EVMS Pediatrics receives three new grants
Congratulations to the EVMS Pediatrics Community Health and Research division, whose faculty has three new grant awards to celebrate:
Paul Harrell III, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics (PI), has been awarded a two-year NIH R21 grant from the National Cancer Institute for $438,285. The grant uses secondary data analysis of longitudinal PATH data to examine whether tobacco social media marketing alters adolescent risk perceptions, with an eye toward how public health officials and policymakers can develop appropriate countermeasures.
“Youth are increasingly living their lives filtered through social media account participation — a setting where marketers are constantly innovating to gain youth attention and influence,” says Dr. Harrell. “Effective e-cigarette control strategies for adolescents require a more comprehensive understanding of the potential impact of social media marketing on their attitudes and use. In collaboration with researchers at Columbia University, we will use state-of-the-art techniques to examine these questions and thereby increase the ability of public health officials and policymakers to develop appropriate countermeasures.”
Learn more about the Behavioral Epidemiology and Pharmacology (BEP) Laboratory.
Kelli England, PhD, the Toy Savage Endowed Professor of Pediatrics (PI), and her team have been awarded a one-year National Highway Safety Administration grant from the Virginia Highway Safety Office for $166,880. The grant focuses on evidence-based development, refinement, and dissemination of child occupant protection programming.
“Car crashes are a leading cause of death and injury for children,” says Dr. England. “Rear-faced car seat positioning for infants and toddlers dramatically reduces injury in a crash, yet fewer than 20% of 1- to 3-year-olds travel in rear-facing seats. With this funding, we will develop a set of intervention videos promoting extended rear-facing car seat use that follow our evidence-based persuasive approach to raise risk perceptions, educate, and invoke feelings of vulnerability. The videos will be crafted according to psychological principles of risk communication and will draw concepts from our past focus group and survey findings with parents.”
Learn more at Car Safety Now.
Ellen Pudney, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (PI), has been awarded a two-year grant for $50,000 from the EVMS-NSU Research and Training Incubator for Collaboration in Health Equity Initiative (ENRICHe) program. The grant focuses on developing a trauma-informed, community-engaged physical activity intervention for youth experiencing body weight stigma.
“It is estimated that as many as 73% of youth with higher body weight have experienced weight-based bullying in physical activity settings, and this can lead to kids avoiding sports, gym class, etc.,” says Dr. Pudney. “In collaboration with researchers at Norfolk State University, we aim to connect directly with local youth to better understand weight-based bullying and stigma in the context of physical activity. Using a trauma-informed approach, we will work with the youth to co-create an intervention to support physical activity in a way that honors emotional safety.”
Learn more about the ENRICHe initiative.
Pictured top (from left): Dr. Paul Harrell, Dr. Kelli England and Dr. Ellen Pudney