The CDC’s Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) form a network of 26 academic research centers in 24 states that study how people and their communities can avoid or counter the risks for chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, obesity, and cancer. These centers are located at either a school of public health or a medical school that has a preventive medicine residency program. As leaders in translating research results into policy and public health practice, the centers work with communities to develop, evaluate, and implement major community changes that can prevent and control chronic diseases. They identify gaps in research and develop innovative approaches to improving public health that can be shared broadly with public health partners.

Much of the work of the PRCs either deals directly with nicotine and tobacco, or is focused on related public health topics. SRNT has members at 25 of the 26 PRCs (Tulane is the exception).

A list of the current PRCs is at https://www.cdc.gov/prc/center-descriptions/index.htm

A Database of research projects searchable by topic, status, funding source and population of interest is at https://nccd.cdc.gov/PRCResearchProjects/Search/SearchCriteria.aspx

Active PRC projects that deal directly with nicotine and tobacco:

Theoretical Constructs Promoting Lasting Behavior Change
Host Institution: Dartmouth College
Principal Investigator: Stephen J Bartels, MD stephen.j.bartels@dartsmouth.edu

Principal Investigator: Sally Davis, PhD sdavis@salud.unm.edu

Principal Investigator:  Kurt Ribisl kurt_ribisl@unc.edu

Principal Investigator:  Jeffrey Harris, MD jh7@u.washington.edu

Quitline Registries for Continuously Engaging Participants in Smoking Cessation
Host Institution: University of South Carolina at Columbia
Principal Investigator: Jim Thrasher thrasher@mailbox.sc.edu

Developing a Health Communication Campaign for Tobacco Control
Host Institution: Emory University (previous center)
Principal Investigator: Carla Berg cjberg@emory.edu

Screening Women for Chronic Diseases at Reproductive Health Clinics
Host Institution:  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Principal Investigator:  Tom Keyserling thomas_keyserling@med.unc.edu

Evaluating a Smoking Cessation Program for Pregnant Women in Argentina and Uruguay
Host Institution: Tulane University
Principal Investigator:  Pierre Buekens pbuekens@tulane.edu

Creating an Online Tobacco Control Point-of-Sale Resource Center
Host Institution:  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Principal Investigator:  Kurt Ribisl kurt_ribisl@unc.edu

PRC tools that may be useful to those interested in conducting or understanding applied public health prevention research and addressing health disparities are at https://www.cdc.gov/prc/resources/prc-tools.html.