Evidence-Based Public Health

In an ideal world, public health practitioners always incorporate scientific evidence when making management decisions, developing policies, and implementing programs. In reality, these decisions are often based on short-term demands rather than long-term study, and policies and programs are sometimes developed around anecdotal evidence.

To address these issues, many factors may lead to a more evidence-based approach to decision making, including enhanced individual skills, wider use of data and analytic tools, and a more favorable organizational climate.

Evidence-Based Public Health provides practical guidance on how to choose, implement, and evaluate evidence-based programs and policies in public health settings. It deals not only with locating and utilizing scientific evidence but also with implementing and evaluating interventions that generate new evidence.

This revised and updated edition reflects the growing body of data and information on evidence-based public health, focuses on health equity, features a new chapter on effective communication and disseminating public health information, and includes new case studies from around the world.

Ross C. Brownson is the Lipstein Distinguished Professor of Public Health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He studies the translation of evidence to public health practice and policy. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the American Public Health Association's (APHA) Abraham Lilienfeld Award for excellence in teaching and mentoring, and the APHA Award for Excellence. Dr. Brownson is a former division director with the Missouri Department of Health and a past president of the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors and the American College of Epidemiology.

Anjali D. Deshpande is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City, IA. Her areas of research and practice interest include using clinical data in public health surveillance, data visualization and communication, and public health workforce development. Before joining the academic career path, Dr. Deshpande was a public health epidemiologist at two different state health departments and continues to be closely involved with state and local public health practitioners through her work with the Evidence-Based Public Health course.

Kathleen N. Gillespie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University. She is an economist with research interests in economic evaluation, cost of illness, utilization of health care services, and competency-based education. Her research includes studies of compliance with diabetes treatment guidelines in rural areas, the potential uses of blockchain technology in healthcare, and the use of competencies in training health managers.

Stephanie Mazzucca-Ragan is an Assistant Professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Her areas of research interest include healthy eating and physical activity promotion, chronic disease prevention, and disseminating and implementing evidence-based programs and policies into public health practice. Much of her research focuses on supporting the public health infrastructure and professionals' use of evidence-based public health principles that can improve population health and advance health equity. She has been involved with the Evidence-Based Public Health course since 2020.