The Center for Public Health Preparedness and Research has a strong focus on public health systems research and public health practice. In 2008, it was awarded one of nine Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC) grants from CDC. The Emory PERRC focused on the comparative analysis of public health systems to produce practical and sustainable outcomes to improve our nation's public health systems in the event of a disaster. With funding through 2015, the Emory PERRC analyzed state and local health departments' systems of preparedness and identified factors that affect a community's ability to successfully respond to a crisis with public health consequences. Work products and research findings of the Emory PERRC-funded studies can be found here: Archives

In 2017, the CPHPR received additional funds from the CDC and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) to translate work products and tools developed through the Emory PERRC into practice. Called the Emory Public Health Preparedness Translation and Dissemination Initiative, CPHPR investigators conducted additional translation-related work largely revolving around preparedness of vulnerable populations. For more on this work, please visit: ToolsforPreparedness.org

Since its inception, a predominant theme across the Center's research has been infectious diseases. Research topics have included emerging and zoonotic diseases, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, pandemic influenza, anthrax, smallpox, Q-fever, Leptospirosis and West Nile Virus. Most recently, the Center has focused on Legionnaires' disease, Super Bowl LIII preparedness, Zika Virus Disease and 2019 coronavirus (Covid-19). The Center has also worked to strengthen public health surveillance for infectious diseases and has demonstrated underutilization of diagnostic tests for pathogen identification.