A study conducted by three University of Kentucky College of Public Health graduate students received one of two Best Research Poster awards at a national research meeting that convened in downtown Lexington last week. Nearly 300 researchers from across the U.S. and Canada traveled to town to share their latest studies on how best to organize, finance, and deliver strategies that protect and improve population health. One of the winning research posters originated right here on campus, created by Keith Branham, a DrPH student in the Department of Health Management and Policy, together with fellow doctoral students Caroline Holsinger and Miriam Siegel. Their study examined factors that lead local health departments across the U.S. to seek and obtain accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board – a status reserved for agencies that comply with a broad range of national professional standards of practice in public health. The second winning research poster, devised by a research team from Washington University in St. Louis led by Kathleen Duggan and Ross Brownson, examined factors that influence the use of evidence-based practices in local health departments. The winning posters were chosen based on audience ratings of merit from a field of more than 70 research posters presented at the meeting.
This year marked the 8th Annual Keeneland Conference on Public Health Services & Systems Research, hosted by the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The conference agenda and recordings of the scientific sessions and keynotes can be accessed online. For more information on this research, visit UK’s National Coordinating Center for Public Health Services & Systems Research.
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