About Centre for Global Health Research - CGHR

Ensuring that the remarkable global progress in health of the 21st century reaches the world's poorest people requires research as well as action. The mission of the Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR), St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto is to conduct high-quality research that advances global health. Specific emphasis is on avoidance of two large and growing causes of death worldwide: HIV-1 and tobacco.

Technological innovations (be they biomedical, behavioral or policies) explain most of the declines in global mortality that occurred in the last 50 years.  Nearly 5 in 6 of current global deaths occur in developing countries.  Continued reductions in premature mortality in developing countries requires addressing the specific challenges of HIV, tuberculosis and other infectious and emerging chronic diseases.  

Meeting these challenges requires ongoing innovations in basic and epidemiological sciences, including measurement of population health, improved methods of translating knowledge into cost-effective interventions and ensuring an equitable, distribution of the benefits of innovation.  Improved global health has global benefits, including advancing population-based science relevant to people in developed countries and enhancing scientific access to rapidly expanding economies worldwide.

Since its inception in 2002, CGHR, led by Founding Director Professor Prabhat Jha, has focused on disease priorities in developing countries –HIV-1 and tobacco in particular.  CGHR has been recognized globally, attracted significant research funds, and has influenced evidence-based global health policies. CGHR was established to conduct large scale epidemiological studies in developing countries. CGHR is co-sponsored by St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto. It has offices in Toronto, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chandigarh. CGHR is also affiliated with the Centre for International Health, the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine and other partners at the University of Toronto. Dr. Prabhat Jha is the Founding Director of CGHR and a Canada Research Chair in Health and Development at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Prabhat Jha has established a broad professional experience in the fields of epidemiology, public health, and health policy development and is currently conducting the world's largest prospective study of premature mortality. Prior to founding CGHR, he served as Senior Scientist for the WHO and was head of the World Bank team responsible for developing the Second National HIV/AIDS Control Program and the Malaria Control Project, collectively valued at $430 million. Dr. Jha has published widely on tobacco, HIV/AIDS, and health of the global poor, in journals including Science, Lancet and British Medical Journal and has written 15 book chapters in the past 6 years. Dr. Jha is also the lead author and co-editor of two of the most influential books on tobacco control. Indeed, those publications were central to the design of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global treaty to reduce consumption that has now been signed by 148 countries.