Rebecca Lengnick-Hall, PhD
As Assistant Professor at the Brown School, Rebecca Lengnick-Hall employs multilevel designs, and integrates implementation science, organizational science, and social work. She is currently working to build theory and develop measures that help us better understand how organizations are connected to the broader system environment (e.g., through funding arrangements) and the concrete ways that these connections affect the implementation and sustainment of high-quality mental health services. Lengnick-Hall collaborates frequently with the Center for Dissemination & Implementation at the Institute for Public Health and is a Public Health Faculty Scholar, so we caught up with her for this SPOTLIGHT interview about her work.
Briefly discuss your latest research, its objective, and who will benefit
As an implementation science generalist (aka nerd) I am interested in advancing and elevating core aspects of our field including implementation outcomes, mechanisms, and the way we approach multilevel questions. I am also currently really excited about my work with partners in New York’s children’s mental health system at both state and city levels. Current projects include co-creating a tool to help policymakers make decisions about contracting arrangements and a conceptual framework that shows how state level decisions about implementation support may trickle down to change at the child and family levels.
In what other ways have you/will you engage with the center or with D&I? In what ways will this collaboration benefit your work?
I’ve been a D&I Proposal Bootcamp participant and consultant, a D&I Day panelist, workshop faculty member, and grant reviewer. I love WUNDIR and have given scientific presentations, been a peer reviewer, and co-hosted. I am currently helping to plan our fall D&I Institute and will also be a faculty member for that training opportunity. As an instructor for one of WashU’s Intro to D&I courses, I also love bringing newbies into the field.
What would you say is the benefit to other researchers/faculty in engaging with the center or who are interested in adding D&I to their research?
Wash U’s D&I community is truly a special place, and the center is the hub of it all. Besides the wealth of training and learning opportunities, our community is incredibly supportive, collaborative, and innovative. Engaging in D&I work is complex and can be overwhelming at times. Connecting with the center and getting plugged into our rich network of people can give you the boost and inspiration to stick with the hard questions we want to ask!