WEST DES MOINES, IOWA (November 19, 2025) — Jason Semprini PhD MPP, assistant professor of public health at Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences, was named to the inaugural cohort of AcademyHealth's Champions for Health Services and Prevention Research program. Supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, the program will foster connections between researchers and policymakers in communities across the nation.
Through the program, the 21 selected research champions — mostly early-stage academics — will spend fifteen months refining their policy and communication skills to serve as messengers for evidence-based decision-making in health and health-care. After starting with an online training course, the cohort will conduct targeted outreach with federal and state policymakers.
For Semprini, the attraction to apply was the fact that he's written a lot of research papers — exactly what faculty are trained to do in academic medicine and science. But he wants to enhance his ability to communicate his findings to different audiences, particularly policymakers, and those who influence them.
For example, Semprini recently published a study on cigarette taxes and smoking-related lung cancer, showing there's still significant opportunity for states that haven't raised those taxes to reduce smoking rates — and ultimately lung cancer. Through the AcademyHealth program, he intends to learn better ways of sharing this knowledge beyond the academic community.
Semprini also plans to share insights he gains as a research champion with colleagues, students, and research mentees at DMU.
"Dr Semprini's selection to serve as a research champion is a meaningful recognition of both his work and DMU's commitment to putting evidence into action," says Wallace Boeve EdD PA-C DFAAPA, Dean of DMU's College of Health Sciences.
"When our faculty are awarded these national research and policymaking opportunities, they're embarking on a journey to become pivotal voices for actionable conversations and decisions that ultimately affect patients and communities. We're proud of Dr Semprini and excited to support him in this role and opportunity."
Located in West Des Moines, part of Iowa's capital metro, Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences offers ten graduate-level professional-degree programs in anatomy, biomedical sciences, health-care administration, occupational therapy, osteopathic medicine, physical therapy, physician-assistant studies, podiatric medicine, and public health. Founded in 1898, the institution offers superior academics in a collaborative environment. DMU students' scores on national examinations, pass-rates on board certifications, and match-rates for medical-residency programs are consistently higher than national averages and rates at peer institutions.
