News, analysis, & announcements from Center for HOPES experts
Center researchers present at ARM 2022
June 17, 2022: Center for HOPES Research Evaluator Saira Nawaz and Research Associate Kyle Moon presented at this year’s AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in Washington, D.C. Nawaz participated in an all-star panel on measuring racism in health research and Moon presented a poster on the evaluation team’s work with community health workers. Read more
Center for HOPES 2021 Annual Report
May 26, 2022: It was another busy year for Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Evaluation Studies! Building on 2020’s strong staffing and project expansions, we focused our attention on deepening our community engagement efforts in 2021. Guided by our mission to support health equity and social justice, we’re proud to report another impactful year of advancing the university’s land grant mission through innovative evaluation, policy, and outcomes research for the public good. Read about our new projects and continuing efforts in the Center for HOPES 2021 Annual Report.
Figueroa invited to join SGM research consortium
May 13, 2022: Center for HOPES Research Scholar Wilson Figueroa has been invited to join the Midwest SGM (Sexual and Gender Minorities) Health Research Consortium. The Consortium is a collaborative group of university researchers and community partners focused on identifying, understanding, and addressing the health needs of diverse SGM individuals through transdisciplinary and community-engaged research. Per the group’s website, “[a] major focus of the Consortium is to study the structural, social, and psychological determinants of health disparities for SGM communities and to design and implement evidence-informed and evidence-based interventions to reduce health disparities.” Dr. Figueroa shares these goals. Read more about how the RISE Study examines discrimination as a determinant of health.
Seiber receives prestigious teaching award
April 28, 2022: Congratulations to Center for HOPES Director Eric Seiber for being awarded the university’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. The university recognizes up to 10 faculty per year for their teaching excellence. Dr. Seiber’s former doctoral student and Center researcher Evan Goldstein, now an assistance professor at the University of Utah, nominated him for this prestigious honor. Read more
Figueroa selected for special grant development program
April 21, 2022: Congratulations to Center for HOPES Research Scholar Wilson Figueroa for being selected to take part in the CCTS Launch to K Grant-Writing Workshop! The goal of the program is to guide early career scholars through the process of writing a high-quality K grant submission. During the competitive review process for participation in the workshop, the committee found promise in Dr. Figueroa’s RISE Study, so will work with him to refine and strengthen his proposal over the course of the three-month program. Learn more about Dr. Figueroa’s passion for research.
Examining discrimination as a determinant of health
April 14, 2022: Center for HOPES Research Scholar Wilson Figueroa is wrapping up recruitment and data collection for his study on the effects of daily minority stressors in queer persons of color. Figueroa discusses how the RISE Study contributes to health equity research by examining the role of discrimination in minority health outcomes and how, through rigorous design, methods, and analysis, health outcomes research can advance equity and justice in public health, health care practice, and health policy. Read more
Figueroa co-authors new publication
April 7, 2022: Center for HOPES Research Scholar Wilson Figueroa is co-author of an article in the new issue of Cancer Medicine. College of Public Health colleague Tasleem Padamsee, and their co-authors compare three different breast cancer risk prediction models among a community-based sample to identify women who have a high risk of getting breast cancer. Read more
Nawaz presents to physicians on community resilience
March 30, 2022: Center for HOPES Research Evaluator Saira Nawaz recently co-presented a lecture for the Educating the Whole Physician Lecture Series at Notre Dame University’s John J. Reilly Center. On March 23, 2022, Nawaz and Dr. Gloria Itzel Montiel gave their talk titled “Centering Community to Advance Health Equity: Lessons from Evaluation of Co-Developed Interventions in Latinx Communities.” Read more
Figueroa research on stress effects in LGBTQ+ adults lauded
March 4, 2022: The Society for Health Psychology has selected “Daily Stressors and Diurnal Cortisol Among Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adults,” authored by Center for HOPES Research Scholar Wilson Figueroa as its highlight of the month for March. In the 2021 study published in Health Psychology, Dr. Figueroa and his colleagues report the results of their study on sexual and gender minority stress and diurnal cortisol, the changes in the stress-sensitive hormone. Their findings suggest that there is a unique relationship between the everyday experience of sexual and gender minority stressors and cortisol levels throughout the day, which has implications for the physical and mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual/pansexual, trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse individuals. Congratulations, Dr. Figueroa!
Read the article and supplemental materials.
Partnership with CPHI to address local COVID-19 health disparities
January 12, 2022: The Center for HOPES is partnering with the City of Columbus, Center for Public Health Innovation (CPHI) to address COVID-19 health disparities in Franklin County, Ohio. This work is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities. Over the next two years, Saira Nawaz and Anne Trinh, evaluators and community engagement specialists at the Center for HOPES, will work with CPHI and other collaborators to support COVID-19 recovery efforts and build sustainable practices to improve health equity. Read more
New AMCHP brief on perinatal substance use
December 17, 2021: The Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) recently published a new issue brief: “Perinatal Cannabis Use in the Era of Increasing Legalization: Considerations for State MCH Programs.” The brief features insights from eight states’ approaches to perinatal cannabis use prevention. AMCHP intends for the brief to be a resource for Maternal Child Health professionals as leaders in designing and implementing public health approaches to harm reduction in perinatal cannabis use. AMCHP was a partner in the Center’s Advancing Equity: Reproductive Health Services and Considerations for Women with Substance Use Disorders webinar series in 2020.
Learn more about the Center for HOPES’s Reproductive Health & Justice work, including the Dual Burden of unmet health care needs for birthing people with SUD.
New funding for GOHi
December 10, 2021: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded the Global One Health initiative (GOHi) a new grant of $4 million to enhance detection, response, and prevention of antimicrobial resistance and associated health threats in hospitals in Ethiopia. Read more
Evaluation’s role in community engagement & empowerment
September 29, 2021: Center for HOPES evaluators Saira Nawaz and Anne Trinh recently returned from the west coast on a site visit to AltaMed’s vaccination outreach program. The aim of the program is to increase COVID-19 vaccinations among the Latinx community in southern California by bolstering a community-based workforce of outreach and health workers. Read more
Center for HOPES observes Overdose Awareness Day
August 30, 2021: Earlier this month, Governor DeWine signed Senate Bill 30, designating August 31 as Ohio Overdose Awareness Day. The Center for HOPES joins our colleagues and communities across Ohio in remembering the lives of those lost to overdose. Read more
RISE Study seeks eligible participants
August 27, 2021: Dr. Wilson Figueroa’s Examining Race, gender Identity, and Sexual orientation for health Equity (RISE) Study is seeking participants. Eligible individuals can earn between $15 and $95 for participating in the study, which examines stress and health in racially diverse queer adults 18 and older residing in Franklin County, Ohio. To learn more, visit the RISE Study page.
New opportunities to work with the Center
August 20, 2021: The Computational Epidemiology Lab (CEL) at the College of Public Health is seeking candidates for several Research Assistant (RA) positions. The Center for HOPES collaborates with Dr. Ayaz Hyder’s CEL on all of the associated projects, so all of the RAs hired into these positions will have the opportunity to work with Center staff. Do you have a passion for data science and community engagement? We encourage you to apply! See job listings
AltaMed partnership now funded by HRSA
August 19, 2021: Center for HOPES team members Saira Nawaz, Anne Trinh, and Kyle Moon continue to work with partners in California to evaluate efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccinations among the Latinx community by bolstering a community-based workforce of outreach and health workers. Read more
Center for HOPES welcomes new staff
August 4, 2021: The Center for HOPES is delighted to welcome three new members to our team! Read more
Frazier co-authors new publication
July 23, 2021: Center for HOPES Research Scholar Lisa Frazier is co-author of a letter to the editor in the new issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Read more
In the media: Seiber on addressing the Medicaid coverage gap
July 16, 2021: Eric Seiber, Director of the Center for HOPES and Professor in the College of Public Health, is quoted in a story about how the Biden administration is attempting to close the “coverage gap” between Medicaid and subsidized private health coverage. Read more
Center launches evaluation certificate program
June 29, 2021: Between May 10 and June 18, the Center for HOPES piloted a non-degree certificate program designed for public health and social service professionals and researchers. The self-paced, virtual course aimed to address fear or resistance to program evaluation and to empower the public health and social services work force to use data to assess programmatic needs. Read more
Center publishes findings from Ohio COVID Survey
June 24, 2021: Center for HOPES researchers Lisa Frazier, Eric Seiber, Kristin Harlow, Selasi Attipoe, and Brian O’rourke present The Ohio COVID-19 Survey: Preliminary Findings and Their Use During the Pandemic in the newest issue of the Ohio Journal of Public Health. Overall, authors find that groups that were struggling before the pandemic have faced the biggest challenges with regard to health and household economics since it began. Read all publications from the Center.
Nawaz co-authors new publications
June 24, 2021: Center for HOPES Research Evaluator Saira Nawaz is co-author of two new articles about Latino Health Access’s promotora community health model. Read more
New funding for CATS
May 26, 2021: Thanks to funding from The Ohio State University’s Outreach and Engagement grants, the Center for HOPES with be working with principal investigator Ayaz Hyder to conduct a community-directed evaluation of the COVID-19 Analytics and Targeted Surveillance System for Schools (CATS). Read more
Trinh co-authors new publication
May 12, 2021: Center for HOPES Community Engagement Specialist Anne Trinh is co-author of an article in the new issue of Public Health Reports. Read more
In the media: Trinh on 2020 increase in overdose deaths
April 26, 2021: Anne Trinh, Community Engagement Specialist at the Center for HOPES and Senior Program Manager of the Addiction Innovation Fund, is quoted in a story about the dramatic rise in drug overdose deaths in 2020. Read more
Figueroa receives funding for new research
April 2, 2021: The Center for HOPES is thrilled to announce that Wilson Figueroa, Senior Consulting Research Statistician, is the recipient of one the College of Public Health’s highly-competitive racial justice seed grants. Read more
Older stories can be found in the News Archive.