Over the years, we have noted many cases in which the science of health care and health promotion is not put to use. We have seen many organizations “go it alone” by recreating that which already has been tested and validated elsewhere. We see programs and initiatives designed only for one local test and not for replication. We have worked in communities where volunteers and public health staff are convinced that their needs and circumstances are unique and that the evidence available does not apply to their situation at all.

We have noted even more cases where experts in diverse disciplines and fields do not see the relevance of what researchers in other specialties are doing. And we are in constant contact with colleagues who fail to see the importance of practice-based learning – learning from the field – to what they do as researchers. For every researcher with something to teach a practitioner, there are as many or more practitioners with useful knowledge that could improve the design of research-based interventions and their integration into practice.

The Center for Health Dissemination and Implementation Research is dedicated to such sharing and learning from each other. We are researchers, but researchers who focus on the identification, development, evaluation and dissemination of tools. The tools on this website – an ever-expanding list – are offered to both practitioners and researchers to use and improve translational practice and translational research.

Jim Dearing
Russ Glasgow