AcademyHealth and Humana Foundation Work Together to Improve Research Communication in Order to Put Knowledge into Practice and Have a Real Impact

Knowledge and evidence can only be used to inform policy and practice if they are communicated and disseminated effectively, and this is especially true in today’s polarized environment, where misinformation is rampant and mistrust in scientists and science is growing. In addition, research must directly involve policymakers, decision makers, and the general public in order to have a real-world impact on public health and health care policy and practice. In 2026, AcademyHealth and the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc., will work together to run a capacity building program that will help Humana Foundation research grantee partners improve their communication skills and knowledge.

This is because AcademyHealth and the Humana Foundation both recognize how important communication and dissemination are. AcademyHealth will co-design a training and capacity-building program with a group of 12 Humana Foundation-funded research grantee partners from five universities over the course of the one-year program. The purpose of the program is to assist the research grantee partners in making their findings and research more widely known, comprehended, and adopted. The participants will have the chance to improve their capacity for communicating and disseminating their findings to a diverse audience, including but not limited to the media, policymakers, and partners in the community.

The Foundation’s research focus areas of nutrition education and security, youth suicide prevention, and emotional health for seniors, including support for caregivers, are being addressed by the research grantee partners participating in this program.

A comprehensive food pharmacy program for rural seniors with cardiovascular conditions is being evaluated by the University of Virginia.

A produce prescription program is being studied at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston to see how it affects the mental and physical health of overweight or obese children from low-resource families. The suicide prevention program at Indiana University Bloomington aims to improve connections between school personnel and marginalized students.

A new AI platform being evaluated by Harvard Medical School aims to teach medical students and residents how to reduce implicit bias and strengthen emotional connections with elderly patients.

One research team is testing a supportive intervention for caregivers of diverse senior patients with diabetes and cancer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In order to improve the strategy for preventing youth suicide, a second research team is looking into social connections and locating peer leaders.

The goal of this collaboration between AcademyHealth and the Humana Foundation is to provide researchers with the tools they need to make their work more accessible and have a real, long-lasting impact on people’s lives. In order to effectively communicate their research to non-academic audiences, research grantee partners will acquire skills, self-assurance, and specific strategies, such as crafting a polished dissemination product, crafting a refined elevator pitch, and customizing messaging and framing instructions.

Megan Collado, Senior Director at AcademyHealth, stated, “We are thrilled to partner with the Humana Foundation.” “They are providing vital public health research funding and recognizing the critical need to augment their grantee partners’ ability to inform decision makers and the public about policy and practice changes to improve nutrition and social and emotional well-being for school-aged children and seniors.”

“Through our partnership with AcademyHealth, we aim to expand access to and understanding of research to foster meaningful, real-world impact.” said Soojin Conover, Humana Foundation’s Innovation Portfolio Strategy Principal. “We are excited to support our research partners as they strengthen the connection between those who apply public health and health care research and their expertise, ensuring that advancements benefit diverse communities and promote equitable outcomes,”