History

START Center Mission
The START Center delivers timely, objective research and insights to promote strategic public health decision making.

START Center Vision
The START Center advances evidence-based decision making while supporting the development of the next generation of public health leaders.

The Strategic Analysis, Research & Training (START) Program was developed through a collaborative relationship between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the University of Washington (UW) Department of Global Health in order to provide high-quality research support to help meet the Gates Foundation’s strategic information needs. The Program was initially modeled on the highly successful existing partnership between the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance – the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR) – and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The START Program was established in the UW’s Department of Global Health in the spring of 2011 under the direction of Dr. Judd Walson and Dr. Lisa Manhart. START grew steadily in the first few years and in 2014, The START Program celebrated its expansion into The START Center. With this growth, START expanded its successful Global Program by taking on new clients and launched the Domestic Program. In its first year, the domestic arm, launched in collaboration with the UW’s Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, served domestic public health clients, providing the same quality research and training which is the hallmark of the START model.

START continues to provide high-quality, original research to global and domestic health teams. The START Center includes 19 graduate research assistants, 9 dedicated faculty mentors, and three full-time staff. Since its inception in 2011, START has trained over 130 graduate students and completed analyses and recommendations for over 240 research requests serving a variety of global and domestic health clients.