPRC aims to use interdisciplinary research to control and prevent injuries, especially in rural communities. Over the last five years, the IPRC has grown to include 39 researchers from 16 departments, as well as, a wide network of community and government collaborators. These researchers have published more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and have successfully competed for more than $52 million in injury research funding. Over the next five years, the IPRC will continue its tradition of excellence in research, training, outreach, and administrative supervision. The center will be organized into a Management Team that oversees daily operations, an Executive Committee that implements our vision for the center, three Cores, six Expert Research Teams, and five research projects. The Research Support Core, Training Core, and Administrative and Outreach Core provide services to IPRC partners, including a very successful pilot grant program that is funded through institutional support. The six Expert Teams are organized around our priority research topics: Simulation and Human Factors;Interpersonal Violence;Behavioral Sciences and Evaluation;Acute Care;Rural Injuries;and International Research. Teams promote the growth of research within their topic areas by linking researchers to IPRC Core services, mentoring students and junior faculty, and engaging with community partners. Our five independent research projects address a wide variety of injury topics: an evaluation of a teen driving safety program;measurement of psychosocial consequences of collegiate athletic injuries;an evaluation of improvements of Batterer's Education Programs;a foundational study to design a domestic violence intervention;and an examination of how children negotiate challenging road-crossing situations on their bicycles. This last project will use the country's only bicycle simulator. These projects include Principal Investigators from Community and Behavioral Health, Engineering, Social Work, Epidemiology, and Psychology and involve partners such as the Department of Corrections, local schools, and health care clinics. The center's proposed activities constitute a broad, multidisciplinary, and collaborative program in research, training, and outreach.
