The Center for Prevention and Early Intervention is a collaborative effort between the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health and our community partners in prevention and early intervention (the Baltimore City Public Schools System, Family League of Baltimore City, Baltimore Mental Health Systems and the Maryland Department of Education), and prevention and early intervention researchers at Morgan State University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Alabama, Columbia University, and Stanford University. The Center is supported by National Institutes of Mental Health and Drug Abuse.

The mission of the Center is (1) to improve school-based preventive and early treatment interventions for children and adolescents by bridging epidemiologic, intervention, services, and dissemination and training research through the development of a research structure and research strategies capable of evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of promising and evidence based interventions; (2) to identify factors that inhibit or facilitate improved prevention and treatment practices and outcomes; (3) to disseminate the knowledge gained in order to improve prevention and treatment research and dissemination and training practices; and (4) to develop within our collaborating community partners the capacity to carry out and disseminate state of the art prevention and early intervention research and evaluations.

The Center consists of 4 Cores. The Operations Core provides support to Center collaborators in the following areas: administration, biostatistics, economic analysis, clinical trials, assessment/evaluation, and dissemination and training. The Research Methods Core is focused on advances in biostatistics, economics, and computerized assessment in support of the Center's intervention initiatives. The Principal Research Core provides the structure and support for pilot and feasibility studies aimed at setting the stage for school-based, effectiveness trials of promising and evidence-based prevention and early interventions and assessments. The Research Network Development Core focuses on the development of the infrastructure within our community partners for carrying out state of the art prevention and early intervention research and evaluations. Support over the life of the Center will make it possible: (1) to strengthen and extend research initiatives aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of evidence-based, early preventive and treatment interventions for children and adolescents and (2) to disseminate research on the prevention and treatment of mental disorders in children and adolescents.

The Center for Prevention and Early Intervention builds on the foundation laid by the Johns Hopkins Prevention Intervention Research Center (1985-2001), which provided the basis for two generations of school-based, preventive intervention field trials in Baltimore and their ongoing follow-ups.

Click here to learn more about the 1st generation JHU PIRC trials and their ongoing follow-ups.

Click here to learn more about the 2nd generation JHU PIRC trials and their ongoing follow-ups.