About the Prevention Epicenters Program
CDC’s Prevention Epicenters Program is a unique research program working to implement innovative strategies to improve healthcare quality and patient safety. CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) began the Prevention Epicenters Program in 1997 as a way to work directly with a network of academic medical centers to address important scientific questions regarding prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), antibiotic resistance, microbiome health (gut bacteria), and other healthcare-associated adverse events.
Through the Prevention Epicenters Program, academic leaders in healthcare epidemiology can work together and with CDC to conduct innovative research designed to fill gaps in public health knowledge. The emphasis on multi-center collaborative research projects has been extremely valuable to the field. The Prevention Epicenters Program has successfully translated several arms of research into clinical best practices and published hundreds of articles in peer-reviewed journals.
There are currently 11 funded Epicenters:
- Chicago Prevention and Intervention Epicenter (CPIE)
- Duke-UNC Prevention Epicenter
- Prevention Epicenter of Emory and Collaborating Healthcare Facilities (PEACH)
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Center for Excellence in HAI Surveillance and Prevention
- Johns Hopkins Prevention Epicenter: Transdisciplinary Research Approaches to Prevent Healthcare Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistance (TRAP HAI & AR)
- The Iowa Prevention Epicenter: Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship
- Intermountain Program on Antibiotic Resistance and Microbial Threats
- University of Maryland-Baltimore Epicenter
- Southeastern Pennsylvania Adult and Pediatric Prevention Epicenter Network
- J. Craig Venter Institute and Cleveland VA Prevention and Intervention Epicenter
- Washington University & BJC Epicenter to Prevent Healthcare Associated Infections & Antibiotic Resistance
Goal
The overarching goal of the Prevention Epicenters Program is to work with academic partners to create new knowledge through collaborative research that leads to the prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and other adverse health outcomes.
History
Eight Prevention Epicenters were funded for three years in the initial funding cycle. To continue these efforts and support this critical research program, DHQP has extended the program through four additional funding cycles, with varying numbers of centers in each cycle. In recent years, CDC has funded eleven Epicenters.
The purpose of the Prevention Epicenters Program is to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of epidemiologically based strategies to improve healthcare quality and assure patient safety. Topics addressed include but are not limited to preventing healthcare-associated infections and stopping the spread of antimicrobial-resistant germs.