The Stanford Prevention Research Center was established in 1984 to conduct interdisciplinary research into the prevention and control of chronic disease (until 2003 its name was the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention). The Center incorporated the activities of the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program (SHDPP), which was formed in 1972, and research into the prevention of cardiovascular disease remains a major component of Center activity. Its history can be even traced back to the year of 1962 when Prof. John Farquhar began diabetes patient education outside hospital from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The Center is dedicated to American/world public health. Compared with clinical therapy, public health emphasizes prevention and gives priority to a community-level perspective on disease prevention and health promotion, instead of individual wellness.

SPRC offers common people basic knowledge about pathologies of some major chronic disease, as well as many other medical research institutions. Further, it conducts problem-focused research, using mainly experimental methods, to test and disseminate disease prevention and control programs. In the past decades, the Center contributed a lot to many aspects of public health.

Stanford Health Promotion Resource Center (HPRC)

The Stanford Health Promotion Resource Center was created in 1986 as a public service dissemination arm of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. The mission of HPRC is to make available to the public educational materials and programs that were proven successful in scientific investigations. Dozens of books, pamphlets, curriculums and videos are available for sale. The resource center also offers many on-line materials including classes, health assessments, streaming videos and lectures, printable health kits, and more.

Dr. Wesley Alles

Dr Wesley Alles is a senior research scientist of SPRC, the director of HPRC, and the director of HIP (Health Improvement Program). As a leading scholar in the discipline of health and safety, he conducted decades of national-wide researches that were financially supported by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, Blue Cross and other institutions. He is the co-author of four college textbooks and more than two-dozen articles in peer reviewed professional journals.

Besides academic activities, Dr. Alles has actively participated in practicing public health. He was a pivotal member of many national-level health organizations, a member on the Board of Directors of several hospitals and insurance companies, and a healthcare consulter of multinational companies. During his three-year serving for Lockheed, Dr. Alles was recognized by the company as having saved the company nearly $4,000,000 in health care costs and he received the President's Award for Outstanding Achievement and Innovation. Dr. Alles currently serves as Chair of a national YMCA and a member on the Board of Directors of the El Camino Hospital.