PUTTING RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

On Nov. 1, members of the APHA Health Administration Section and the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice met at the Health Administration Section Social and Awards ceremony at APHA in Denver to celebrate and honor the first winner of the Research to Practice Award. Discussion of implementing this new collaborative award between the Health Administration Section and JPHMP began in the summer 2015, led by Kusuma Madamala, PhD, MPH, Section chair at the time and JPHMP Editor-in-Chief Lloyd Novick. As part of the routine call for Health Administration Section abstracts in late 2015, nominations were requested for best examples of current research, which has effectively been put into the practice of health administrators. To be considered, papers were required to demonstrate translation of research findings to inform decision making and action by public health practice and policy stakeholders, development of new and/or effective dissemination strategies for research, or demonstrated achievement of work being utilized beyond peer-reviewed manuscripts.

“Our Health Administration Section has successfully collaborated in the past with the JPHMP on special topical editions, and we were delighted to partner again on this new Research to Practice award,” says Dr. Madamala. “Recognition of one’s work through authorship and an award is valuable for professional development. The opportunity to submit work for publication as a Section award recipient is also a benefit of membership to our Section.”

After undergoing a review process, 24 of the abstracts submitted were advanced to a selection committee that included membership and diversity chair Alan Baker; present and past section chairs Brenda Stevenson-Marshall and Kusuma Madamala; and JPHMP Editor-in-Chief Lloyd F. Novick and Associate Editor Justin B. Moore.

“Translational research is what we as practitioners are concerned with more so than ever before,” says Dr. Stevenson-Marshall. “Many of our public health practitioners wish to publish but lack appropriate guidance.”

That’s where the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice comes into play. Receiving the award carries with it the opportunity to publish a scientific article in JPHMP. Journal editors Novick and Moore have together developed an author’s toolkit for CSTE and have presented lectures (at APHA 2016, for instance) on writing for the public health community.

“As a junior faculty member I remember how much I benefited from such sessions,” adds Dr. Stevenson-Marshall, which were “held at annual meetings by the publishers of Health Services Research and Medical Care. Now I work with faculty and community colleagues in eastern Washington to encourage interdisciplinary, translational research that informs health policy; improves service delivery; and facilitates access to care. This award is most assuredly appropriate and timely, and we in the HA Section wish to assist in making our members more engaged and aware of its importance and relevance and of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice’s importance and relevance.”

AND THE WINNER IS…

The inaugural winner of the Research to Practice Award is Dr. Sandra Liu, PhD, MBA, MS in Preventive Medicine for her abstract “Drivers and barriers for adopting accreditation at local health departments for their performance improvement effort.”

In presenting the award to Dr. Liu, Dr. Novick commented that her abstract, which focused on local health department accreditation, fulfilled the two basic criteria for the award: it was a well-organized abstract with promising potential for development into a compelling scientific article, and it focused on a topic highly relevant to public health practice.

Dr. Liu is a professor in the Department of Consumer Science and the director of the Center for Global Urban Sustainability at the College of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue University. She has extensively applied strategic marketing modeling in healthcare across the pharmaceutical industry, hospital management, public health administration, and community health services.

Ensuring cost-effective and sustainable adoption of the best practices in a highly regulated public health environment poses a great challenge to local health departments. Dr. Liu has engaged in performance and quality improvement initiatives of LHDs through their efforts in preparing for public health accreditation processes. She also has collaborated with hospital systems and community health centers in studying healthcare delivery processes and patient satisfaction, perceived quality, experience, and value with both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Dr. Liu’s current research focuses on (1) planning for innovative and sustainable health systems, (2) modeling with the strategic marketing framework that creates both social and economic value, and (3) strategizing for delivering delightful patient experience.

“It was truly an honor receiving the award and an encouragement for an academician who has devoted most of her career life attempting to bridge academic research and the challenges that practitioners encounter in solving real-world issues,” says Dr. Liu. “I applaud the vision and the effort of the leadership team of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice in institutionalizing such an award.”

Dr. Stevenson-Marshall notes that going forward, as a strategy for heightening the visibility of the Practice to Research Award, she hopes the HA Section will be able to develop a webinar that focuses on how to publish in a journal such as JPHMP, which places an emphasis on translational research.