I got there in time to attend the pre-conference session focused on the FDA's Real Cost campaign to prevent youth tobacco initiation. Representatives from Food and Drug Administration described the goal of the campaign and the general approach to the campaign. Then, contractors described the kind of research it took to make the campaign happen. From a place near and dear to my heart, the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, Dr. Bob Hornik and his team, Dr. Laura Gibson presented the quantitative process they took to identify beliefs to target in the messages. This was fascinating not just from a research perspective, but also because I use the same process to teach campaign design in my Health Communication course. The Real Cost campaign has come up in class discussion several times this semester and I am excited to bring back this real-life example to my class.
The next day I presented a poster showcasing the process of cultural and linguistic adaptation of healthy diet text messages sponsored by the National Cancer Institute's HealthyYouTXT message program. Read more about the SMS platform here and keep an eye out for publications on this project.
I can't forget to mention that my postdoctoral mentor, Dr. Brad Hesse, received the Translational Scholar Award. It was great to catch up with him as well as with other old friends and mentors, and to make many new connections.