The Community Health Research Unit, also known as CHRU, is a Health System-Linked Research Unit, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health, co-sponsored by the University of Ottawa (Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine and the School of Nursing) and the former Ottawa -Carleton Health Department, now City of Ottawa People Services.

Since 1989, the research unit has worked as a partnership between the Health Department and the University to:

1. develop new knowledge for effective public health practice in the areas of: strengthening self-care capacity and action; building supportive environments; and the interaction of these areas;
2. enhance the scientific basis for public health practice by promoting and supporting evidence-based practice; and
3. foster transdisciplinary inquiry and build strong and reciprocal linkages between practitioners and researchers within the health promotion and public health communities.

Investigators at the CHRU have come from both the University of Ottawa and the City of Ottawa, working together in a partnership bringing both academic rigor and practical application to their work. Investigators at the CHRU have been working in the areas of community capacity building and multicultural health for several years.