Institute for Behavioral and Community Health Studies (IBACH)

Institution:

San Diego State University

State:

California

Academic Level:

Graduate

Issue Area:

Academic Program

Program Focus:

Health

Website:

http://www.ibachsd.org

Key Personnel:

Guadalupe X. Ayala

Contact Info:

ayala@sdsu.edu | 616.594.2395

Overview

The mission of the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health Studies (IBACH) is to improve health through research, application, and evaluation of principles and programs related to health promotion, disease prevention, and behavior change in community settings. The program, in particular, has an emphasis on research related to chronic disease risk reduction, with a special focus on the Latino community.

Program Description

IBACH is San Diego State University's largest health research center and is administered through the San Diego State University Research Foundation. Created in 1982, IBACH encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. Housed within IBACH is the San Diego Prevention Research Center (SDPRC), which is jointly sponsored by the University of San Diego (UCSD) and the San Ysidro Health Center (SYHC) and has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) since 2004.

Outcome

In the past 11 years, seven Latino students working in IBACH and the SDPRC have received their Ph.D.s, and three of these are tenured/tenure track professors.

Another 7 post-MA Latino graduate students are currently working toward their Ph.D.s in public health or psychology.

To date, no Latino student has dropped out of the Ph.D. program. In addition to the Ph.D. students, since 1987, 25 Latino students have received their MPH degrees working with IBACH (and the SDPRC).

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