Michele Polacsek receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant

Michele Polacsek, Ph.D., MHS, associate professor of public health in the School of Community and Population Health, was awarded a $170,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program to begin February 2014.

The research award will address youths’ exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods through regulation, policy, and effective industry self-regulation. Little is known about school-based digital marketing and how to help schools comply with model marketing standards. The project aims to: 1) assess whether school marketing environments in Portland, Maine, align with the federal regulations on competitive foods, pre and post a one-academic year compliance support intervention; 2) understand the different forms of digital food and beverage marketing that may occur in school settings; 3) provide support to schools in Portland to update their school marketing policies so they align with the new standards; and 4) conduct an ongoing participatory evaluation of assistance efforts and create recommendations for school marketing standards nationwide.

Polacsek will be working with partners locally and nationally to carry out the project aims.

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The É«ÏãÊÓƵis Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.