Upcoming Symposium
Policy, Practice and Possibility:
Advancing Child Health Through Research
Friday, Oct. 10, 2025
Agenda
MN EHR Consortium Health Trends Across Communities Dashboard: Key Maternal and Child Health Indicators
Presenters: Elyse Kharbanda, MD, MPH, and Sam Patnoe, MPH, from HealthPartners Institute
The Minnesota EHR Consortium is a collaboration of 11 health systems across the state that aggregate electronic health record data to support population health research and policy. This session will spotlight the Minnesota EHR Consortium’s Health Trends Across Communities in Minnesota (HTAC-MN) dashboard, which provides information on over 30 health conditions. The presentation will explore how population-level data on key pregnancy and child health indicators available through the MN EHR Consortium HTAC dashboard can be accessed to support public health programs or policies.
Panel Discussion on the Minnesota Free School Meals Program
Presenters: Emily Honer, MBA, (Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Nutrition Program Services Director), Lana Peterson, PhD, M.Ed., (MDE Data Analytics Director), and Darcy Stueber, SNS, CDM, CFPP, Mankato Director of Nutrition Services
Minnesota implemented a statewide free school meals program in 2023, ensuring all K–12 students have access to breakfast and lunch at no cost, to reduce food insecurity and improve student health and academic outcomes. During this session, Emily Honer, Director of Nutrition Program Services at the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), will facilitate a panel with key stakeholders. The discussion will explore the early impacts and implementation of this program, including data on nutrition access, equity and academic outcomes. Attendees will learn about the program’s successes, challenges and plans for adapting in the future.
Keynote Address from Kimberly Noble, MD, PhD
Understanding the impact of poverty on children is important for clinicians, as this context can impact many areas of children’s development and is needed for clinicians to support healthy development. Dr. Kimberly Noble will present her work on how poverty impacts children’s cognitive, emotional and brain development. This session will equip attendees with current research and insights into the foundations of brain development, emphasizing the critical role of poverty reduction in early childhood. Dr. Noble is a Principal Investigator of the Baby’s First Years study, the first randomized controlled trial in the US to test the causal impact of poverty reduction, through direct cash payments to families, on children’s early development. This keynote builds on the 2024 address by Dr. Megan Gunnar, who highlighted how supportive and responsive relationships with caregivers can buffer the negative effects of early adversity and foster resilience in children.
