PHRI was founded in 1994 by Ron Deprez PhD MPH, who developed one of the first comprehensive community health needs assessment processes. This process has been implemented with partners across the US, from Maine to Alaska, to assist communities and health systems to address health system needs and deficiencies to improve population health. Dr. Deprez’s efforts established PHRI’s focus on working with communities to improve the health status of populations through health prevention education, policy and systems change. This work has led to productive partnerships with state and local government agencies, healthcare systems and local nonprofits, and academic institutions across the US, as well as internationally, including in Mali, Saudi Arabia, The Gambia, Egypt, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Ghana, Ethiopia and China.
PHRI’s Philosophy
At PHRI, we understand that maximizing population health involves unlocking the skills, knowledge, and wisdom that exists within communities. We recognize the important role that traditional knowledge, culture, and community connection plays in improving health outcomes for individuals and populations. Our work with partners has focused on developing strategies for incorporating local knowledge into public health programs, and measuring the impact of those programs on the communities served.
What Sets Us Apart?
PHRI works with partner organizations to provide program planning, implementation, and evaluation services. In doing so, we work with partners to develop integrated grant development, evaluation strategic planning, and data collection and storage systems. This approach helps to prevent duplication of efforts and data being collected in silos. Through this integration of data collection and reporting, data serves multiple purposes - provide feedback to funders, providing valuable insights for organizational planning purposes, and helping to communicate progress to community members and leaders. In the process, we work with partners to develop planning, implementation and evaluation capacity - both internally, and within the communities they serve - by providing trainings and implementing processes designed to understand and utilize the knowledge and skills that already exists within communities.
PHRI’s team brings decades of experience and expertise in applied epidemiology, planning, policy analyses and health care analytics. Our proven methods coupled with our knowledge of health care systems, prevention policies and programs, the influence of social and cultural factors in health behavior provides you with the information to organize, prioritize and target policies and programs that will work in your community.
Mission
Public Health Research Institute’s mission is to improve population health status through research and practice that permits communities to overcome adverse health conditions — be they social, economic, environmental or health system related.
Vision
PHRI envisions a world in which all communities have the resources and capacity to address the health issues facing them. We have the knowledge and experience to provide guidance and support to help identify population health needs, and develop and implement multi-sectoral strategies for addressing those needs.
Values
Service
Partnership
Guidance
Health Equity
Population Health Promotion
Social Justice
Culture & Tradition
Quality
Experience
Excellence
Community-Based
PHRI is a federally designated 501c3 nonprofit corporation that conducts comprehensive
Population Health Assessments, Tribal Public Health Systems, Data and Information Support and Policy and Program Evaluation
designed to address health disparities in defined populations.