The health care system is facing substantial challenges and is undergoing fundamental changes worldwide and in Germany. Against the background of limited resources and due to demographic changes, the need forfurther development of health services is increasing. Health services research can contribute to the development,evaluation, and implementation of new health care models which improve health care and public health.Since the health system is complex, health services research is a demanding undertaking, in which contextual knowledge plays a central role.

Public health research, in turn, focuses on promoting and maintaining health at the population level. It alsoexamines the social causes and determinants of health risks and diseases within populations. Both disciplines are multidisciplinary, drawing on a broad range of methods and relying on related and overlapping fields such as medicine, health sciences, psychology, sociology, epidemiology and economics.

Accordingly, the Center for Health Care Research & Public Health (CHCR & PH) aims to build and to strengthen research structures and activities at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the University of Hamburg (UHH) for both health services research and for public health research. In particular, the CHCR& PH develops innovative health services research projects and promotes early-career researchers.

As one of the five key research areas of UKE, the CHCR & PH has built a robust framework for conducting excellent projects in the field of health care research and public health. Based on the structures of the Hamburg Network for Health Services Research (HAM-NET), the CHCR & PH enables sustainable exchange and communication between researchers, all relevant health care providers and stakeholders in Hamburg. In this role theCHCR & PH serves as a key node in regional and national interconnected, practice-oriented health services and public health research. This is especially of importance in light of the growing possibilities of funding within the Innovation Fund, for which a stable partnership with health policy makers and stakeholders is essential.

With this report we invite you to get to know the CHCR & PH, its member institutions and its activities in more detail .

Prof. Dr. Martin Scherer (spokesperson), Prof. Dr. Antonia Zapf (deputy spokesperson), Prof. Dr. Dr. Martin Härter (deputy spokesperson), Dr. Christina Lindemann (coordination)