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Research Centers


The New York City Food Policy Center develops intersectoral, innovative and evidence-based solutions to preventing diet-related diseases and promoting food security in New York and other cities. The Center works with policy makers, community organizations, advocates and the public to promote community and economic development. Through interdisciplinary research, policy analysis, evaluation and education, we leverage the expertise and passion of the students, faculty and staff of Hunter College and CUNY. The Center aims to make New York a model for smart, fair food policy.
Affiliated urban public health faculty: Leung, Navder, Platkin, Yeh
Website: http://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/

The Brookdale Center on Healthy Urban Aging and Longevity at Hunter College advances successful aging and longevity through research, education, and evaluation of evidence-based models of practice and policy. The Brookdale Center shares the East Harlem campus with both the Silberman School of Social Work and the School of Urban Public Health. Brookdale Center takes a leading role in the development of evidence-based “best practices” to advance the health and well-being of a new generation. Brookdale is breaking new ground in aging services by connecting and integrating the applied fields of gerontology with health policy. Brookdale Center serves as a critical bridge between gerontological education, research, policy, practice and advocacy, and is recognized nationally today as a major center of excellence.
Director: Ruth Finkelstein
Website: http://www.brookdale.org/

Center for Basic and Translational Research
Center for Translational and Basic Research (CTBR) mission is to address health disparities and improve health outcomes. The CTBR is a consortium of researchers within Hunter College of the City University of New York—one of the largest public universities in the nation. It boasts unparalleled quality and diversity in its researchers on both the faculty and graduate student levels. At the heart of the CTBR’s mission is an imperative to build unique collaborations among biologists, chemists and biopsychologists; to recruit and equip outstanding faculty; to develop and share core research facilities; to implement strategies for scientific networking; and to address health disparities in our population involving the Hunter Silberman School of Social Work, the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing and the Weill Cornell Medicine Clinical and Translational Science Center. The CTBR is funded by a major grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH.
Website: http://ctbr.hunter.cuny.edu

Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training at Hunter College (CHEST) conducts research on social and psychological factors that contribute to HIV transmission and/or the wellbeing of those living with HIV, and with a particular emphasis on the promotion of sexual health. CHEST’s mission is to conduct research to identify and promote strategies that prevent the spread of HIV and improve the lives of people living with HIV. We have been advocating for and working with the LGBT community since 1996. CHEST is part of Hunter College of the City University of New York, where Dr. Jeffrey Parsons (Director) is a Distinguished Professor in the Psychology Department. Drs. Tyrel Starks and H. Jonathon Rendina, both from the Hunter Psychology Department, are faculty affiliates. CHEST has strong affiliations throughout the CUNY system with Faculty Affiliates including: Dr. David Bimbi (Laguardia Community College), Dr. Christian Grov (CUNY School of Public Health), Dr. Juline Koken (Laguardia Community College).  In addition, CHEST has strong collaborative partnerships with investigators at Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Minnesota, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. As an academic research center, CHEST supports post-doctoral fellows, doctoral candidates, master’s students, and undergraduate interns. The majority of our doctoral students attend the CUNY Graduate Center’s Health Psychology and Clinical Sciences doctoral programs.

Website: http://www.chestnyc.org

CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC) works to realize cities as part of the solution to global sustainability challenges. The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC) works to realize cities as part of the solution to global sustainability challenges. By merging the science of sustainability with innovative public programming, we examine opportunities available to cities—and their residents—for proactive responses to on-going environmental change. We harness the potential of formal and informal means to inspire a new generation of environmental thinkers. In doing so, we seek to understand and influence the evolution of the urban environment, while connecting the CUNY community, decision-makers and the general public to these critical issues. CISC explores the nature and complexity of cities through the following themes and questions:

  • Consumption: What are the elements, patterns, and impacts of urban consumption and how do they change over time?

  • Vulnerability and Resilience: How are cities impacted by global environmental change and what are their response capacities?

  • Ecosystem Services: What services to urban ecosystems provide to cities and how can their maintenance and restoration benefit urban areas?

Website: http://www.cunysustainablecities.org

Center for Communication Disorders

The Hunter College Center for Communication Disorders (Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic) is located at the Brookdale Health Sciences Campus, 425 East 25 St., Room 133 North. The Center is an integral part of the Communication Sciences Program. The Center provides diagnostic and therapeutic services for a wide variety of language, speech, voice, fluency, swallowing, hearing, communication modality, and social communication disorders. Audiological services include complete audiological evaluations, auditory processing disorder testing, and auditory brainstem response assessment with state of the art instrumentation. Services are available to the Hunter College community as well as the general public. Appointments can be made by calling (212) 481-4464.

The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

The Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños/Center for Puerto Rican Studies is a university-based research institute whose mission consists of two components. One is to collect, preserve and provide access to archival and library resources documenting the history and culture of Puerto Ricans and Latinos. The other is to produce, facilitate and disseminate interdisciplinary research about the Diaspora experiences of Puerto Ricans and to link this scholarly inquiry to social action and policy debates.

The Centro Library and Archives is the principal Puerto Rican Studies research collection in the United States and the most extensive Latino research and archival facility in the Northeast. It is also the only library and archives in the State of New York exclusively dedicated to Puerto Rican and Latino documentation. The Library and Archives is open to the public and serves diverse users, scholars and the general public from the New York area, from other parts of the U. S. and from abroad.

CENTRO participates in two exchange programs. (1) The CUNY/UPR Academic Exchange Program (Intercambio) is a program of academic interchange between the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). The program serves all CUNY colleges. CUNY undergraduates may study for a semester, or the full academic year at the Rio Piedras Campus of the UPR and receive full credit from their home college. (2) The CUNY-Caribbean Exchange promotes institutional, faculty, and student intellectual and scientific exchange with academic institutions in the Caribbean.