Mission Statement

ORPRN's mission is to improve health for all Oregonians through community engaged research, education, and policy.

Message from the Director: Personal and Professional Gratitude to Start 2025

Message from the Director: Personal and Professional Gratitude to Start 2025

When I joined the OHSU faculty in 2011, I quickly realized that I was an entrepreneur. I would stay employed in this soft money research environment to the extent that I could secure funding as Principal Investigator (PI) or collaborator. This context quickly led to long hours at work early in my career, since I am someone who thrives on stability and prepares based on worst-case scenarios. Gratefully, over time I found collaborators and started working with teams who helped share in the labor – which facilitates better boundaries for all while supporting the goals of securing successful funding and professional security.  

Today, I find myself in a very rich and balanced period in my career and personal life made possible by collaborations at ORPRN as described in the 2023-2024 ORPRN Impact Report. For example, our team is: 

• Collaborating with regional partners to provide robust Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) programming, including an expansion of Mental Health ECHOs in partnership with the OHSU Department of Psychiatry to align with regional and state health priorities. See the 2023-2024 Oregon ECHO Network Annual Report for more details! 
• Leading work to address food and housing insecurity in healthcare visits (see article below) and supporting implementation of community benefit programs.  
• Supporting Daniel Hoover, MD, and counties across Oregon in implementing deflection programs by providing education (webinars, ECHOs), regional trainings, and technical assistance through the Deflection Implementation Technical Assistance (TA) team . These deflection programs are designed to help law enforcement, first responders, or community response, connect individuals to behavioral health treatment, social services, and recovery supports when issues of substance use are present. 
• Starting new work aligned with the principles of community engagement and research co-creation as one of the inaugural NIH Communities Advancing Research Equity for Health (CARE for Health) Primary Care Research Network sites. This work is a partnership with the PBRN based at University of Washington , our affiliated Clinical and Translational Science Institutes, and key primary care partners – with an especially warm “Thank You” to One Community Health and Winding Waters Health Clinic! 

​​​But equally important is the support I felt from this team over the last quarter, while I took time off to welcome a baby, Jasper Davis Nightengale (born 8/15/2024). I had the honor of receiving care in a rural health system, where I have been consistently impressed by the caliber, compassion, and thoughtfulness our family has received. It makes me better understand the value of local care from a team that knows and cares about you.  

As we enter 2025, I’m embracing the humility and awareness that new parenthood brings and striving personally and professionally to enjoy this moment and to trust in the process. I am especially grateful to every member of our team, and to our clinic and health system partners as we continue to embrace opportunities to improve health for all Oregonians through community engaged research, education, and policy. 

— Melinda Davis, PhD, ORPRN Director

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2023-2024 ORPRN Impact Report. Primary care and public health continue to face enormous challenges with health care workforce shortages, shifts in funding structures, growing population health needs, and unwieldy administrative burden. And yet, we are making progress. One of the most rewarding aspects of my work at ORPRN has been seeing long-term investments come to fruition, and new creative opportunities arise to improve the health of some of the most at risk Oregonians.  

As highlighted in the Impact Report, our team spans three complimentary areas: Research, Education, and Health Policy, all working on more than 50 active projects to advance our mission of “improving health for all Oregonians.”  

ORPRN’s work aligns with the Oregon Governor’s priorities, and with the Oregon Health Authority’s strategic plan; we work both within clinical practices and beyond those boundaries in areas such as houselessness, early learning, access to care, and fostering healthy families and environments.  

Some of the highlights we achieved between 2023 and 2024 include partnering with almost 180 clinics in our research and quality improvement work; working with 98 community partners, payors, and local health departments; and engaging directly or indirectly with thousands of individuals in clinical and implementation research and education.  

In addition to our clinical practice and community partners, we work actively with 15 affiliated and core academic researchers, and others across the nation. Last year, ORPRN staff and collaborators produced 45 publications and national or regional presentations and held 77 technical assistance events for health care practitioners, funders, and policy audiences.  All of this work aims to provide evidence about what works in primary care across the state and provide resources to front-line providers and practices about ways to address challenges in the current healthcare landscape. 
 
I hope you take a moment to review the Impact Report and celebrate these achievements. On behalf of ORPRN Leadership, I want to thank all our partners throughout the state and beyond who dedicate themselves to making people healthier. We all would not be able to accomplish so much without you.  

— Jennifer Coury, Sr. Research Project manager and Co-Director, ORPRN Research Program