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Epidemiology and public health

Presentation

The Hospital del Mar Research Institute Epidemiology and Public Health (EPISAP) research program is formed by about 120 persons, in 12 research groups with a national and/or international reputation for research excellence and relevance.

The EPISAP program has defined its priority research lines taking into account the productivity of current research lines, as well as their alignment with Hospital del Mar clinical priorities and their potential for improvement in the immediate future. The 3 major lines are:

1. Cardiovascular disease: Nutritional Prevention, Integration of genome and exposome determinants, and Predictive risk functions.
2. Global Burden and Outcomes of Mental disorders, Suicide and Occupational conditions.
3. Cancer epidemiology: Environmental determinants, Early detection programs, and Patient-reported outcomes and Comparative Effectiveness Research.

More information on Priority Research Lines 

Six groups are members of the selective Spanish collaborative research network CIBER and 1 of   RICAPPS (Research Network on Chronicity, Primary Care and Health Promotion, included in the RICOR network). In the past 4 years (2018-2021), EPISAP groups have produced more than 900 indexed publications. In 2021, three program investigators have been included in the among the "Highly Cited Researchers in the World" in Clarivate Analytics and one investigator in the list of "World's Top 2% Scientists" (Standford University). Collectively, the research groups of the EPISAP program have obtained grants for an average of 30 new competitive projects per year.

EPISAP researchers collaborate with all other Hospital del Mar Research Institute programs. Collaboration is horizontal and focuses on the strategic research lines of the overall institution (Hospital del Mar), including cardiovascular, neurosciences, and cancer. EPISAP is very active in international research collaborations in many important consortia: Cardiovascular Genomics (MIGen, GnomAD), Cardiovascular Epidemiology (EURHOBOP, NCD-Risk), Mental Health Epidemiology (WMH-World Mental Health Surveys); Patient-Reported Outcomes Research (PROMIS, Movember); Occupational Health (ISST-Latin-American Observatory of Safety & Health at Work). In some of these consortia, EPISAP researchers lead relevant activities.

EPISAP members are heavily involved in educational activities in graduate, postgraduate and medical specialization programs, mostly at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. We play a particular leading role in the Masters' of Public Health and the medical specialization in Preventive Medicine and Public Health program, which attract some of the best candidates every year.  UPF Public Health activities are internationally valued (ranking 22nd in the world, 1st in Spain according to the Shanghai index, 2021).

EPISAP groups and lead investigators are:

• Barcelona Research Infertility, Miguel Angel Checa
• Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Genetics, Roberto Elosua
• Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition, Montserrat Fitó
• Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer, Miquel Porta
• Epidemiology and Evaluation , Maria Sala
• Girona Heart Registry, Jaume Marrugat
• Health services, Jordi Alonso
• Nursing care, Azucena Justicia
• Primary and Community Care in Barcelona, Josep M Bellmunt 
• Social Determinants and Health Education, Esther Insa 
• Social Epidemiology and Occupational Health, Consol Serra