Health Sciences Research Institute at UC Merced

The Health Sciences Research Institute (HSRI) was established in May 2012 as the second Organized Research Unit at UC Merced and is the University's focal point for health and medical research.

Approximately one quarter of UC Merced faculty members are engaged in research related to human health and over one-third of undergraduate students are enrolled in majors and minors related to human health. With a strong presence of the health sciences in research and education at UC Merced, HSRI is focused on promoting all research in the human health sciences to improve awareness, advocacy and action of health and health disparities.

As an Organized Research Unit at UC Merced, HSRI facilitates:

• Research and research collaborations
• Communication and interaction among researchers
• Research training
• External funding success
• Communication and partnership with the community

With the growing complex health issues we face today, specific goals of HSRI are to:

• Establish health research and training as a signature theme at UC Merced
• Support the development of methodologically rigorous, multidisciplinary studies across the research continuum to advance understanding of health, health promotion, and disease prevention
• Provide infrastructure support necessary to conduct world-class health research
• Support and foster undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing research in health-related fields
• Support and mentor new and emerging faculty in conducting health research
• Establish new and strengthen existing interdisciplinary research partnerships across all levels of the university and with community partners

With 90 faculty members across UC Merced's three schools (Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences, Humanities & Arts), community and clinical affiliate members, and graduate student members, HSRI aims to foster world-renowned researchers through its work to improve the health of the people in the San Joaquin Valley and beyond.

HSRI members are also engaged in translational research, evaluation and effectiveness research, and public health systems and services research.

San Joaquin Valley regional health issues include asthma, valley fever (coccidioidomycosis), obesity, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, risky teen behaviors, teen tobacco use, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis, and many others.

The opportunities to address the growing and complex health issues of the San Joaquin Valley and beyond require inter- and multidisciplinary teams.

HSRI’s collaborative multidisciplinary research clusters and community emphasis provide an opportunity to rapidly develop, test, and disseminate new ways of improving health and delivering healthcare.

This will help establish UC Merced as a world-renowned research university while improving the health of the people in the San Joaquin Valley.

HSRI cores and centers cover a range of health and medical research:

• Valley Fever Network
• Biostatistics and Data Support
• Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center 
• San Joaquin Valley Center for Air Injustice Reduction (SJV CC-AIR)
• Translational Research
• Health Disparities