Greetings!

As we head into the Thanksgiving break, I wanted to share some highlights from my first few months as Director of InCHIP. It has certainly b een a busy semester in the Ryan Building. We have hosted four lectures as part of our annual series, kicked off a new Lunch and Learn program, finalized our seed grant offerings for the year, launched a NIH K Award Writing Group, continued building the capacity of our Community-Engaged Health Research Core and Training and Development Core, held our Annual Meeting, and much more.  
Our Lecture Series has brought nationally recognized speakers to Storrs. We started the semester off hearing from Dr. Judson Brewer (Brown University) about his work on mindfulness and the craving mind, followed by Dr. Dwayne Proctor, a UConn alumnus and now Senior Advisor to the President at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who shared his insights on health equity. 
On October 11 th , InCHIP partnered with Counseling and Mental Health Services (CMHS) to recognize World Mental Health Day. Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad (BYU) shared her research on social disconnection as a public health concern, followed by a panel discussion featuring Dr. Holt-Lunstad, Dr. Betsy Cracco (Director, CMHS), Dr. Gina Barreca (BOT Distinguished Professor, English), and student contributors Alondra Marmolejos and Derek Pan who offered their respective observations about loneliness on the UConn campus.  

Last week, we were fortunate to have Dr. Shira Dunsiger (Brown University) discuss patterns of change in behavioral medicine interventions, followed by a workshop on her methodological approach. We will wrap up this semester’s lectures with Dr. Lisa Hightow-Weidman (UNC Chapel Hill) who on November 29 th , in recognition of World AIDS Day, will present her research on using mobile technology to engage youth in HIV treatment and prevention.
Above: Amy Gorin with Lonely Campus Panel featuring Jullianne Holt-Lunstad, Betsy Cracco, Gina Barreca , student contributors Alondra Marmolejos and Derek Pan. Below: Shira Dunsiger leads a workshop at InCHIP.
Our new Lunch and Learn Series offers a more informal and relaxed setting for discussing research and career development-related topics. 
Above: Marlene Schwartz (Director, Rudd Center & Professor, HDFS) on 10/02/18
Dr. Marlene Schwartz, Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obe sity and Professor of HDFS started the series on October 2 nd with a forum on Research Career Trajectories aimed at graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career investigators.  

On October 30 th , we were pleased to have Dr. Mostafa Analoui, Executive Director of Venture Development and Technology Incubation Program, share strategies for converting research to impact through entrepreneurship and the commercialization of research ideas, apps, and other products.  
At our Annual Meeting on October 26 th , we were thrilled to have Dr. Rebecca Puhl, Deputy Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and Professor of HDFS, give a keynote talk on her Ecological Framework for Tackling Weight Stigma . Dr. Puhl is the recipient of the Obesity Society’s 2018 TOS Scientific Achievement Award, and we are proud to have her as a colleague.
Above: Rebecca Puhl (Deputy Director, Rudd Center & Professor, HDFS)
At our Annual Meeting, we also announced several of our Seed Grant offerings for FY19 .   We will award two Seed Grants for Faculty Affiliates, one of which is reserved for faculty with limited grant funding histories; up to two Community-Engaged Health Research Seed Grants; and one InCHIP-CHCACT Health Research Seed Grant. CHCACT (Community Health Center Association of Connecticut) is a not-for-profit organization that supports the operations of 17 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) across Connecticut that provide comprehensive care to 392,000 patients. CHCACT and our Community-Engaged Health Research Core, directed by InCHIP Associate Director Dr. Debbie Cornman, have been working to facilitate sustainable, collaborative, and mutually beneficial research efforts between CHCACT’s FQHCs and UConn faculty. 
We have also reinstated our Rolling Seed Grants to Develop Interdisciplinary Research Teams. These smaller awards are designed to jump start interdisciplinary collaborations. 
To help investigators applying for any of our seed grants, InCHIP is offering a webinar on December 3 rd led by Drs. Sherry Pagoto ( AHS ) and Molly Waring (AHS) on how to grow seed grants into large externally-funded research projects.
Our Training and Development Core has started a new writing group  for postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty developing NIH K Career Award Applications. Headed by Dr. Sherry Pagot o (AHS) , this monthly group meets at InCHIP and provides peer and expert feedback, support, and accountability.  
We are once again offering our InCHIP Grant Proposal Incubator (GPI) . Chaired by Drs. Michael Copenhaver (AHS) and Rick Gibbons (Psychological Sciences), the GPI provides an opportunity for UConn faculty and postdoctoral fellows to get feedback on their grant proposals from researchers with significant experience in acquiring grants. Our next GPI will be on November 28 th .  
I am excited to share with you that InCHIP is starting an annual awards program to recognize research and mentoring excellence among our InCHIP faculty affiliates. Three awards will be made this spring recognizing Junior Faculty Research Excellence, Community-Engaged Research Excellence Award, and Faculty Mentoring. Applications are due April 1 st .
In the spring, we will be awarding the first Jeffrey D. Fisher Health Behavior Change Research Fellowship to a promising graduate student affiliated with InCHIP. This fellowship was created to support the next generation of health behavior researchers while celebrating the career of InCHIP’s Founding Director, Jeff Fisher.  
As we look ahead to spring , a few special events to consider attending:

  • On April 4-5th in Hartford, InCHIP is co-sponsoring “Correlates, Causes, and Solutions for Firearm Violence in America” a conference organized by Drs. Kerri Raissian (Public Policy), Mary Bernstein (Sociology), and Blair Johnson (Psychological Sciences) with a keynote address by Dr. David Hemenway from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

  • On April 10th, InCHIP is hosting “Making a Greater Impact: How You Can Advocate for Health Policy Change,” a workshop by Dr. Joanna Buscemi (DePaul) , Health Policy Committee Chair, Society of Behavioral Medicine.

  • On May 16th, Storrs will be the site of the 3rd Annual UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media Conference: The Science of Engagement.
InCHIP investigators continue to make a tremendous impact on public health through science - for example, recent profiles on Drs. Lisa Eaton (HDFS) and Rick Gibbons (Psychological Sciences) highlight the high quality research their teams are doing to improve health and well-being, while an article by Dr. Sherry Pagoto (AHS) in The Conversation disseminated up-to-date information on the latest exercise recommendations to the public ( Move More, Sit Less ). 

We will be doing more in the coming months to showcase the science being conducted by InCHIP researchers – please send me ( [email protected] ) any research accomplishments you’d like to share with our network.
Our InCHIP team works hard to create a research environment that supports the success of our affiliates. If you need assistance finding a funding mechanism, identifying academic and community partners, or securing research mentors, our Boundary Spanners and research development staff are here to help ( InCHIP Services ).
We welcome your feedback and suggestions about services, resources, or programs that could facilitate health-related research. One of our goals is to build closer ties between UConn and UConn Health investigators. Toward that end, starting in the new year, InCHIP will have a physical presence on the Farmington campus – more details to follow.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy start to the holiday season.


Warm regards,
Amy