PRC Faculty & Staff Highlights
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Suicidality: McMorris and Colleagues Explore School Connectedness as a Protective Factor for Ethnic Minority Adolescents
HYD-PRC faculty Barb McMorris, PhD together with lead author Eunice Areba published findings from their analysis of the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey in Children and Youth Services Review. This study discovered that although school connectedness is protective against suicidal ideation, it only buffers the negative impact of adverse childhood events on suicidality for non-Hispanic White adolescents. Findings from this study suggest that suicide prevention programs should be designed with an intersectional framework and provide additional access to emotional support for youth of diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Examining Factors Influencing HPV Vaccination: McRee and Colleagues Study Makes the Case for Multi-Level Interventions
HYD-PRC faculty Annie-Laurie McRee, DrPH, is coauthor with researchers from the University of Iowa Prevention Research Center on a new paper published in Human Vaccine & Immunotherapeutics examining state-level stakeholder perspectives on factors influencing HPV vaccination. Findings highlight the importance of implementing evidence-based interventions and suggest that a tiered approach, utilizing multi-level interventions instead of focusing on only one level, may have the most benefit.
HYD-PRC Joins the Sex Education Collaborative
The HYD-PRC was recently invited to join the Sex Education Collaborative (SEC), a group of 22 national, regional, and state-based organizations that share a common goal to advance and scale K-12 school-based sex education programs across the US. Jill Farris, HYD-PRC Director of Sexual Health Training and Education, represents the HYD-PRC in this collaborative. Dedicated to bringing together organizations in the field of sexual health through its collective leadership, networks, and resources, the SEC is compiling a database of medical and health professionals who can be mobilized to advocate on behalf of comprehensive and high-quality sex education in all 50 states and DC. The SEC envisions a world in which all young people’s right to comprehensive, high quality sex education is recognized and fulfilled.
Sieving and McMorris Contribute to a Literature Review on Family Relationships and the Health and Well-Being of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth
HYD-PRC Director Renee Sieving, RN, PhD, and faculty Barb McMorris, PhD guided a PhD student advisee in conducting a literature review on associations between family relationships and health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth. This review, published in LGBT Health, highlighted a small body of research indicating that strong family relationships support the health and well-being of TGD youth.
McRee Receives Team Science Award from UMN’s Department of Pediatrics
Awarded to an individual faculty with strong interdisciplinary/cross-divisional collaborations, HYD-PRC faculty Annie-Laurie McRee, DrPH, was the 2020 recipient of the UMN Department of Pediatrics’ Team Science Award.
Shlafer Joins the Mothers Leading Science Leadership Development Program
The Mothers Leading Science leadership development program, a collaboration between the UMN Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program, and the Center for Women in Medicine and Science, welcomes HYD-PRC faculty Rebecca Shlafer, PhD, and 11 other faculty/researcher-moms to the 2021 cohort. This program provides members with leadership training, monthly conversations, and an ongoing support network for integrating their dual roles of scientists and mothers.