Center for Health Optimization & Implementation Research

Yele Adjognon, DrPH, ScM

As research staff at a VA Center of Innovation for over a decade, I have witnessed many cycles of Veteran research projects. At project closeout, when we publish study findings in peer-reviewed journals and nicely wrap everything up, I’ve often felt something missing.

In the hype of the project startup, didn’t we plan to share its findings with our provider or Veteran participants? Is sending them a copy of an academic paper an adequate fulfillment of this promise? After all, new projects with new promises are starting up, and the papers often take months of additional work after funds have dried up. The priority is the research—the science—and then we move on.

These recurrent questions propelled me to seek funding from VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative, or QUERI, a national program that partners with VA providers, leaders, and Veterans to scale-up and spread effective practices across the U.S. The goal was to share scientific findings from behavioral health research with mental health staff, providers and patients.

After two submissions over 12 months of intense writing, editing, weekly meetings with my mentors and repeated consultations with field experts—all while thinking about how it might dovetail with my dissertation for the Boston University (BU) Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program—I successfully earned QUERI funding for a 2-year early career grant. At long last, I got the email that said, “We are pleased to inform you that your application has been selected for funding.”

Then the fun began. I had managed but never led a grant before. So, I had to do everything from this new perspective: making and owning project decisions.  

I was finishing my coursework when the project started with the whole shebang of administrative paperwork in April 2024 and once I passed my qualifying exam in June, it was time to write my dissertation. I anxiously pitched a portion of the project to my dissertation committee, and then the DrPH program. There were bumps on the road, like trying to recruit enough patients, and many small victories overcoming these obstacles. When I finally defended my dissertation to a committee of BU faculty members on Dec 12, 2025, and passed with no revisions, it felt amazing!

My dissertation was awarded the 2026 Eugene Declercq Award for Excellence in a Public Health Practice Dissertation. Named for the BUSPH DrPH Program’s first director, the award is given to a Doctor of Public Health graduate whose dissertation exemplifies the program's central values - impact on public health practice, enhancement of public health leadership and management, and promotion of evidence-based policy change.

But the highlight of this adventure was that the Office of Mental Health created a Behavioral Health webpage for Veterans offering them additional information because of my project. I had turned nagging questions plaguing me into a project with an impact. Now I am excited to write and publish the project findings and encourage researchers to expand their dissemination efforts with staff, providers, and patients in mind.

My first publication from this project describes how to prioritize evidence for dissemination with end-users like staff, providers and patients.