Elizabeth Majestic, MS, MPH¹, Cecilia Curry, PhD², John Moore, PhD, RN, CHES², and Kathy Cahill, MPH². (1) Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE Mailstop K-85, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-488-8320, eam0@cdc.gov, (2) Office of Strategy and Innovation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D28, Atlanta, GA 30333

CDC has been developing and shaping the direction of CDC's future through the Futures Initiative. One theme of the Initiative was to develop CDC’s public health research capacity. The primary objectives of the overall CDC research enterprise are to produce high quality research studies that are useful to and applied by public health practitioners and policy makers, and that contribute to improving the health of Americans. It is critical to address the large gap between the knowledge available and application of this knowledge in evidence-based public health programs and interventions. The public health research workgroup, consisting of 21 members, developed an outside-in process for CDC to use in creating a research agenda, and provided strategic options that must be considered in pursuing CDC's future role in providing the science base required to meet population health needs. A six step agenda process was proposed with four relevant strategic issues: what framework should be used to characterize research topics; at what level of specificity should priorities be described; how broadly and how interactively with outside parties should CDC engage in developing its research agenda; and what criteria should CDC use to evaluate the proposed research topics. They also addressed several additional strategic issues: the use of ‘big science’; evaluation mechanisms; the public health workforce; creating intramural/extramural balance; strengthening trust; improving communication; and enhancing translation of research findings. In addition, the group developed and implemented a ‘fast track’ method for the current fiscal year’s agenda setting needs, and created guidance for that process.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to (
• Describe the process CDC used to develop options for establishing CDC's public health research agenda, (
• Describe the proposed framework for CDC's public health research agenda.

Keywords: Public Health Research,

Related Web page: www.cdc.gov/futures

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.