IPRC History & Timeline

Since the mid-1990’s the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center has grown significantly in both size and scope, expanding from our initial state and regional focus to national and international programs. Here is a timeline of IPRC’s development.

1984: The UNC School of Public Health organizes a working group to address the injury problem within the context of the 1990 Public Health Objectives for the Nation. The group later helped set the agenda for the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

1987: IPRC, one of the five original injury prevention research centers supported by CDC, is created and receives one of the first funding awards from the new Division of Injury Control at CDC -- a teaching case study demonstrating how to assess the impact of driving-while-intoxicated policy.

1988: With careful joint planning involving IPRC and the North Carolina health department, the Injury Control Section was organized to lead the state's efforts in injury prevention. IPRC provided both financial and technical support for the first staff.

1989: IPRC assists in forming the Governor's Task Force on Injury Prevention and Control.

1990: IPRC collaborates with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the CDC and the University of Alabama at Birmingham ICRC to create The Southeast Region Injury Control Network. The purpose of this activity is to assist with capacity building throughout the eight Southeastern states and to link health and highway safety professionals together.

1991: IPRC assisted the North Carolina General Assembly in creating a Child Fatality Task Force to document the problems of child deaths and suggest legislation to address both child abuse and unintentional injury.

1994: The University elevated IPRC to the status of a free-standing Center as a part of the permanent University structure -- providing greater visibility for activities and permitting broader involvement of faculty, students, and related institutions.

2007: On January 1^st, 2007 the UNC IPRC turned 20! When the program began in 1987, Dr. Patricia Waller was the Center Director and Dr. Carol Runyan the Associate Director. At that time the Center was a small "c" center housed jointly within the Highway Safety Research Center  and the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. We were one of five centers funded in the initial round from CDC, along with Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University of Washington. A series of events is being planned to commemorate the center's first two decades and to look toward the next two decades. View the 20th Anniversary page for updates.