The Wisconsin Public Health Association (WPHA) announced today that Ron Cisler, Ph.D., the Center's Director, will receive the 2009 Excellence in Public Health Research Award at WPHA's Annual Conference. Under the WPHA's guidelines, this award is given "to acknowledge outstanding scientific investigations that are based on sound public health science and have contributed to, or have the potential to contribute to, a change in public health practice, policy, science or technology." The Center is very proud to have Dr. Cisler receive such a prestigious award.
Dr. Cisler's nomination said, "Dr. Cisler has been instrumental in supporting and advancing research in multiple public health priority areas. In 2001, under Dr. Cisler's leadership, [the Center for Urban Population Health (CUPH)] entered into a collaborative relationship with the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) to develop a master birth outcome data set. After receiving approval from the State of Wisconsin Vital Records office, CUPH staff under Dr. Cisler worked with MHD to create a secure birth record repository that spanned 12 years and contained 144,991 geocoded records. Each record was linked to an outcome table containing statistical calculations for numerous MCH outcome measures. Ongoing work by the CUPH/MHD partnership has resulted in a rich data set containing 167,294 birth records that has been used to characterize infant mortality and other adverse birth outcomes in the City of Milwaukee, and has served as a catalyst for statewide data-driven birth outcome improvement efforts. . .
CUPH has subsequently collaborated with MHD and others in the community on numerous other data-driven MCH improvement projects. In 2005, Dr. Cisler and his staff characterized the children with special health care needs (CSHCN) population in Milwaukee by applying the national screening tool to our local population. He demonstrated that formulas used to allocate CSHCN resources were not adequate to needs in urban areas such as SE Wisconsin.
Dr. Cisler has played a significant role in Milwaukee's effort to reduce teen pregnancy. In collaboration with the MHD and the United Way of Greater Milwaukee, CUPH has lead research efforts to characterize the problem of teen pregnancy in Milwaukee and to develop research-based goals for reduction of Milwaukee's high teen pregnancy rates.
As is obvious by his record, and unlike many academic settings that often pursue a research agenda based on the personal interests of faculty, Dr. Cisler's work has been driven by the public health agenda and the needs of his community. He has assured this public health focus through strong and collaborative ties with the public health community. For example, Dr. Cisler sits on the advisory boards of the Institute for Wisconsin's Health, Inc., as well as the Wisconsin Center for Health Equity. In addition, he serves on the core planning team for a School of Public Health at UW-Milwaukee, a school which will serve as a key public health research engine in Wisconsin.
Dr. Cisler has also cultivated a unique and supportive relationship with local public health (LPH) in Milwaukee, supporting the use of CUPH as a learning laboratory for LPH staff, fellows and graduate students conducting public health research. Dr. Cisler's work and commitment in conducting and supporting public health research deserves recognition, and
should serve as a model for other academic entities in Wisconsin and around the nation. He has certainly earned the WPHA Excellence in Research Award."
