APHA 2016: Special sessions on the uninsured population, minority aging research, smoke-free housing, plus 45 Center presentations

Disparities in survey estimates of the uninsured. Lack of diverse scholars to study aging minority populations. Absence of smoke-free housing in low-income, densely-populated communities. Researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research are tackling these critical health policy topics and will share their knowledge in three special sessions at the 2016 American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting in Denver, Colorado.

These sessions are among 45 APHA presentations that feature Center staff or California Health Interview Survey data. More than 12,000 public health professionals, medical providers, media and others from across the nation are expected to attend the Oct. 29–Nov. 2 event to get a first look at new health research, emerging health issues, and strategies to promote health equity.

Center participants include Center Director Gerald Kominski, Associate Center directors Ninez Ponce and Steven P. Wallace, Director of Research Nadereh Pourat, new California Health Interview Survey Director Todd Hughes, Health DATA Director Peggy Toy, and other faculty associates, researchers, statisticians and support staff.  FREE Center publications, pens, bears and other materials will be available at our APHA exhibit booth #720.

Among the roundtables, oral presentations, and posters featuring Center staff and data:

• A special session on the reasons behind inconsistent figures in national and state surveys of the uninsured population
• A special symposium on ways to support research on health disparities among aging minority populations, particularly among diverse scholars
• A special session on national smoke-free housing efforts that features three presentations by Center staff on an ongoing campaign to encourage smoke-free housing in Los Angeles
• An oral presentation on why ACA-eligible populations remain uninsured
• An oral presentation identifying barriers to enrollment using consumer experiences with Covered California
• Discussions on educating lay health workers to increase cancer screenings among Asian ethnicities
• A poster presentation on developing questions that accurately measure gender identity 

See a complete list of all Center and CHIS-related APHA presentations here.

About the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR improves the public’s health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. UCLA CHPR is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.