Moving out of his membership role in the National Forum, Randy spent one year providing support for the Regional and Global Collaboration Implementation Group. Some of this work culminated in a Global Summit on the International Training Needs for CVD Prevention held in Atlanta, October 15 - 16, 2009, which brought experts from over 20 countries across the globe together to begin identify ways to meet the growing need for CVD prevention training worldwide. At the Summit, Randy presented the results of an online assessment of priority needs and preferred formats for training which he conducted for the National Forum. He also assisted in the development of a online digital library of key heart disease and stroke resources.
Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and EnVironmental changE (ACHIEVE)
Funded by the CDC and through the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, the aim of the ACHIEVE initiative is to build healthier communities by promoting policy, systems, and environmental change strategies, with a focus on increasing physical activity, improving nutrition, preventing tobacco use, and controlling cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. Using online survey instruments, Randy evaluated the experiences of 23 ACHIEVE communities from across the country. He also provided technical assistance to the communities as they developed their own plans for implementing community-based strategies and identifying measures of their progress and success.
C-Change
Addressing health disparities has become a priority for many health organizations. As an organization whose membership is made up of several cancer organizations, C-Change wanted to assess what its membership was doing before developing its own strategy to avoid duplication and to be able to take advantage of opportunities for collaboration. Needing to do this quickly before a planning meeting and at low-cost, we conducted a content analysis of member organization web sites for health disparity activities. As health disparity information was identified it was classified by several measures of different aspects of programs addressing health disparities. The resulting data was summarized in a brief report and PowerPoint presentation for the planning meeting.
Research!America
The Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research, housed at Research!America, was finishing its final year of a three year grant from the Gates Foundation and needed to know what impact the Society had on the distinguished classes of researchers selected to serve as ambassadors to advocate for support of global health research. Randy and Molly designed a two level evaluation that was summative of the past three years and formative for writing a grant renewal. The first level was an online survey of all ambassadors regarding changes they experienced through participation in the Society. The second level involved in depth interviews with a cross section of ambassadors to glean the nuances of their individual experiences. The resulting report included a characterization of the ambassadors by their engagement in advocacy, the most likely aspects of the Rogers Society that influence their engagement, and recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of the program.