The mission of the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU) is to be a centre of excellence in research that will create new knowledge and understandings of population health, contribute to health policy and planning, inform public policy at all levels of governance, incorporate a population health perspective into the education of health professionals, and be a resource for public debate on population health.

Established in 1999, SPHERU is a non-profit research institute with Board representation from its two collaborating universities (University of Regina, University of Saskatchewan), and its three other founding partners (Saskatchewan Health, Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations, and the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission).