Staff Member Translates Health Policy to Create Change.
Staff Member Translates Health Policy to Create Change
Elsa Pearson, senior policy analyst in the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, oversees several projects providing the Veterans Health Administration with evidence-based solutions to policy questions.
Elsa Pearson (SPH’18) discovered a love for health policy during her time in the Health Systems, Law, and Policy core course for the MPH program at the School of Public Health.
“I was immediately drawn to policy,” she says. “You’re trying to move the needle of a massive system, which is really difficult. But when you do move the needle, even a little bit, you improve the lives of a lot of people.”
As a senior policy analyst for the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center (PEPReC) for the Department of Veterans Affairs—a collaboration with the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management at SPH—Pearson oversees several projects focused on providing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) leadership with evidence-based solutions to policy questions.
She works primarily on PEPReC’s access to care portfolio, and is the policy lead on a project for the MISSION Act, which aims to identify and mitigate gaps in access to care for Veterans across the nation. Pearson says much of her work on this project involves translating evidence-based supply and demand modeling to policymakers.
Pearson also oversees a project on implementing the Foundation for Evidence-based Policymaking Act on behalf of the VHA. “The goal of this law is to encourage cabinet-level agencies to use evidence to support and justify their budgets and policymaking,” says Pearson. “This helps to ensure that decision makers have the tools they need to effectively manage their policies and programs.”
Beyond this work, Pearson says she does a lot of writing. Through a grant from Arnold Ventures, she helps to translate and disseminate health policy, literature, and research to lay audiences through various media outlets, including The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Vox.
Whether it be for this grant, specifically, or for policymakers, Pearson says her work always comes back to the translation and dissemination of information, an “essential pillar” of effective health policy.
“Translation is one of the most important aspects of getting policy ‘right’,” she says. “We can have all the breakthroughs we want, but if we can’t relay those breakthroughs to the people who can actually invoke change, there will never be effective policy. And translating that policy to the people it will impact most is critical for population health.”
As a student at SPH, Pearson says she appreciated the hands-on approach to education that the School offered through the required practicum experience. “You’re not just here to get a degree to put on your wall, you are here to go out and make a change,” she says.
This mentality has translated to her work as a staff member, where Pearson says she is constantly learning and diversifying her policy portfolio. “The mentorship I have received at SPH and PEPReC has been invaluable,” she says. “My bosses make it clear that I am a valued part of our team, and they challenge me to do and learn new things. I am really appreciative to work in an environment like this.”