The Department of General Practice and Family Medicine was founded in 2001 and is one of six institutions which belong to the Centre for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna. The Department has initiated a nationwide network of GP practices in Austria which participate and cooperate in various teaching and research activities. This initiative aims at improving information exchange, implementation and translation of research results into practice reality, thereby bridging the gap between the tertiary and primary health care sector. Current research areas include analysis of morbidity at the population level, educational research, health services research, antibiotic resistance in primary care, diagnostic tools useful in primary care, international and migrant health, suicide research and ethical issues in health care.
The CPH ( ) consists of the Departments of General Practice, Epidemiology, Medical Psychology, Environmental Health and Social Medicine. The Centre and its Departments are heavily involved in teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate level at the Medical University of Vienna and in research activities at the national and international level. A network of institutions which are active in the field of Public Health in Vienna has been developed for teaching purposes and as sites for observation and Public Health practice. Both the Centre for Public Health and in particular the Department of General Practice and Family Medicine are highly involved in networking and cooperation with less developed countries such as those in the former U.S.S.R or in Africa. In cooperation with the “American Austrian Foundation” more than 35 colleagues from the former U.S.S.R have been hosted in Vienna and trained in teaching, research methodology and provision of health services/public health initiatives.