What's Happening

By The ETR Team | March 10, 2023

On December 21, 2022, Proposition 31 went into effect in California, banning the sale of most flavored tobacco products. This ended a two-year referendum of senate bill 793 (SB 793) signed into law in August 2020. The passage of this law has sparked conversation across the state as the tobacco industry adapts its product lines, and residents and public health advocates work to understand what the flavor ban will look like in practice. Let’s explore key facets of the law, and how it promotes health equity and empowers local policy efforts.

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | December 20, 2022
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

As we close out 2022, ETR wants to extend our gratitude to YOU for your partnership! Over the past year, we worked with you through education, training, and research to develop science-based solutions to advance health equity. Through our collective work, we ensured that science-based health information was available to schools and communities nationwide and across the globe.

By Sarah Han, MPH and Rebecca Braun, DrPH, MPH | December 14, 2022
YTH Initiative, ETR

The INSPIRE+ project empowers and collaborates with California youth to design innovative, creative, and youth-led solutions that address unhealthy substance use and promote community healing, using ETR’s Trauma-Informed Youth-Centered Health Design framework. 

By The ETR Team | December 9, 2022

ETR is thrilled to announce that Madhuri Jha, MPH, LCSW (she/hers) will join our team as the new Vice President of Science, Equity, and Integration! ETR is looking forward to Ms. Jha joining our mission-driven efforts to improve health and increase opportunities for youth, families, and communities

By Brittny Bol, MPH, CHES | November 18, 2022
Project Coordinator - TECC, ETR

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in the United States. Lung Cancer Awareness Month is observed in November and is a perfect time to raise awareness, learn what signs to look for, and make changes to help lower your risk.

By Ravena Soto | November 1, 2022
Project Coordinator - Tribal Community Coordinating Center, ETR

Each November is recognized as Native American Heritage Month in the United States, marking a time to celebrate the rich cultures and diverse people descended from the original inhabitants of these lands. Native stories and contributions are plentiful, but they are often omitted or modified to fit a more acceptable narrative. Native people are inseparable from our nation's past, present, and future, and their exclusion is our collective loss. This month, and every month, provides an opportunity to learn and understand the impacts of misrepresentation and erasure.

By The ETR Team | October 26, 2022

Evidence-based pregnancy and STI prevention programs are programs that have been shown, in at least one program evaluation, to have a positive effect on reducing unplanned pregnancy or associated behavioral risk factors, such as delaying sexual activity, or increasing condom or contraceptive use. Providing young people with evidence-based pregnancy and STI prevention programs is one strategy to help address the disparities that persist in the United States. With schools and service organizations facing limited time and resources, these programs serve as an effective option for reducing risk behaviors.

By Lauren Ranalli, MPH | August 9, 2022
Director of Marketing and Communications, ETR

What do you remember from your own experience of going through puberty? For many of us, it was a time of confusion, excitement, embarrassment, anxiety, anticipation, and a mix of other emotions. Here are 5 messages we as trusted adults can use to help our students, patients, or program participants get through this challenging time.

By Kristin Kennedy, Li Lock, and Adrian Neil Jr. | July 20, 2022
HIV & Sexual Reproductive Health at ETR

In July of 2012, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved Truvada® for PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis. While this advancement was a huge breakthrough in HIV prevention, many health equity barriers still exist for clients/patients that prevent PrEP from becoming an accessible and engaging aspect of their sexual health. As public health and health education professionals, we still have a lot of work to do and we can’t do it alone. We’re excited to share this resource with you to help your teams.

By Jill Denner, PhD | July 15, 2022
Senior Research Scientist II, ETR

Addressing inequities requires wisdom from a range of people. Here at ETR, one of our values is that science is foundational which means all our work is informed by research—some of it is even generated or synthesized by our own team of scientists. Read more about how ETR is a bridging organization between research and practice.

By John Shields, PhD, MSW | July 1, 2022
Senior Research Scientist, ETR

The US Department of Education released new proposed Title IX regulations on June 23^rd, 2022, the 50^th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in K12 and post-secondary schools. Read more about these new regulations and our recommendations from our K12T9 team.

By Rebecca Erenrich, MPH and Kristin Kennedy, MS, MPH, CPH | May 27, 2022

The United States is experiencing rising rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, fueled by the nation’s growing opioid crisis. This issue is particularly acute in Appalachia, where the increase in injection drug use led to a more than three-fold rise in new cases of hepatitis among young people between 2006 and 2012. As we close out Hepatitis Awareness Month, recognized each year in May, ETR remains committed to raising awareness, reducing stigma, and combatting the spread of HCV. As part of our fight for health equity, ETR offers science- and evidence-based resources on sexual health and safer drug use and works and maintains a portfolio of community-driven projects rooted in harm reduction, including HepConnect.

By The ETR Team | May 26, 2022

This World No Tobacco Day, our team is reflecting on the commercial tobacco industry’s impact on the health and well-being of people across the nation. ETR envisions a world where all people have the information, skills, and opportunities to lead healthy lives. We are driven by our mission to improve health and increase opportunities for youth, families, and communities.

By The ETR Team | May 5, 2022 (Updated June 24, 2022)

Access to safe, legal abortion is at critical risk. In the next few months, 26 states could vote to ban abortion, putting in place insurmountable barriers to abortion services for over 36 million women and people who can become pregnant, which can have a profound lasting impact. We’re in this fight and are prepared to be an active, engaged partner in creating a culture that mirrors our mission, vision, and values.

By Vignetta Charles, PhD | May 4, 2022
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

It’s May the Fourth again when Star Wars fans like me celebrate the franchise. This feels like a terrible time to celebrate when there are ongoing active threats to health care and human rights. And still, if we don’t pause to think strategically, we may well repeat mistakes and challenges of the past. On this day, I will still take the opportunity to think about how this prolific franchise causes me to reflect on life and leadership. This reflection is not intended to dismiss my grief and anger, but because it will help fuel my fire to continue on in this fight for health equity. Fueling me today is the newest installment in the Star Wars franchise, The Book of Boba Fett, and how it has helped me think about our past and progress toward the future.

By Jill Denner & BA Laris | April 26, 2022
ETR and dfusion Inc

We all know that sports and other physical activities have health benefits. But did you know that they can also increase students’ interest and learning in science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM)?  ETR and our partners at dfusion Inc are excited to be at the intersection of these two different but complementary fields.

By Heather Bell | March 23, 2022
Research Assistant II, ETR

A recent ETR project aims to strengthen, connect, and expand existing efforts to increase the number of Latinx students who enter and stay on a path to computer information systems (CIS) at a community college and the workforce. Read more about this research-practice partnership—a collaboration between Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Digital NEST, Cabrillo College, and ETR.

By Stephanie Guinosso, PhD, MPH | March 9, 2022
Senior Research Associate, ETR

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress represent an urgent public health issue in the United States. In this new blog post, experts from ETR and the California School-Based Health Alliance describe emerging practices and barriers and facilitators to implementing trauma-informed care, ACE screening, and care coordination for the prevention and treatment of toxic stress in school-based health centers.