Michele Polacsek presents findings at Radcliffe Institute

Michele Polacsek, Ph.D., M.H.S., associate professor for the School of Community and Population Health, presented the process and preliminary findings for two CHOICES Maine-based obesity policy studies at the Radcliffe Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts at a two-day national stakeholder conference on June 1–2.

CHOICES is the Childhood Obesity Intervention Cost-Effectiveness Study based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Over the past two years, papers have been written for more than 60 potential obesity-related cost effectiveness studies, and a stakeholder group has been engaged to help develop intervention areas, interventions, prioritize studies and assist with communication of findings.

The two Maine CHOICES studies focus on a sugar-sweetened excise tax and a SNAP sugar-sweetened beverage restriction. The studies use the Harvard team’s national CHOICES methodologies at state level to inform local policy and advocacy efforts.