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Rosie Bauder, PhD, MPH, Spark Award Recipient

Spark Award

The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) offers Spark Awards, previously known as vouchers, to researchers who need to jump-start their research. The goal of the Spark Award is to support preliminary work and generate essential data for both new and ongoing projects. The CTSI is excited to highlight how Spark Award recipients are utilizing their funding.

Portrait of Rosie Bauder, Phd, MPH

Rosie Bauder, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor-Clinical in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. She applied for a Spark Award to support her project “Evaluating the Implementation of the 2024–2026 Suicide Prevention Plan of Ohio.”

“The overall goal of my project is to evaluate the implementation of Ohio’s 2024–2026 Suicide Prevention Plan,” says Bauder. “This plan was developed by stakeholders alongside the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation in response to the troubling rate of five suicide deaths per day statewide.”

In partnership with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, Bauder’s team is assessing suicide prevention capacity and infrastructure at organizational, local and state levels. Quarterly quantitative and qualitative data from OSPF and more than 30 strategic partners are being analyzed to measure adoption and reach of evidence-based prevention and postvention interventions. Findings will identify strengths and gaps in Ohio’s suicide prevention efforts and guide future planning.

The Spark Award will support informatics services to develop a public-facing progress dashboard. “This tool will translate programmatic data into accessible summaries for OSPF and its partners, enhancing transparency and empowering communities to monitor progress and apply insights to strengthen suicide prevention efforts across Ohio,” explains Bauder.

Funding will enable collaboration with the Department of Research Information Technology to build this dashboard using REDCap. The portal will allow strategic partners, coalition leaders and other stakeholders to report progress toward key priority areas in the 2024–2026 Suicide Prevention Plan.

Congratulations to Rosie on receiving a Spark Award and using it to strengthen suicide prevention efforts across Ohio.

Julie Johnson, PharmD, is the Director and Principal Investigator at The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute.