MEDIA RELEASE

Contact:
Paul Quinn, Director of Communications, Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Office (614) 545-0754
Cell (614) 256-0753
pquinn@healthpolicyohio.org

Ohio Health Policy Research Awards for 2008 Announced

Columbus, OH – The Health Policy Institute of Ohio is pleased to announce the 2008 winners of the Annual Ohio Health Policy Research Awards, sponsored by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.  The Health Policy Institute of Ohio will recognize the recipients of these awards for the best research relevant to applied health policy in Ohio during the awards luncheon on Friday, December 12th, at the “Bridging Policy and Practice: The 2008 Ohio Health Data and Research Conference.” The luncheon will be at the Longaberger Alumni House on the Ohio State University main campus in Columbus, Ohio.
 
Recipients of the 2008 Ohio Health Policy Research Awards are:

• Ohio Health Policy Researcher of the Year, Jessica Berg, JD, Case Western Reserve University Schools of Law and Medicine, for her work on Population Health and Tax-Exempt Hospitals. Berg joined the faculty of Case Western in 1999 and teaches courses on Law and Bioethics. Her research offers a detailed analysis for implementing a new standard and framework for quantifying the community benefit for hospitals receiving tax exemption.
• Ohio Health Policy Researcher Award for Researchers at Tier 2-4 Universities and Teaching Colleges, Betty Yung, Ph.D., Wright State University School of Professional Psychology, for her research on Capacity-Building Needs of Minority Nonprofits. Yung is the Director of the Center for Child and Adolescent Violence Prevention and an Associate Professor, School of Professional Psychology for Wright State University. She has had a major programmatic role in the development and evaluation of the Positive Adolescent Choices Training (PACT) program and has done extensive research and publication on violence affecting ethnic minority groups. Young’s award is for a statewide assessment of the capacity building needs of nonprofit organizations serving Ohio’s racial/ethnic minority populations.
• Best Ohio Health Policy Student Research Award, Donald Brannen, MHSA, MS, Greene County Combined Health District, Cedarville University School of Nursing, for Barriers to Utilization of Public Health Services. Brannen’s work at  The Greene County Combined Health District (GCCHD) provides public health services to a population of 147,886 over 414.9 square miles. Brannen’s award-winning research identified the need for a federally-qualified health center in a medically underserved area of Greene County.
• Best Health Policy Research Award for an Independent Scholar or Practitioner, Corey Hamilton, MS, Health Commissioner, Zanesville/Muskingum County Health Department, Applied Policy and Health Informatics: GIS Utilized for Decision Making During a County-Wide Mass Vaccination Exercise. As Health Commissioner, Hamilton oversees service to more than 85,000 residents in 25 townships, nine villages and the City of Zanesville. Hamilton’s research assessed the use of GIS technology as a means for managing data in an emergency.

“The Ohio Health Policy Research Awards honor outstanding applied health policy research by Ohio-based researchers,” said William Hayes, President of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. “Nominations came from a broad health policy perspective, including issues such as health care access, health care administration, health care financing, community health, health education, public health, health promotion, environmental health, behavioral health, mental health, applied epidemiology, and allied health.”

The awards prioritize health topics emphasizing community and population-based policy recommendations. The application process was an open nomination for authors of articles, project managers, and university students concentrating on applied health policy-oriented research. A Health Policy Awards Review Team read submissions and graded the works upon criteria of: (1) topic relevance to Ohio; (2) academic and methodological rigor; (3) research findings; (4) derived policy recommendations; and (5) target population for the research.

The 2008 awards are funded by The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati is an independent 501(c)(4) social welfare organization dedicated to improving community health. The foundation awards grants to non-profit and governmental organizations for programs and activities that improve health in Cincinnati and 20 surrounding counties in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio is an independent, nonpartisan organization that forecasts health trends, analyzes key health issues, and communicates research to Ohio policymakers, state agencies, and other decision makers. The Institute also convenes discussions on important health issues for Ohio by bringing together representatives from various sectors with a keen interest in health matters. Information on the 2008 Ohio Health Policy Research Awards is available at www.healthpolicyohio.org.