Expanding the Impact of Public Health Policies Through Collaborative Implementation Research: The Case of Federal School Meal Programs During COVID-19

Public health policies have the potential to broadly reduce health inequities, but only if they reach the people who could benefit the most. In her talk, Dr. Lane will discuss: - How understanding how policy implementation varies across group/settings can improve policy impact - How studying implementation variations is often too messy to be worth it because of the many stakeholders, levels, and uncontrollable elements - The universal policy guidance from USDA that allowed school districts to continue operating their meals programs during COVID-19 school closures, which created a rare, relatively controlled environment to study implementation variations - The collaborative nature of research during the pandemic and novel analytic methods used, which could not only improve school meal policy implementation and reach post COVID-19, but also advance the field of health policy implementation research Discussant: Heather King, PhD, Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences Zoom Info: https://duke.zoom.us/j/2570407216 (Meeting ID: 257 040 7216) About Our Speaker Hannah Lane, PhD, MPH (she/her) is currently K12 DISCO (Dissemination and Implementation Science for Cardiovascular Outcomes) Scholar in the Department of Population Health Sciences (DPHS). She holds a Master of Public Health from George Washington University, a PhD in Human Nutrition, Foods, & Exercise from Virginia Tech, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her research employs mixed methods approaches to describe and improve the implementation of healthy eating and physical activity policies in settings (primarily schools) that serve children experiencing health inequities. As a K12 Scholar, she has established partnerships with stakeholders, including the NC Department of Public Instruction's School Nutrition office, and secured foundation and NIH funding to carry her research forward. Dr. Lane is on the leadership team of a CDC- and Healthy Eating Research-funded national working group that focuses on translating COVID-19 school meals program research to policy and practice. Dr. Lane has collaborated with investigators in DPHS and across the Duke School of Medicine to apply her implementation science skills to research in new content areas (e.g., child behavioral health) and settings (e.g., clinics).