The Prevention Research Center (PRC) of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation was formed in 1983 as a national center for prevention research. PRC's focus is on conducting research to better understand the social and physical environments that influence individual behavior that leads to alcohol and drug misuse. PRC is one of sixteen centers sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and is the only one that specializes in prevention.