Research Centers

The Aging and Technology Research Center is dedicated to promoting health and independent living among older adults and their caregivers. The center researches technological solutions to problems associated with aging.

Behling Human Simulation Center is a center of excellence that fosters a highly collaborative approach in the use of simulation technologies for the improvement of health care education. The university's state-of-the-art educational center brings together students from all five health sciences disciplines—medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and dentistry—to learn as members of a team.

The Center for Assistive Technology (CAT) develops and synthesizes knowledge about assistive devices to aid people with functional impairments. Multidisciplinary research activities involve faculty from the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ Department of Rehabilitation Science as well as UB departments such as architecture and planning; communicative disorders and sciences; counseling and educational psychology; geriatric medicine; law; mechanical, electrical and industrial engineering; nursing; rehabilitation medicine; and special education.

The Center for Assistive Technology (CAT) Client Services team provides awareness of the use of Assistive Technology (AT) helping people of all ages with various disabilities, illnesses and functional impairments apply AT for daily living, school, work, recreational and leisure activities. Services can help people live more independent lives and also facilitate improved health, wellness and disease prevention.

The Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research (CeCaR) at the University at Buffalo is a multidisciplinary center that includes faculty members from various decanal units, all focused on addressing the paucity of research on every aspect of cannabis.

The Center for Research and Education in Special Environments (CRESE) is a center of excellence for applied physiology. The CRESE facility can simulate any environment, from the extremes of the deep ocean to desert, arctic and rainforest climates to high altitude and space. CRESE also houses a unique altitude and wet hyperbaric chamber bracketing 100,000 ft of altitude and 5,600 ft of depth. The center also has the world’s only annular (endless) pool, and operates one of the world’s few human-rated centrifuges.

The Population Health Observatory (PHO) is a public health research, training and informatics center. PHO faculty and students apply biostatistical and computational expertise to analyze large population-based data sets, mining information from them to enhance knowledge and practice of public health.

The Center on Health in Housing is a collaboration between the School of Public Health and Health Professions and the School of Architecture and Planning. The center focuses on research and technical assistance in support of safe, equitable, and accessible home environments, and fosters the health and functioning of all people in the region of the Americas.

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) is a long-term, national health study that has focused on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women. UB is one of the original 16 “vanguard clinical centers” selected to participate in the initiative, and also serves as the WHI Northeast Regional Center, managing data collection and scientific coordination among nine WHI-affiliated institutions in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.