PRC Leadership Transition
Dear friends and colleagues of our HYD-PRC,
I am excited to announce that my longtime colleague, Dr. Rebecca Shlafer, has agreed to step into my recent role as the Director for the University of Minnesota’s Healthy Youth Development-Prevention Research Center.
You may know that I am on a medical leave of absence to address some ongoing health issues. My progress has been steady—and also slow. I fully expect to return to the University but am keeping my timeline open-ended.
This succession strategy has been part of our long-term thinking: we just didn’t think its implementation would unfold quite so soon.
As I reflect on my seven years as Director of our PRC, I’m particularly proud of:
- The fidelity to our mission of developing and disseminating actionable knowledge and practices that promote health, healthy development & health equity among all young people through collaborations with public health agencies, health care systems, K-12 schools, and community-based organizations.
- Our Center’s intercollegiate, interdisciplinary team with their extensive experience partnering with state, county, and local health departments and other community groups.
- Growth of the externally-funded, community-engaged research led by our faculty.
- Growth of our capacities for translating our research into practice in public health, primary care, and K-12 school settings.
- Growth of our capacities to provide training & technical assistance in implementing evidence-based programs among youth-serving professionals in K-12 schools, primary care clinic settings, and public health agencies.
- Growth of the evaluation services we offer to a range of youth-serving community partners.
Indeed, these points of pride reflect the contributions of everyone on our team. I hope that during my time as PRC Director, I have helped to foster our collective contributions to the field of adolescent health and healthy youth development.
I am thrilled that Rebecca has agreed to take on the role of PRC Director. She has been with our PRC since 2010 – first as a postdoctoral fellow, then as a faculty member, and most recently as the Team Lead for the evaluation team. She knows the PRC well and is perfectly positioned to carry us into the next phase of our work. As a developmental psychologist with additional training in maternal and child public health, Rebecca brings her expertise in applied developmental science, community-engaged research, and the translation of research to practice and policy. She is a nationally recognized expert on child and adolescent health; with over 50 peer-reviewed publications and numerous state and Federal grants.
As we head into our next grant funding cycle, I have full confidence in Rebecca’s ability to help us all deliver our best work. I look forward to the great things the faculty and staff of our PRC will continue to accomplish to improve the health and well-being of all of our young people.
I wish each of you the very best in your important work and advocacy on the part of our youth.
