Translating Public Health Research to Practice

Original research is the foundation upon which public health practice is built. Developing and implementing public health policies, interventions, and campaigns without grounding them in science risks wasting scarce resources and damaging public trust. As a public health practitioner, I turn to academic research to evaluate the existing evidence supporting different policy positions before making recommendations and developing communication tools whenever possible.

One challenging aspect of translating research to practice is that the two processes often move at different paces. The moment for action based on public sentiment, commercial interests, and policy momentum sometimes occurs well before the science on a specific topic is settled or even available. For this reason, although it is imperative to approach developing public health practice from a strong understanding of the existing research, practitioners must also recognize that we often must operate from a place of some scientific ambiguity.

Examples of successful public health interventions that were implemented before the scientific community could explain why the intervention worked are not uncommon. John Snow’s push to remove the Broad Street well pump handle during a particularly deadly cholera outbreak in London came before proof that cholera is spread through contaminated water. Ignaz Semmelweis championed hand washing in maternity wards before Louis Pasteur developed modern germ theory. Grassroots activists began socializing harm reduction measures to help prevent the spread of HIV before the virus and the specifics of its transmission were identified.

Examples like these show that taking action before an intervention can be thoroughly explored through research can save lives under the right circumstances. As public health practitioners, we must walk a fine line between honoring the scientific process and taking expedient action to preserve and improve population health.