Building healthier futures: Hollie Raynor’s work to make research accessible
“Translation requires a lot of thought regarding settings, implementers, and patients,” said Hollie Raynor, Ph.D., during the Forge AHEAD December seminar. Raynor, a leader in nutrition and behavior research, works to ensure solutions to childhood obesity don’t remain confined to research papers but reach families and communities in need. She focuses on adapting programs to real-world settings, training the people who deliver them, and designing solutions that work for families in their everyday lives.
At the seminar hosted by the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA, Raynor discussed the challenges of addressing childhood obesity. “When I started to walk into this space, my interest was thinking about how we can take our family-based intervention—highly intensive at the time—and begin moving it out of specialty care clinics to more primary care settings to enhance access,” she explained. This change, she noted, is essential to helping families—especially those in communities with limited access to care—benefit from programs without the obstacles of specialized healthcare.
Raynor stressed the importance of tailoring interventions to community needs and delivery methods. “As researchers, we need to really describe the site of delivery and the providers involved, so we build a more representative research base to understand how best to impact translation,” she said.
Her work with Federally Qualified Health Centers in Tennessee exemplifies this approach, focusing on scalable models for delivering obesity programs through non-specialist providers, such as primary care physicians and behavioral health consultants.
Breaking Down Barriers
Raynor simplifies evidence-based programs into practical, actionable steps. For example, she has explored ways to reduce contact time in family-based obesity programs while focusing on core behaviors, such as reducing sugary drinks and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. In a recent study, her team tested a model with just 2.5 hours of contact over six months, alternating in-person and phone sessions to address transportation and accessibility challenges.
These changes come from working closely with community partners and understanding their needs. “It’s so important for us to hear our partners,” Raynor said. “Researchers might say, ‘This is the measure I need,’ but a community partner may say, ‘That’s not feasible.’”
Her work addresses systemic challenges like food insecurity, which affects many families her programs serve. In one project, she modified interventions for food-insecure households by focusing behavior-change goals solely on the child, reducing the burden on parents struggling to make dietary changes for the entire family. “Agility in addressing barriers without sacrificing rigor is key,” she said.
“As researchers, we need to really describe the site of delivery and the providers involved, so we build a more representative research base to understand how best to impact translation.”
Turning Knowledge Into Action
Raynor’s work goes beyond program delivery to creating systems that last. “It’s not just about creating new knowledge,” she said. “If your goal is to impact health or translate research, you must avoid creating barriers to implementation.” She highlighted the need to design programs that fit into existing payment models and training systems, allowing healthcare providers to use them without requiring extra resources.
Raynor remains hopeful despite the challenges. “There are many types of research questions,” she said. “What’s important is applying a high degree of rigor to address those questions while considering equity and real-world application.” Her work exemplifies a commitment to practical, impactful research that helps families access care and addresses health disparities.
At the end of the seminar, Raynor described her vision of a future where all families have the tools and support that they need to live healthier lives. “We need to ensure the research base we’re building is representative and actionable,” she said, calling researchers, practitioners, and communities to collaborate on turning proven strategies into lasting solutions.
By focusing on translation, Raynor is working to reduce childhood obesity and ensure all families have the opportunity for healthier lives.
For more on upcoming Forge AHEAD events and resources, visit our website. You can also watch the seminar recording here.
