The Propel Centre for Population Health Impact (Propel) is a collaborative enterprise that conducts research, evaluation and knowledge exchange to move evidence into action, accelerating improvements in the health of populations in Canada and around the world.

Supported by a Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute major program grant (2011-2016), the University of Waterloo and more than 30 grants and contracts from federal and provincial governments and NGOs, Propel’s niche is relevant and rigorous science that informs policies and practice to prevent cancer and chronic disease.

Major program areas are tobacco control, including collaboration and synergy with the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, youth health, focusing on healthy living and environments, and capacity building, with a pan-Canadian graduate student training program, methods development, and evaluation research. Propel also provides leadership for a University of Waterloo centre of excellence with a focus on chronic disease prevention. Propel is comprised of in-house research scientists, 45 experienced staff and over 200 research, policy and practice collaborators across Canada and beyond. Our goals are to:

1. Improve the effectiveness of population health programs, policies, and services

• Our evidence informs decision-makers on issues that have broad health impact, such as the ban on selling flavoured cigarillos, which are marketed to youth.
• We widely disseminate our evidence via consultations, publications, presentations, meetings, etc. to inform key audiences (with an emphasis on decision-makers) and help guide action.

2. Enhance capacity to generate and support the use of relevant evidence

• We work with our partners in policy, practice and research to set joint priorities for research to ensure studies are relevant and timely.
• Through our training programs, we are teaching emerging scientists to conduct solution-oriented research and evaluation studies

3. Strengthen the science and methods for generating and using relevant evidence

• Propel works with colleagues at the University of Waterloo to develop and use sophisticated biostatistical methods for population intervention studies.
• We are working to develop scientific tools and infrastructure, such as minimal data sets, data warehouses and data-sharing capabilities.

4. Strengthen relationships across science, policy and practice sectors

• Propel has networks of science, policy and practice collaborators in each program area.
• We offer strategic advice to government (e.g., Public Health Agency of Canada) and non-government organizations (e.g., Canadian Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation).