When the Center for Urban Epidemiological Studies (CUES) first took shape in 1994 it followed the traditional model of bringing together teams of experts from multiple academic institutions to develop new approaches to assessing and improving the health of urban populations. Financial contributions from philanthropic and corporate organizations and support from the CDC’s Urban Research Center Evaluation Group helped launch the center. The earliest proposals focused on a wide range of health issues, including increased risk from infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, violence, disparities in life expectancy, inadequate levels of immunization, and asthma. Missing from the early work of CUES was any attempt to partner with the East and Central Harlem communities that surround NYAM and were the objects of study.

David Vlahov, PhD, became the director of CUES in 1999.

In 1999, Dr. David Vlahov became the director of CUES. He believed that the road to making CUES successful lay in creating strong relationships with the surrounding communities. CUES began working to build local trust by sending staff members out in an RV to engage with community members and by setting up community-based sites where people could participate in health studies in a more comfortable environment. CUES also established the Harlem Community and Academic Partnership (HCAP), a network of community-based organizations and health leaders that met monthly to brainstorm about the best ways to design and carry out both research and interventions. As Vlahov noted in a 2006 interview, both power-sharing and knowledge-sharing matter. “Urban health is neighborhood health,” he stated. “We are effective because we know our neighborhoods and listen to the people who live there.”

Academy staff members take to the streets of Harlem and the South Bronx to field-test emergency vaccination methods.

Some of the most notable research projects that were completed during the center’s existence were a multiyear pediatric asthma reduction initiative; a number of harm reduction projects connected to substance abuse and injection drug users, including the promotion of support for safe needle exchange and expanded syringe access; HIV, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis intervention studies; a study on the impact of September 11 on the mental health of New York City residents; Project Viva, a street outreach program for locating and vaccinating hard-to-reach populations; and providing multilingual medication instructions at New York City pharmacies for those with limited or no English proficiency. CUES ceased to exist in its original form in 2010, but CEAR, the Center for Evaluation and Research, began as part of CUES and continues today as one of NYAM’s main initiatives.