Research Centers

Our centers' extramurally funded investigators use a wide range of methodological approaches to study a variety of critical health, equity, and outcomes issues. The centers’ funded research includes:

  • acute and chronic pain,
  • nonpharmacological interventions for chronic conditions including pain,
  • alternatives to opioids,
  • placebo effects in health care
  • encouraging health and wellness including neuromuscular, bone, psychological, cardiovascular, and sleep health in a variety of populations
  • nursing and long-term care workforce challenges
  • person-centered care and quality measurement
  • maintaining function in aging
  • quality of life and care for people with serious illness and their families
  • digital therapeutics
  • web-based interventions
  • health care organizational issues

The University of Maryland School of Nursing is home to five organized research centers.

Biology and Behavior Across the Lifespan (BBAL) Organized Research Center

a nurse researcher helping a patient with a patient portal

BBAL investigates the management of disease, the optimization of health, and the ways in which biological findings can influence disease prevalence and progression.

Learn More Biology and Behavior Across the Lifespan (BBAL) Organized Research Center

University of Maryland Center to Advance Chronic Pain Research (CACPR)

nurse researchers conducting a study

CACPR is a campus-wide entity that seeks to promote cutting edge basic, translational, and clinical biomedical research that will advance our understanding and treatment of chronic pain.

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Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research (CHEOR)

a nurse researcher with a toddler

CHEOR aims improve health outcomes and eliminate health inequities.

Learn More Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research (CHEOR)

Placebo Beyond Opinions (PBO) Center

Women put cap on research subject

The PBO Center promotes interdisciplinary investigation of the placebo phenomenon in health care and nurtures a higher education placebo research program.

Learn More Placebo Beyond Opinions (PBO) Center

Symptom Science Using Neuroscientific and Psychological Approaches (SYNAPSE) Center

The SYNAPSE Center conducts research to predict, prevent, and treat medical symptoms by leveraging research on the psychology of mental states and perception along with their underlying neurobiological substrates.

Learn More Symptom Science Using Neuroscientific and Psychological Approaches (SYNAPSE) Center