Places & Environments
How environments shape health across the life course CHPHE investigates how the places where people live, learn, and play influence physical, mental, and social well-being. Our work spans greenspace access, housing and neighborhood conditions, environmental injustice, and the built environment. Projects such as Project Green Space examine how environmental exposures affect children’s mental health, cognitive development, sleep, and physical activity. Additional research explores how greenspace shapes birth outcomes and maternal well-being, how homeownership and neighborhood-level inequities affect chronic disease risk, and how environmental stressors compound structural disadvantage. Through interdisciplinary methods including geospatial analytics, GPS tracking, and biomarker assessment, CHPHE advances evidence to design healthier, more equitable environments for communities historically excluded from health-promoting spaces.
Behaviors & Lifestyles
Understanding and supporting everyday behaviors that shape health, CHPHE conducts wide-ranging research on the behavioral drivers of chronic disease and well-being, including diet, physical activity, sleep, and patterns of substance use. Studies address cardiometabolic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease alongside emerging substance use trends involving alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, opioids, and polysubstance use. Technology-driven interventions have increased physical activity among Latinas, while behavioral economics trials test how insurance-based incentives can sustain long-term movement. Nutrition-focused studies from statewide SNAP fruit and vegetable incentive evaluations to culturally tailored dietary interventions advance chronic disease prevention. Research also examines how stress, mindfulness, and resilience shape emotional and behavioral health across diverse populations. By integrating behavioral science, digital tools, and community insight, CHPHE develops strategies that promote sustainable, healthy lifestyles.
Systems, Policy & Structural Determinants
Addressing the policies and systems that create and sustain health inequities, CHPHE's research confronts the structural conditions that drive unequal health outcomes, including racism, poverty, discriminatory laws, housing and food insecurity, and environmental injustice. Our studies demonstrate how racially biased state policies and interpersonal healthcare discrimination contribute to premature mortality and barriers to preventive care among Black, Latine, and LGBTQ+ communities. Policy-focused research examines how Medicaid prescription caps shape opioid use disorder treatment, how SNAP and other nutrition policies influence food access, and how zoning and investment patterns affect greenspace, housing, and maternal and child health. Through analytic rigor and real-time policy relevance, CHPHE identifies levers for systems change and generates evidence to guide more just, equitable public health policy.
Communities & Partnerships
Co-creating equitable health solutions with communities Community partnership is the foundation of CHPHE’s work. Since the landmark Pawtucket Heart Health Program, CHPHE has led participatory, community-centered studies that elevate local knowledge and power. CHPHE’s newly developed antiracist, community-centered research framework provides practical guidance for conducting equitable public health studies that intentionally counter systemic racism. Through shared leadership, bi-directional learning, and capacity building, we advance community-driven solutions that strengthen health and resilience.
Methods & Approaches
Innovative, rigorous methods that shape real-world public health impact
CHPHE’s research is grounded in advanced mixed-methods, epidemiology, biostatistics, and community-based participatory approaches. Our investigators use geospatial modeling, GPS tracking, biomarkers of stress, behavioral economics experiments, concept mapping, and longitudinal cohort designs to understand the multilevel drivers of health. We also lead national mixed-methods studies that integrate policy analysis, qualitative inquiry, and large administrative datasets. Across all research areas, CHPHE’s methodological innovation ensures that evidence is both scientifically rigorous and directly relevant to communities, policymakers, and practitioners.