We're closing out this semester's season with a conversation about prevention and partnerships. We focus on a discussion between a long-standing collaborative relationship between Penn State and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth government, which targets interventions and prevention work targeted towards youth and families. Our episode covers a wide span of topics, including why prevention and implementation work are difficult, but critical; the changes that happen when there's a political...

For this month’s episode, we did something a little different. We spoke to two researchers with two different approaches to tackling the same problem: knowledge mobilization. In essence, the concept of knowledge mobilization focuses on making knowledge, resources or practices that exist in one space and making them accessible to specific audiences. We talked about the work behind SOSNetLab (https://sosnetlab.com/) (Social Opportunity Space Networking Lab) and the Research-to-Policy...

This month's episode tackles a fascinating combination of topics involving the impact of biological and social factors on chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, and the prevention and treatment efforts for those chronic diseases through state a...

This month's episode discusses mental health screenings for adolescents in the K-12 school system. We spoke to Deepa Sekhar, MD (https://pennstate.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/deepa-sekhar), Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine, and Executive Director, Penn State PRO Wellness (https://prowellness.childrens.pennstatehealth.org/); Perri Rosen, PhD, NCSP, Consulting Psychologist, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Pennsylvania Dept. of Human...

The end of the spring semester marks the release of another episode! This month, we tackled the tough topic of mental health among college students. We talked about how COVID-19 has impacted college students seeking mental health services, the challenges for counselors and administrators working in university mental health centers, policy solutions to the crisis, and other things that have happened as a result of the pandemic like changes in technology.We spoke to Maithreyi Gopalan, Ph.D.,...

We're back for our third season! Kicking off the 2022 season, we explore the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania.We spoke to Megan Kurlychek, (https://publicpolicy.psu.edu/people/megan-kurlychek) Professor of Sociology, Criminology and Public Policy and Associate Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center (https://justicecenter.la.psu.edu/) at Penn State, and Rick Steele...

This month's episode tackles all things related to the U.S. Census. We discussed the decennial Census, the data products created and released from the U.S. Census Bureau, the current demographic trends and challenges, and measuring hard-to-reach populations.We spoke to Raeven Chandler, Ph.D., (https://pop.psu.edu/people/rfc134) Director of the Pennsylvania Population Network (PPN) (https://pop.psu.edu/pennsylvania-population-network) at the Population Research Institute (PRI)...

In this month’s episode, we tackled innovations in healthcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen a focus on various healthcare innovations and technology like artificial intelligence, cloud-enabled solutions, and inpatient telehealth, but other innovations are important, too. Some of these focused on in Pennsylvania include how we can get more value out of the country’s healthcare system without sacrificing the quality of care and lowering barriers for underserved populations.We...

This month marks the beginning of the third season of this podcast! We're kicking things off by exploring the opportunities and challenges of Pennsylvania's child welfare system. For the past several years, there has been an ongoing partnership between Penn State researchers and government partners to change the Commonwealth's county-based child welfare system through legislative and policy actions. We spoke to Jennie Noll, Ph.D. (https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/jennie-noll), Professor in the...

  For this month's episode, we explore a topic that we have wanted to cover for some time: unemployment and the pandemic labor market. As the nation begins to "reopen" and the economy begins shifting, many states have begun ending pandemic-era unemployment insurance benefits (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/business/state-pandemic-unemployment-benefits-ending.html). For many, unemployment insurance was the only thing keeping them afloat following the unprecedented unemployment crisis at...

For this month's episode, we examined how the pandemic has revealed the "hidden crisis" of food insecurity throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the country. According to the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion...

This month, we return to our Pandemic Perspective series and explore the state of the childcare system in Pennsylvania during the pandemic. We discuss the challenges and opportunities to funding, access, and quality for the childcare system. We spoke to Karen Grimm-Thomas (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-grimm-thomas-28055865/), Director of External Relations at the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL)...

This month, we are taking a break from our Pandemic Perspective series to examine an existing working relationship between academia and government. Since we talk a lot on this podcast about how the research community and government partners or policymakers can work together more effectively, it made sense for us to dig into an existing policy collaboration between the two groups. For our March episode, we explore the Pennsylvania Coordinated Medication-Assisted Treatment Program...

This month's episodes feature everything but the kitchen sink! We're tackling how government, primarily at the local and state levels, transitioned to remote work, unemployment and the recession, the messaging behind school closings/mask wearing, the 2020 Election, COVID-19 vaccines distribution, and everything in between. As part of our new series, The Pandemic Perspective, we spoke with Commissioner Mike Pipe (https://centrecountypa.gov/directory.aspx?EID=95), Centre County Chair of the...

This month's two part (!) episode features everything but the kitchen sink! We're tackling how government, primarily at the local and state levels, transitioned to remote work, unemployment and the recession, the messaging behind school closings/mask wearing, the 2020 Election, COVID-19 vaccines distribution, and everything in between. For the second episode of our new series, The Pandemic Perspective, we spoke with Commissioner Mike Pipe (https://centrecountypa.gov/directory.aspx?EID=95),...

  The Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative Podcast is offering a new series called The Pandemic Perspective, where we examine how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and various aspects of our society, institutions, and other systems have collided, changed, and even collapsed in the last nine months. For the first episode of this series, we spoke with three experts about how the delivery of educational services for children with disabilities and the greater education system has changed since the...

In this month's episode, we spoke to Alexis Santos, PhD (https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/alexis-santos), Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State (https://hhd.psu.edu/hdfs), and David Saunders (https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsaundersnocal/), Director of the Office of Health Equity (https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Health-Equity/Pages/Health%20Equity.aspx) for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, about different disparities throughout the Pennsylvania...

What is there left to say about the opioid crisis that has not already been said? It's claimed thousands of lives (https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html), torn apart families and communities, strained our country's already fractured healthcare system, and cost the economy billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars. If burning a path through communities for the last twenty years was not enough, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many individuals and families to endure joblessness,...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and unemployment benefits for many Americans decrease significantly at the end of July, many Americans will be unable to pay rents and mortgages and may face eviction. Given the severity of this particular crisis, July's episode focuses on multiple issues related to housing in America, like the lack of affordable housing and housing as a means to improve overall health and well-being. In this episode, we spoke to Bryce Maretzki...

For this month's episode, we spoke to Lisa Davis (https://hhd.psu.edu/hpa/lisa-davis), Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health (https://www.porh.psu.edu/) and Ann Tickamyer, PhD (https://aese.psu.edu/directory/art14), Professor Emerita of Rural Sociology and Demography at Penn State (https://aese.psu.edu/), about the challenges and opportunities of healthcare in rural communities. Pennsylvania is considered one of the most rural states in the nation, and is anchored by Pittsburgh...

For this month's episode, we spoke to Lisa Davis (https://hhd.psu.edu/hpa/lisa-davis), Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health (https://www.porh.psu.edu/) and Ann Tickamyer, PhD (https://aese.psu.edu/directory/art14), Professor Emerita of Rural Sociology and Demography at Penn State (https://aese.psu.edu/), about the challenges and opportunities of healthcare in rural communities. Pennsylvania is considered one of the most rural states in the nation, and is anchored by Pittsburgh...

For this month’s episode, we spoke to Penn State’s Marty Sliwinski (https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/martin-sliwinski-0), PhD, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging (https://healthyaging.psu.edu/) and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (https://hhd.psu.edu/hdfs), and Stephanie Cole, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant at the Office of the Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Aging (https://www.aging.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx), about challenges and...

For this month’s episode, we spoke to Penn State’s Marty Sliwinski (https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/martin-sliwinski-0), PhD, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging (https://healthyaging.psu.edu/) and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (https://hhd.psu.edu/hdfs), and Stephanie Cole, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant at the Office of the Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Aging (https://www.aging.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx), about challenges and...

For this month’s episode, we spoke to Penn State’s Marty Sliwinski (https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/martin-sliwinski-0), PhD, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging (https://healthyaging.psu.edu/) and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (https://hhd.psu.edu/hdfs), and Stephanie Cole, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant at the Office of the Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Aging (https://www.aging.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx), about challenges and...