Urban Labs Health Lab
The Health Lab seeks to partner with civic and community leaders to identify, rigorously evaluate and scale programs and policies that improve health outcomes and address systemic barriers to achieving health equity.
Advancing Health in Urban Communities
The soaring cost of health care in the United States has created an urgent need to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the nation’s health care system. Our health care system remains compartmentalized and often fails vulnerable patients—particularly those with multiple chronic health problems—in addition to straining government resources. Health care reform has created exciting new opportunities in health care access and health care delivery, but policymakers and practitioners are still working to understand how it can sustainably and reliably improve health outcomes for underserved populations including the homeless, the elderly, and those in the criminal justice system.
The Health Lab leverages rigorous research methods such as randomized controlled trials, large datasets, and partnerships with government agencies and nonprofits to test novel health care delivery models and improve public health outcomes for underserved populations in Chicago and beyond.
Health Lab’s mission is to conduct "Science in Service of Cities," with a focus that sits primarily at the nexus between public health and public safety. Our work comprises three main areas of focus: 1) public health and safety 2) health and homelessness, and 3) equitable access to holistic healthcare. Within each of these portfolios, we utilize an ecosystems approach and pay particular attention to the interactions between these systems and that of health and healthcare systems. The methodological approaches we apply toward identifying, evaluating, and scaling promising and cost-effective solutions include both research and technical assistance with partners.
Projects
Our People
Health Lab staff partner with civic and community leaders to generate evidence on what works to improve health outcomes for vulnerable individuals who struggle to navigate the healthcare system.
