In October, Dr. Anne Montgomery, Chris Scoggins, MPH and the Center’s Rural Health PhD Research Assistants participated in the American Public Health Associations 2021 annual meeting. The meeting, held in Denver, Colorado, brought together over 9,000 public health professionals from across the country to learn from one another and discuss pressing public health issues facing the nation. Rural Health received significant attention at this year’s conference with robust discussions of access and equity issues across rural America. The Center was well-represented, with staff and research assistants presenting original research in data-driven decision-making tools, health literacy, and COVID monitoring in schools. Dr. Anne Montgomery presented a new decision-making tool developed by the center to help prioritize emerging health concerns. The easy-to-use tool allows users to overlay new health concerns on an index of modifying factors. Center research assistants presented a health literacy assessment and toolkit developed for use in rural communities. Health literacy remains a high priority in rural counties where information on health can be limited. Chris Scoggins. MPH presented work completed by the Center assessing the presence of COVID-19 in air samples from rural schools. The project assessed the viability of air sampling as a broader monitoring tool for rural schools. All presentations were competitively selected by the American Public Health Association to be featured at the conference, a clear endorsement of the meaningful research being done at the Center.
Pictured left, Rural Health PhD Research Assistants
Pictured right, Dr. Anne Montgomery