Thank you @iaphs.bsky.social for highlighting my research in your Student Spotlight! IAPHS is one of my favorite research communities & conferences. I'm grateful to share more about my work on parenthood, family support policies, and parent health. Read the spotlight: iaphs.org/student-spot...

PhD done! I successfully defended my dissertation: "The Role of Family Support Policies in Promoting Parent Health and Health Equity". Up next: Postdoc continuing this research at UCSF Epidemiology & Biostats. Thank you @anushamvable.bsky.social @ritahamad.bsky.social @ucsf-epibiostat.bsky.social

Paid family leave improves the health of US families. Read our new research brief on #PaidLeave: hsph.harvard.edu/wp-content/u... @ritahamad.bsky.social The US remains one of only six countries in the world without national PFL - we can do better. @paidleaveforall.bsky.social

PRAMS is an invaluable source of data for improving maternal and infant health. There are a few days left to comment on the proposal for continued state collection of PRAMS data, here: www.regulations.gov/document/CDC...

Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other ...

federalregister.gov

Rita Hamad@ritahamad.bsky.social · 8mo ago

CDC PRAMS office is still non-operational, but there's an opportunity for public comment on proposal to support continued collection of state PRAMS data. Please leave even a few sentences, stating support for this critical maternal & child health resource: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20... 1/

RFK Jr: "We at HHS are encouraging mothers to breastfeed as long as possible." But the US lacks federal policy to support breastfeeding. Our research shows #paidfamilyleave extends how long babies are breastfed. progressive.org/op-eds/paid-...

Paid Family Leave Can Be a Lifeline

I study how paid family leave impacts the health of parents. When I gave birth, I became one of my own statistics.

progressive.org

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8mo ago

RFK Jr: "All of the ingenuity of corporate America has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that God made, which is the infant formula in a mother's breast."

More research showing #PaidLeave is good for U.S. families and benefits both parents and children's health.

Paid Leave for All@paidleaveforall.bsky.social · 8mo ago

More evidence that #PaidLeave programs are good for children's health and well-being. New research finds paid leave in Rhode Island and New York reduced adverse childhood experiences. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Katie Bergh@katiebergh.bsky.social · 9mo ago

As the shutdown ends, the Republican megabill’s #SNAP cuts — the deepest cuts to food assistance in history — are starting to go into effect. Millions of low-income people who just experienced delays & uncertainty during the shutdown are now at risk of losing SNAP permanently.

"More than 62 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children. This is not a partisan issue. We urge USDA to make the right choice: Act immediately to ensure no child in this country has to go hungry."

A Better Balance@abetterbalance.org · 9mo ago

Millions of families should be looking forward to the holidays, not worrying about how to afford food. Hunger should never be used as a political playing piece – the Trump administration has the power to keep SNAP benefits intact, and must act now. frac.org/blog/usda-is...

The ongoing government shutdown and the major cuts to SNAP are devastating, but community groups and state politicians are stepping up to fill some of the gaps. @eleanorjbader1.bsky.social 1 #SNAP #EBT #Hunger progressive.org/latest/the-f...

The Far-Reaching Impact of SNAP Cuts

The ongoing government shutdown and the major cuts to SNAP are devastating, but community groups and state politicians are stepping up to fill some of the gaps.

progressive.org

#PaidLeaveForAll is a mental health solution. New research links access to state paid family leave with critical outcomes: less postpartum depression and more weeks of breastfeeding. Investing in paid leave is investing in the health of whole families. academic.oup.com/aje/advance-...

Effects of US state paid family leave policies on perinatal and postpartum health: a quasi-experimental analysis

Abstract. The United States is the only high-income country without a national paid family leave (PFL) policy, although several states have implemented pol

academic.oup.com

I study paid family leave - our research shows it reduces postpartum depression & supports breastfeeding. But looking at data hadn’t really prepared me for the fact that having a baby is TOUGH. When I gave birth I suddenly became one of my own statistics. Read my op-ed here.

Paid Family Leave Can Be a Lifeline

I study how paid family leave impacts the health of parents. When I gave birth, I became one of my own statistics.

progressive.org

Monitoring is more important than ever amid cuts to SNAP. Research, including our own, shows changes to SNAP impact food insufficiency in the US. Monitoring impacts lives. The op-ed points out these stats are "used by the major charitable food organizations to improve targeting of services."

Population Association of America@popassocamerica.bsky.social · 10mo ago

PAA and Government Affairs Committee member Colleen Heflin, alongside colleagues, authored this op-ed piece in The Hill: Now is not the time to stop measuring food insecurity buff.ly/sFy8n7u

Our research shows Paid Family Leave improves the health of families in the U.S. The ability to take time off after giving birth shouldn't depend on what state you live in.

A Better Balance@abetterbalance.org · 10mo ago

Congress can celebrate Work & Family Month by extending the ultimate lifeline to families across the country and finally making universal paid family and medical leave a federal right. Tell your reps: pass the FAMILY Act! takeaction.io/abb/tell-you...

Feel hopeless bc Congress and the President don’t care about families in your community? Send this report to your mayor and city council members!

The Potential of Local Child Tax Credits to Reduce Child Poverty

Local governments have a critical role to play in reducing child poverty. Local Child Tax Credits could provide large tax cuts to families at the bottom of the income scale, lessening the overall regr...

itep.org

Returning from parental leave is the perfect time to present on the relationships between parenthood and health. tl;dr: parents rate worse on several cardiovascular risk factors and seem to face structural challenges maintaining cardiovascular health. @societyforepi.bsky.social

Our new study examines the long-term impact of exposure to different types of welfare programming in childhood on health in adulthood, based on welfare reform in the 1990s in the US: tinyurl.com/4ayt6vw3 with @ritahamad.bsky.social, Kelli Komro, & @douglivingston.bsky.social

#SNAP cuts in the House budget resolution would take food assistance away from millions of low-income people from every state to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Here’s the state-by-state impact: www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

Millions of Low-Income Households Would Lose Food Aid Under Proposed House Republican SNAP Cuts | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Substantial cuts to SNAP would mean households with low incomes in every state would lose support they need to put food on the table, worsening food insecurity and hardship.

cbpp.org

Cutting SNAP is bad for American's health. Our recent paper showed how expiration of pandemic-era SNAP expansions increased food insufficiency and material hardship: www.healthaffairs.org/doi/suppl/10... @centeronbudget.bsky.social @epi.org @urbaninstitute.bsky.social @brookings.edu

Bobby Kogan@bbkogan.bsky.social · last yr.

House Republicans just released their budget resolution - which keys up their reconciliation bills, which can avoid a filibuster and be passed with a simple majority. This is VERY real. They are calling to cut Medicaid by AT LEAST $880 billion, and to cut SNAP by AT LEAST 20%.

My MSc dissertation on differences by ethnicity in the health of unpaid carers in the UK is published! 🎉 @ucliehc.bsky.social This was my first project in #SocialEpidemiology. I learned a lot about studying health disparities - both what to do and what not to do. jech.bmj.com/content/79/2...

Differences by ethnicity in the association between unpaid caring and health trajectories over 10 years in the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Background Unpaid carers deliver critical social care. We aimed to examine differences by ethnicity in (1) profiles of unpaid caring and (2) associations between caring and physical and mental health ...

jech.bmj.com

"As the landscape of young caring evolves in response to global health crises like COVID-19, it becomes imperative for policymakers and support systems to adapt and provide robust assistance to this vulnerable group." New paper/blog from ICLS colleagues bit.ly/3OzGhWM @ukri.org

Covid and young carers – a double whammy?

For some time there has been concern about the mental and physical health effects of being a young carer. Research has shown  these young people are more likely to come from lower income households…

childofourtimeblog.org.uk

Delighted to share this publications from Whitney Well's MSc dissertation showing ethnic differences in the health of unpaid carers in the UK with @baowenxue.bsky.social and @rebeccalacey.bsky.social jech.bmj.com/content/79/2...

Differences by ethnicity in the association between unpaid caring and health trajectories over 10 years in the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Background Unpaid carers deliver critical social care. We aimed to examine differences by ethnicity in (1) profiles of unpaid caring and (2) associations between caring and physical and mental health ...

jech.bmj.com

“Using the most conservative estimates or the mean estimates from this literature, we estimate that every $1,000 investment in paid parental leave would generate, respectively, $7,275 or $29,406 in present discounted net social benefits.”

The Benefits and Costs of Paid Family Leave

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

nber.org

Our new paper systematically reviews studies that examined effects of social policies in the health literature. Many still use non-quasi-experimental methods that are not optimal for policy evaluation. rdcu.be/d4UWh @mariaglymour.bsky.social @societyforepi.bsky.social @iaphs.bsky.social 1/