Director's Message

Welcome to the website of the Global Center for Applied Health Research (GCAHR)! This and other social media platforms are important means of communicating with you.

This message is a brief introduction to the center and its programs. Although our team has been engaged in applied global health research for many years, in 2016 the Arizona Board of Regents officially conferred GCAHR its research center status. GCAHR’s mission is to promote the design, implementation and evaluation of efficacious health interventions in collaboration with local researchers and their community partners. The goal of the Center is to prevent the onset of disease and support the wellbeing of children/youth and families in the US and around the world.

We are advancing our mission through research collaborations, intervention projects, methodological training, and other pivotal capacity building activities. Some key ongoing projects include:

Youth substance abuse prevention studies in Mexico.
A US-based parenting program with and for Urban American Indian families.
Intervention research in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain and Uruguay.
Feasibility studies in China, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Pilot health research projects with partners in other countries.
COVID-19 studies in Arizona.
International Research Fellowship Program.

As a community partner, donor, staff member, or faculty research affiliates you are making our national and global work possible. Thank you! I also want to highlight the generous ongoing support we receive from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and from our private donors. It takes a village… William H. McRaven once said:

“You cannot change the world alone - you will need some help - and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the goodwill of strangers and a strong steer to guide them.”

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to global health and peace,

Flavio F. Marsiglia, PhD
Regents' Professor & GCAHR Director