What's Happening

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | December 2, 2019
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

Sunday, December 1, 2019, marked the 31^st observance of World AIDS Day. The theme for 2019 is “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community.” This feels especially appropriate since we have been developing community-driven responses from the beginning. While reflecting on the nearly four decades of the HIV pandemic, ETR started looking back at our response since the earliest reported cases. Check out this retrospective of ETR’s history developing some of the nation's leading HIV education, training and research.

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | November 26, 2019
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

I’m grateful every year for the opportunity to share ETR’s science-based practice of expressing gratitude. This year, I’m especially thankful for living our values of centering equity. This includes the continued efforts of aligning our work with the Health Equity Framework. It also includes our internal work to center racial equity in our lives and our workplace.

By Eleanor Hayden | August 8, 2019
Research Assistant, ETR

Have you ever wanted to increase stakeholder engagement in your research? Or introduce participatory data analysis to your work? If you have, a data party might be for you!

I recently attended a webinar on data parties presented by Kylie Hutchinson at Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation. I learned how to host a data party as well as the potential benefits they can provide to everyone involved, from researchers to evaluators to community stakeholders. Here are some key take-homes.

By David Manuel Torres | June 13, 2019
Research Assistant, ETR

Every year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) hosts a unique virtual event—a week-long STEM for All Video Showcase. In the videos, Principal Investigators, practitioners and researchers describe federally funded projects that seek to improve and innovate within STEM education. The brief videos are posted and viewed globally. This year, I joined up with ETR Senior Research Scientist Jill Denner and Senior Editor Marcia Quackenbush to create an ETR video for the NSF showcase. 

By ETR's Qualitative Evaluation Sub-Core Group | May 16, 2019
 

Advancing health equity is one of ETR’s core values. We are part of a movement to improve health and education outcomes for all communities. Qualitative research—the kind that asks questions, gathers stories and provides rich contextual information—is a valuable tool in this work.

Qualitative research helps us better understand how communities see themselves, their future, their history, and the ways they change over time. It gives us information about structural and social influences and how these affect individuals, neighborhoods and society at large. This is essential knowledge as we engage in efforts to address inequities.

By David Manuel Torres | May 13, 2019
Research Assistant, ETR

For most people, “data” is a four-letter word—not many enjoy looking at distributions and comparing percentages. Even fewer like to do so at the end of an hour-long meeting on a Tuesday morning. It’s data. If you’re not into statistics, it can be confusing. It isn’t always clear how it’s going to be useful in the real world.

Still, there are times when data need to be discussed. 

By Anisha Singh | May 9, 2019
Doctoral Student, University of Tennessee, Knoxville and 2018 ETR Kirby Intern

Here is an essential truth about internships: they go by really fast. Another essential truth: any intern can get more out of their experience by being as prepared as possible ahead of time.

Here are three tips I put to work for my internship. Whether you’re doing an internship yourself or offering guidance to others, these steps can make a difference both in what an intern gives an organization and what they learn for themselves.

By Amy Peterson, MSc | April 25, 2019
Strategic Development Manager, ETR

Educational equity is closely related to health equity. In fact I’d like to suggest that they are essentially inseparable—that educational equity isn’t merely an element of health equity, but that the two are inextricably linked. Put simply, one cannot exist without the other.

In 2014, I was among a group of colleagues who sought out a framework that would help us unify the work we were doing across ETR’s projects. We found that no existing framework covered all the aspects of our work so we adapted, developed and iterated to create ETR’s Health Equity Framework (HEF). 

By BA Laris, MPH | April 2, 2019
Program Manager, ETR

“I was 14 and I just didn’t know…”

Many of us work with teens who face challenges because they didn’t have health information and resources they needed. We put a lot of effort into gathering our own information about their circumstances so we can offer them the best support possible.

But what do you do when you don’t know?

By Bo James Hwang | February 19, 2019
Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Student, UCLA Extension

The All of Us Research Program, a project of the National Institutes of Health, aims to gather health data from one million people living in the United States. I was chosen to participate in one of the University of California, San Francisco’s research feedback sessions for the initiative.

Many of the trans and non-binary people participating in the feedback session discussed their personal experiences with medical providers and researchers. Many brought up the mistrust that trans people have for researchers. 

By ETR | January 8, 2019

ETR has a nationally recognized Research Department. Our multidisciplinary research team engages in research addressing a wide range of educational and public health issues.

One of the challenges in research is recruiting participants for studies. In work we did recently, our research assistants went to college classrooms. They delivered a five-minute “pitch” inviting students to participate in an online survey about their learning experiences.

By ETR | November 29, 2018

We had an outstanding Kirby Summit IV this fall. This invitational gathering brings together experts from around the country who know a great deal about emerging issues in adolescent health. The Kirby IV summiteers focused on scaffolding for adolescent relationships. If you're not quite sure what that is, you'll want to watch this lively 3-minute video from ETR Senior Research Associate Pamela Anderson.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD, and Rebecca A. Dore, PhD  | November 13, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR (EM) and Senior Research Associate, The Ohio State University (RAD)

Harry Potter is the best-selling book series of all time. The books and their derivatives have made author J.K. Rowling the world’s first billionaire author. The novels and subsequent movies are certainly engaging and entertaining. Indeed, entertainment is the primary goal of most media and works of fiction.

But how we engage with fiction and media is a serious area of study for researchers in fields as diverse as psychology, education, literary studies, philosophy and communications. 

By James Walker | November 6, 2018
Project Specialist, ETR

This past September I was faced with a sobering reality. I had to witness my father’s passing and subsequently oversee his homegoing. Although the process was earnest in nature, I was emotionally detached. It is hard to feel attached to someone who was never really in your life. 

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | October 23, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

ETR has now hosted four Kirby Summits. These convenings bring together a small group of brilliant people with a shared commitment to promoting adolescent health and well being.

The key to the Summit’s uniqueness? While each one of the invited participants brings impressive expertise, as a group they come from different disciplines and perspectives.

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | October 11, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

The Kirby Summit is one of the highlights of ETR’s year. Today, we embark on the fourth occurrence of this remarkable convening.

While we know a lot about adolescent development from our own professional perspective, people with deep expertise from other perspectives know things we do not. When we bring these different groups together, amazing things can happen. This is what the Kirby Summit is about.

By Ifeoma Udoh, PhD | September 27, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

Access to PrEP is changing minds and behaviors. As an HIV prevention option, PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV) has provided individuals who may be at risk for HIV an important tool in the way they conceptualize choices about sex partners.

The practice of serosorting—selecting a sexual partner based on HIV status—has often been seen as either stigmatizing or divisive. However, PrEP is changing this practice among both older and younger men who have sex with men (MSM). I contributed to a just-published paper that demonstrates this in some persuasive ways.

By Beverly Iniguez-Conrique | May 1, 2018
Research Assistant, ETR

In 1994, two very important events happened in my life. First, one of the earliest papers on Social Dominance Theory was published. Second, I was born.

Social Dominance Theory holds that people develop a set of beliefs—“legitimizing myths”—that support their attitudes about social inequities.