About the Center for Health and Wellbeing

Professor with students

The Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW) fosters research and teaching on the multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in both developed and developing countries. The Center’s goals are to understand the determinants of health and wellbeing, the role that public policy plays in shaping the quality of people’s lives, and to educate undergraduates and graduate students who aspire to careers in health and health policy.

CHW was founded in 2000 by Professor Christina Paxson, former Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and current President of Brown University. Professors Janet Currie and Kate Ho currently serve as co-directors of the Center, and Gilbert Collins serves as the Center’s associate director.

Housed within the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Center offers two certificate programs: the undergraduate Global Health and Health Policy (GHP) certificate and the graduate Health and Health Policy (HHP) certificate. Also under the CHW umbrella are the Health Grand Challenge, a program that seeks solutions to the pressing problems of global health and infectious disease; the Program on U.S. Health Policy, which sponsors research and activities addressing aspects of domestic health care and health policy; and the State Health Reform Assistance Network and State Health and Value Strategies, both Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded programs that assist states with health reform implementation. CHW is also home to the National Institute on Aging Roybal Center, also called the Center for Translational Research on Aging. Every year, that Center sponsors numerous pilot projects by researchers from Princeton University and other academic institutions around the globe.

Global Health Program

The Global Health Program generates the scholarship fundamental to health improvements, and educates students who will become leaders in the fields of health and health care. Its defining elements are a cross-disciplinary approach, hands-on field research and a focus on the policy dimensions of global health.

Multidisciplinary Projects

CHW supports multidisciplinary research projects on the multiple aspects of health and wellbeing. Primary research partners include: 

State Health and Value Strategies

State Health and Value Strategies (SHVS) is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded program committed to providing technical assistance to support state efforts to enhance the quality and value of health care by improving population health and reforming the delivery of health care services. Housed within CHW, SHVS connects states with experts and their peers to develop tools to undertake new reform initiatives.

Health and Health Policy Program

The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs offers a Certificate in Health and Health Policy, sponsored by the Center for Health and Wellbeing. The Certificate trains graduate students for careers in health-related areas in the public and not-for-profit sectors.

Program on U.S. Health Policy

CHW’s Program on U.S. Health Policy sponsors research and activities addressing aspects of domestic health care and health policy. The Program supports innovative faculty and student research, conferences, policy forums and special issues in health policy journals.

National Institute On Aging Roybal Center

CHW is home to the National Institute on Aging Roybal Center, also called the Center for Translational Research on Aging. Its overall goal is to enhance the ability to understand numerous facets of the aging process, by clearly separating actual experiences of daily life from the cognitive processes that give rise to reports of life satisfaction or overall happiness. Research is conducted by CHW faculty affiliates and collaborating faculty at other universities who are awarded small pilot projects.