A Strong Response to IHA’s RFP for Small Research Grant Funding

IHA had an excellent response to our call for research proposals, receiving proposals from all over the country. We are extremely grateful to our esteemed review panel who scored the proposals. After thoughtful discussion by IHA’s leadership team, we selected our awardees for funding.

IHA is excited to announce the 2026 awardees:

Cliff Coleman, MD, MPH

Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU)

Study Title
Establishing a National Research Agenda to Accelerate Adoption of Clear Communication Practices by U.S. Physicians

Study Aim(s)
This study aims to establish a national educational research agenda to accelerate practical educational research needed for increasing the use of clear communication best practices amongst U.S. physicians, by convening a group of experts and using a structured consensus-building process.

Christina Pacheco, JD, MPH

University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC)

Study Title
Health-Literate Strategies to Improve Childhood Blood Lead Screening and Testing in Southeast Kansas

Study Aim(s)
This pilot study aims to increase childhood blood lead level (BLL) screening in Coffeyville, Kansas, an area with high lead exposure risk and low testing rates, by implementing a health literacy-informed clinic (FQHC) intervention co-developed with community and clinical partners.

Anticipated Study Impacts

Dr. Coleman:
With little knowledge about how to effectively provide physician training in clear communication (with patients, caregivers and the public), this research will yield significant short-, medium-, and long-term impacts on medical and other health professional training programs and policies, with subsequent downstream impacts on patients, caregivers, and communities.

Dr. Pacheco:
As the first study to explicitly test a health literacy–embedded approach to improving childhood blood lead screening in a rural clinical setting, co-developed with a federally qualified health center, local health department, and community partners, the materials and workflows developed could be replicated in other similar communities.