CHRC: Innovation and Education in Public Health
Welcome to CHRC - Comprehensive Health Research Centre. Our daily mission is to create innovative, preventive and health care delivery strategies, based on robust evidence.
We aim to improve individual and public health.
A message by Helena Canhão - Scientific Coordinator at CHRC
Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC) is a new, national centre of excellence, providing a unifying environment for innovation and education in public health, lifestyles, nursing, rehabilitation and clinical research.
This holistic R&D unit aims at responding to societal needs in a multidisciplinary way. Our vision is that research should not be closed in a lab, but deemed to solve problems and issues with social impact, in line with the principles of development and sustainability goals of the United Nations, and with the societal challenges of the Horizon Europe and European Commission.
To that end, we are sure that the key to success is that multidisciplinary groups contribute and work to the same objectives.
CHRC research is not focused on single diseases but studies subjects as a whole, in their environment, social and economic conditions, and integrating populations, society and social and healthcare systems.
The CHRC wants to print a change in mentality and in the way of promoting wellbeing. It is fundamental to involve all sectors of society in solving the practical problems of health and wellbeing that impact the global community. The need to increase citizen engagement, improve education and literacy, and promote citizens' responsibility for their health and wellbeing is inevitable.
CHRC responds to these needs and is committed to producing innovative, preventive and treatment strategies and healthcare delivery based on robust evidence to improve individual and public health, around four principal axes:
- Personalized Medicine in High Burden Diseases;
- Health Promotion and Health Care through Life Course;
- Health Innovation and Digital Health;
- Climate change, Sustainability and Global Health.
CHRC was established to capacitate researchers and give them all means necessary to provide the best multidisciplinary environment and to achieve the best outcomes.
About CHRC
CHRC is a translational, clinical and public health research unit.
It is a consortium coordinated by NOVA Medical School managed with National School of Public Health, Evora University, Lisbon Institute of Mental Global Health and Fraunhofer. In the period of 2025-2029, CHRC is investing in a transformative growth, capitalizing recent organizational enhancements including building new campi, integration with the ToxOmics Unit, expansion into specialized Nutrition research, and a strategic partnership with Fraunhofer.
The centre will reinforce its leadership in translational research, public health promotion, and technology innovation through strategic collaborations with academia, healthcare entities, industry stakeholders, and government agencies.
Mission and Key Objectives for 2025-2029
- Research Excellence: Excel CHRC's scientific reputation by pioneering multidisciplinary health research, aiming for a significant presence in open-access and top-tier journals with accessible lay language summaries.
- Funding Diversification: Increase international research funding to support projects across diverse areas including oncology, cardiology, musculo-skeletal, and infectious diseases, health promotion, nutrition, physical activity and health policies.
- Collaborative Research Culture: Foster interdisciplinary teamwork and international partnerships, driving 60% of projects from international collaborations.
- Product Development: Translate research into impactful healthcare products with at least 5 reaching Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 8-9 for clinical use.
- Education Expansion: Develop innovative educational programs with 8 new courses, attracting 600 yearly applicants and supporting 300 master's and 50 PhD completions annually.
- Career Development: Establish a dedicated department to support career pathways, aiming for 15 new permanent positions and robust mentorship for early PhD researchers.
- Global Influence: Extend global collaborations with 6 new institutional collaboration protocols for research and training with international top level research institutions (CMU, Harvard, Sheba), and top level national institutions, and adoption of shared best practices in health policy and practice.
- Health Equity and Community Engagement: Address health disparities and promote health literacy through evidence-based interventions, including collaborations with FIOCRUZ in Brazil and initiatives in African Portuguese- speaking countries and Rwanda.
Management Institutions
Scientific Advisory Board 2025 -2029
As we continue to push boundaries and set new standards in healthcare research, CHRC has reinforced the external scientific Advisory Board, aimed at strengthening our strategic focus on digital health and innovative cancer interventions.
Geir Arild Espnes, PhD
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Health promotion through digital tools and technology-driven interventions
Nikolaos Stergiou, PhD
University of Nebraska Omaha, USA
Digital health innovation, biomechanics, and data-driven health solutions
Laura Coates, MD, PhD
University of Oxford, UK
Rheumatology, with a strong emphasis on leveraging data for personalized treatment strategies in autoimmune diseases.
Zohray Talib, MD
California University of Science and Medicine, USA
Global health education, equity in healthcare access, and innovative training methodologies.
Ronald A. DePinho, MD
The University of Texas | MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Cancer research and treatment, with a pioneering approach to novel therapeutic interventions and the use of precision medicine in oncology
CHRC’s Numbers
4
Tematic Lines
14
Research Groups
385
Researchers
401
People involved in the investigation unit
168
PHD students
1356
Published and indexed articles
108
Funded projects
1120
Publications Q1 – Q2
≃ 79%
Open-source access Publications
16
Patents & prototypes