Dissemination and Implementation Science
Dissemination and Implementation Science (DIS) is an emerging field worldwide and an essential component of translating effective public health programs from evidence to action. This discipline uses rigorous methods in practical field settings to improve health and well-being locally and globally. It draws on the intellectual traditions of public health, operations research, systems engineering, information science, and economics.
Future public health leaders must understand not only delivery of innovation, but also innovation of delivery. Interdisciplinary training and field experience in public health program science will enable them to understand and undertake such efforts, along a program science continuum from new evidence to monitoring impact.
Faculty and student at the University are engaged in the theory and practice of dissemination and implementation science, as applied to public health. Through teaching and research, advances in this area are being applied to domestic and global public health challenges.
University of Washington is at the forefront of this field
In a city rich with global health organizations and health agencies, and with a faculty highly experienced in implementing health programs, the University of Washington is well positioned to be a global leader in implementation science. The PhD in Metrics and Implementation Science, launched in 2012, is the first program of its kind in the United States, and paves the way for further innovation in research, teaching, and service at the School of Public Health and the university.
Existing and planned resources in Dissemination and Implementation Science at UW:
- The Fundamentals of Implementation Science in Global Health (GH 541) course provides an overview of the field and an introduction to nine methods used in implementation science.
- The Healthy Aging Dissemination Research Project, the core project of the Health Promotion Research Center, conducts dissemination and implementation research in four areas related to the health of middle-aged and older adults: depression management, fall prevention, physical activity, and workplace health promotion.
- The Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) program at the Veterans Administration (VA) is a collaboration with VA Health Services Research & Development to study systematic ways to close gaps in evidence-based care for priority conditions. The QUERI program has an internal implementation science training program, which along with other implementation presentations, has been archived in cyber seminars.
- SPH faculty working with Health Alliance International and I-TECH are engaged in research on implementation of primary health care and of proven interventions in HIV, TB, malaria, and MCH prevention, care and treatment. Their work is focused in Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Peru, Ethiopia, Haiti, and includes research on regional and national scale-up.
- The Health Systems and Research Strategies Workgroup of the UW Center for AIDS Research coordinates implementation research within the local and global HIV communities and provides short courses in operations research and implementation science in Seattle and in partner institutions globally.
- The Institute for Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) focuses primarily on “bench-to-bedside” research but has also sponsored two learning sessions on dissemination and implementation research.
- The new PhD in Global Health: Metrics and Implementation Science will train researchers in two areas: implementation science, and metrics and evaluation. As part of the PhD program curriculum, a new course in “Operations Research for Health Systems” is currently under development in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
If you have questions about the dissemination and implementation science faculty position, please contact the chair of the committee, Professor Steve Gloyd Gloyd@u.washington.edu or Professor Jeff Harris jh7@u.washington.edu
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