Organization and Functional Relationships of the GWU P-20 Exploratory Center of Excellence The Administrative Core of the GWU Exploratory Center of Excellence will be located within the Department of Prevention and Community Health (DPCH) ofthe SPHHS. The DPCH is home to faculty from the social and behavioral sciences, clinical and mental health and epidemiological sciences who teach within the Health Promotion, Maternal and Child Health, Public Health Communications and Marketing, and the Community Oriented Primary Care programs. The department trains Doctors of Public Health as well as Master's of Public Health students and is responsible for a joint MD-MPH degree and PA-MPH degree. It is also home to an internal Prevention Research Center (PRC), originally chartered in 2001 (not externally funded). There are an number of key areas of research in the Department that will support the mission of the GWU Center including: minority health, immigrant/refugee health, community capacity building for prevention and equal access to health services, program development, implementation and evaluation, health across the life course, family health, maternal, child and adolescent health, prevention of unintentional and intentional injuries, smoking cessation, physical activity and prevention of obesity and utilization of community based participatory research/programmatic methods.
