FEBRUARY 2025

Policy Perspectives: Food Policy

With the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, many people concerned about health in the United States are looking at his stated opposition to ultra-processed food in combating chronic disease as a place for common ground. In a recent Tradeoffs podcast, Laura Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH, shared her work on soda taxes in California and why there have been no new soda taxes in the state since 2018.

Schmidt, along with Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH, and Pamela Ling, MD, MPH, of IHPS have recently launched a new Center to End Corporate Harm at UCSF that works to expose industry financial ties and lobbying that influence science and policy, and research industry tactics that undermine science and regulation pertinent to public health. The industries targeted include ultra-processed food, as well as tobacco, alcohol, and chemicals.

Hilary Seligman, MD, also works on food as medicine policies that include federal nutrition assistance programs such as SNAP and looking at food insecurity and chronic disease prevention such as diabetes.

IHPS FACULTY SPOTLIGHT CONVERSATION

Sepideh Banava, DDS, MBA, MPH

"My goal is to identify cases of mouth and face injuries that might be cases of intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence is a serious under-reported or underestimated issue that impacts physical, mental and oral health of survivors as well. I’m trying to use recent developments in clinical science, informatics, machine learning and AI to develop a clinical decision software tool to help dentists identify survivors of intimate partner violence and then provide quality care."

Dr. Banava is an Assistant Professor at the School of Dentistry and is the Deputy Director of the Dental Public Health Residency Program and affiliated faculty at IHPS. Since 2019, she has conducted studies on oral health disparities, oral health literacy, Dental Public Health workforce, and electronic health records analysis for various health conditions through her dental public health and Postdoctoral training. Her recent research focuses on Intimate Partner Violence and related orofacial injuries using health informatics to address gaps in the field.

IHPS FOCUS

Dorie Apollonio, PhD, MPP

What are you working on? In October 2024, we were awarded a new R01 to do research using the Opioid Industry Documents Archive that seeks to develop public health strategies that can address inappropriate marketing of addictive medications.

What drew you to work on this? This grant was inspired by multiple PharmD capstone research projects using the archive that I have advised since 2020. Those papers investigated how the opioid industry marketed to healthcare providers and patients, and how the industry sought to influence regulators. 



What’s next? We are working with investigators at the UCSF Library and other UC campuses to assess AI tools that might assist with research using the archive, which is challenging because it currently contains over 4 million documents, and is rapidly expanding (e.g., over 30 million Purdue documents were just released to the public and will be made available in OIDA).

Janne Boone-Heinonen, PhD, MPH

What are you currently working on? I am currently working three projects focused on potential approaches for improving pregnancy and child health for pregnant people with high body mass index (BMI; obesity class II (BMI 35 to <40) or class III (BMI >=40). High adiposity is known to influence metabolic exposures in utero, increasing the risk of adverse pregnancy, birth, and child outcomes. Unfortunately, the evidence informing clinical guidelines for women with high BMI has lagged far behind evidence for lower BMI groups. My current projects examine how trimester-specific gestational weight gain (GWG), preconception weight loss, and preconception bariatric surgery are associated with maternal, pregnancy, and child outcomes, focusing on those with high BMI. These studies are being conducted using electronic health record (EHR) data from multiple Kaiser Permanente regions and OCHIN, a unique patient population obtaining clinical care at community health centers, which serve patients who are predominantly publicly insured or uninsured. One of my favorite aspects of this work is that we work in interdisciplinary teams, including clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, and research staff from multiple organizations.

Our findings to date suggest that GWG guidelines should be lowered for those with high BMI, and that preconception weight loss – which is recommended for those with overweight or obesity – may have both benefits and risks that have not been systematically studied.

What drew you to work on this? This work developed out of an overarching interest in obesity and cardiometabolic disease prevention and intergenerational processes, in combination with relationships with outstanding and delightful collaborators who focus on maternal and pregnancy health, and ongoing with OCHIN and the PCORnet observational cohorts. As a field, we have a clear understanding of the health impacts of high adiposity in pregnancy, but little understanding of how to improve outcomes for these groups. These ideas were generated from discussions with collaborators working in clinical trials, which lack the sample sizes needed to address these questions, and acknowledgement that even most observational studies do not include enough people with high BMI to examine how guidelines should be tailored to this population. The research questions and EHR-based methods came together to make this work feasible.

What's next? I hope to expand this work to examine how aspects of perinatal health impact longer-term maternal health, as well as how our epidemiological findings can be better translated into guidelines and clinical practice. I also hope to develop new research directions with collaborators at UCSF – I transitioned to UCSF from OHSU last summer and have enjoyed getting to know the immense scope of incredible work being done at UCSF.

Jenny Liu, PhD, MPP, MA

What are you currently working on?  As a researcher, educator, and leader, I balance multiple roles at UCSF. My research portfolio focuses on redefining how economics is used in public health, integrating behavioral insights to develop scalable, person-centered interventions. Through projects like ICAN, ICAF and Malkia Klabu, I apply mixed methods approaches to explore the human behaviors that shape health decisions—going beyond cost-effectiveness to tackle health inequities in meaningful ways.

What drew you to work on this?  My work is driven by a belief that economics is not just about numbers—it’s about people. Understanding what motivates people, and using that insight to design more effective and equitable health interventions, is what keeps me engaged in this work. My journey at UCSF has been one of reinvention and collaboration—starting as a staff member, I was fortunate to find mentorship that helped me grow into a faculty leader with a strong research foundation. I now pay that forward, mentoring the next generation of public health scholars and practitioners.

What’s next? A few weeks ago, this question felt much easier to answer. Right now, my priority is providing information, stability, and support to those around me. I’m focused on being an anchor for my research teams in this uncertain time—reassuring them that, despite what may feel like insurmountable challenges, we can stay grounded and continue our critical work.

FRONTLINE FINDINGS

MEDIA MENTIONS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Since its founding 50 years ago, IHPS has been dedicated to training the next generation of leaders in interdisciplinary research to solve our most important health policy issues. In celebration of our 50th anniversary and to honor our founders, Phil Lee and Lew Butler, we established an endowment fund for the Philip R. Lee Fellowship. We hope to continue to keep this fund and our fellowship program robust.