Inst. of Health and Environment
Research Centers
Research Team
The Korean Journal of Public Health
Research Centers
Institute of Health and Environment (IHE) was established in 1966 to improve scientific knowledge and to promote practice on pubic health. Steering committee along with a director and an associate director are responsible for the operation of IHE. Currently, IHE includes 7 research centers and 1 research group with a total of 21 Research Professor and 47 full-time researchers(As of September 2024).
IHE has been partnering with Graduate School of Public Health, to conduct a wide range of studies on public health and to improve the health of the people and environment. As a part of such efforts, IHE publishes an official journal, Korean Journal of Public Health, since 1964, and also has organized numbers of academic meetings and colloquium on public health topics of emerging importance.
We aim to serve as a platform for public health research where people can work and to communicate to render our society healthier and more sustainable. We do our best to face and tackle challenges of the changing environment, and to present healthier world to our future generations.
Center for genomics and personalized health
Advances in human genetics enable us to provide genetic information for the prediction and prevention of chronic diseases in medicine and in public health. In the post-genomic era, personalized medicine considering individual genetic susceptibility, lifestyle, and environmental factors is an emerging issue in the field of health improvement. Genome Epidemiology is expected to play an essential role in this effort. The research center for genome epidemiology (RCGE) is involved in various research areas, such as epidemiology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, and nutrition studies. This center focuses on interdisciplinary research activities and projects mainly for graduate students and professional researchers. Asian genome epidemiology, twin and family studies for Koreans, and nutrigenomics are major research topics currently studied to identify the association between gene-environmental factors in chronic diseases.
Center for Aging and Health
Rapid population aging, caused by the increase in life expectancy and the sharp decline in fertility, has had profound effects on the socioeconomic and health care system of Korea. The Center for Aging and Health aims to conduct research on the impact of population aging on health systems and policies, including health expenditures, health insurance, pension, labor and work, care-giving, long-term care and the ‘silver’ industry, and long-term care insurance.
Center for Health Promotion Research
The current effort in health promotion research seeks to establish research on a social ecological foundation and to emphasize community participation and equal partnerships in health promotion research and practice. The Center for Health Promotion Research focuses on assessing community health and asset assessments, community-based participatory empowerment research, and on developing the competency of health promotion specialists. The Center also aims to develop multi-faceted, interdisciplinary, systematic research approaches to investigate social, cultural, and environmental contexts that influence healthy lives in the community.
Center for Economic Evaluation
Resource scarcity in health care delivery and environmental programs, like other sectors of a country’s economy, is a fairly common phenomenon globally. The situation is no different in countries in Asia. Policymakers and stakeholders in health care and environmental protection are increasingly interested in the application of the findings of economic evaluations, as one of several tools, to consider the costs and outcomes associated with a given program. The Center for Economic Evaluation (CEE/SNU) of the School of Public Health of Seoul National University was established to perform or help to perform various assessments of the economic aspects of health programs and environmental issues. During the allocation of scarce resources, it is important to pursue good value for money. Through research and training programs, the ultimate goal of CEE/SNU is to help the health and environmental sectors of Korea and other Asian countries to accomplish the rational allocation of available resources.
Center for Environmental Health Risk Assessment
The aims of our center are to perform research on environments and ecosystems, to elucidate various factors associated with human health, and to minimize the human health risk factors in our society. Considering that current environmental issues cover the broad and complex range of topics related to the environment, our centers apply a multi-disciplinary approach to solve these problems. The main topics are various physical, chemical, and biological hazards in both the natural environment and in occupational settings. The specific research topics in our center include air pollution and climate change, environmental health microbiology, environmental chemistry, environmental toxicology, the indoor environment and exposure assessment, biomonitoring, environmental medicine, and occupational health.
The Global Health Research Center’s mission is to promote health and reduce health inequity globally. Research for generating evidence, and human resource development and training are its main activities to achieve this mission. Particularly, it implements actions based on evidence and theories in the fields of health systems, health financing, disease control and health promotion and environmental health, with the support of its global networks. Also, it interacts with various organizations, groups, and researchers and plays a national leadership role in global health research and training.
