Abacus Evaluation is supporting tracking and evaluation across a multi-state consortium focused on improving newborn screening process timeliness and long-term follow up with families engaged in improving quick connection to care, and continued high quality treatment to improve health outcomes for children with heritable conditions. Our team is focused on learning and engaging with state programs around process evaluation, data sharing and measurement development. Our work will help connect the process improvements within the first days of birth to long-term health care and family engagement outcomes.

��Effective January 1, 2025, a new policy expanded access to Carolina’s core facilities. The expansion applies to collaborative research support already offered by cores.

Before this change, we could only offer our internal rates to ������ departments or units. This change means that now we can offer internal rates to partners at any ������ System school.

About Core Facility Rates

Core facilities operate under breakeven rates. They deliver biomedical lab or technical assistance services that support the work, learning and impact of funded research at the University.

About Abacus Evaluation

Abacus Evaluation is a research service center in the department of Social Medicine. Abacus partners with research projects and programs to co-design and implement evaluation and data solutions.

We offer high-quality, actionable results that help amplify effectiveness and impact. Our current projects include pan-campus initiatives, research projects and national research programs.

Our experienced teams bring their diverse backgrounds and expertise to each project. We work together to deliver evaluation results for timely action.

Abacus is in the��Center for Health Equity Research. We’re shaping new services around CHER’s experience, skills and practices in engaging communities in research and building effective partnerships.

Work with us or make a referral

If you, or colleagues in your network, are looking for evaluation and data services, we’d love to connect. With this new policy, we’re especially excited to have expanded ability to partner with researchers from any institution in the ������ System.

by Jade Hollars, photos courtesy of Nisha Baral

There is more to a conference than logistics and the sessions.��

Nisha Baral, PhD, a data modeler with Abacus Evaluation, first attended the (CSSSA) conference in 2017 during her doctoral program. Since then, she has attended three times. This year’s conference was her first poster presentation.����

Nisha shares her experience of the many things that make conference attendance truly special.��

New Connections, Less Nerves��

Before, I would have graduate study friends to go to the conference with. I was a little nervous this time and didn’t know who I would meet. But it went really well, and I got to meet new people. It went better than I expected.����

At this conference, you get to know people. It is not very big, so you see the same faces every day. You make friends, eat meals together, and explore the area.��

A Few of My Favorite Things from the Conference��

1. Food: The food was really, really good! We would all have lunch, dinners, and happy hours together. It made you feel more connected with people and be able to share experiences.��
2. People: There were people from all different sectors including social science, mathematics, environmental science, Data science, AI based research, and so much more. I even connected with a student who shares the same advisor I had during my doctoral program.��
3. Location: It was wonderful to explore Santa Fe, New Mexico. Red and green chilis were used to decorate buildings, and handmade jewelry were out on tables being sold by locals. Plus, my hotel was where the conference was hosted so I got to save money on Uber bills.��

A store in Sante Fe, New Mexico with a variety of objects and crafts lining the outside.

Sharing Insights, Spreading Impact��

I presented a poster titled, ‘Learning from Pandemic to Prepare Schools for Endemic Management of COVID-19 – An Agent Based Modeling Approach.” It focused on better ways to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 virus in schools during an endemic phase. Schools can be a vulnerable environment for children due to the lack of options to decrease exposure to the virus.����

I tested scenarios among different seasons of the year with different durations of masking. The key finding was that two weeks of masking after a break and during seasonal surges resulted in a positive impact of less infection among children in schools.����

Sometimes work doesn’t feel impactful. After speaking to people at the conference about my work, it reminded me of its importance.��

My next steps are to showcase these findings in a manuscript. Be on the lookout for publication!��

Apply Learning and Share Solutions�� ��

The conference had a lot more people from different fields of research attend this year. CSSSA showed how many of us are working towards providing solutions to complex social problems. We shared methods like agent-based modeling, system dynamics, AI and machine learning and many others.����

I learned of new tools and techniques that would be helpful for data modeling. I’m excited to explore more and apply them to my work!��

Caroline Taheri with Abacus Evaluation says it’s all about preparation. From making the poster to rehearsing presentation points, she shares the many ways she used to get ready for a recent conference.

Hear more from Caroline on her recent American Public Health Association (APHA) conference experience.

We’ve done tabling events, poster presentations and talks. We’ve met and connected with partners, researchers, community members and many other people!��

We’re committed to expanding our community – look back with us on recent events.

Promotions can be destinations. For G, it’s part of an ongoing journey. His focus is working with community partners to address adverse social conditions that hinder optimal disease management.

We asked Rossana for her reflections on the award and what it means to her.

by Lisa Maria Cross, photo courtesy of the Abacus team

In late October, the Abacus team attended the first in-person engagement opportunity for the new Carolina Across 100 (CX100) program Our State, Our Wellbeing.

This second program from the CX100 initiative involves the collaboration of the Suicide Prevention Institute (SPI) and 15 collaborative teams from across NC counties.

The forum took place over two days at ������’s School of Government Knapp-Sanders building. The in-person event allowed the 15 teams got familiar with the program and met face-to-face with other collaborative teams. The forum allowed the teams to get to know each another and share ideas for their work plans for the upcoming year.

In what the CX100 team refers to as “team-science,” collaboratives shared advice and brainstormed solutions for challenges brought up during all-team discussions.

The Abacus team introduced themselves on the forum’s first day of the forum. They shared the different evaluation activities that teams will use. We described what evaluation will look like for this program and which evaluation activities we’ll bring to the 15 collaboratives during the program year. We explained what the Shared Measurement System is, how it will be used, why we’re using it for evaluation and the collaboratives’ role in the Shared Measurement System.

At the end of the forum, we asked the collaborative teams to complete a brief survey to provide feedback on the forum content and layout.

“Getting to connect with others in person (both in my team and from other organizations!) was my favorite part and left me feeling re-energized to continue my work” is how Rossana Roberts remembers her recent experience at the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Conference.

Two weeks ago, Roberts and other Abacus team members were in Indianapolis, attending the AEA Conference. Abacus is a program evaluation and research consultancy housed in the ������ Center for Health Equity Research. They offer evaluation and data services to promote health equity and assess program effectiveness.

The Abacus team has extensive experience evaluating various public health, clinical, educational and human service initiatives. Abacus evaluators are poised to offer custom solutions using expertise in strategic planning, evaluation, data science and analytics, network analysis, and interpretation and dissemination of findings. They support clients throughout the project lifecycle, from conception to implementation to reporting.

Abacus has grown out of an increasing need for support and expertise in evaluation among researchers. Both federal and non-federal agencies require program implementers to demonstrate connections between research inputs, activities, outcomes and impacts. Abacus fills this gap for programs, projects, centers and initiatives.

Since its founding in 2020, Abacus has provided tailored evaluation consultation and support to clients, with a commitment to amplifying project impact and effectiveness. Abacus is uniquely positioned to collaborate with health, human services and other organizations in and beyond academia.

Abacus’ mission is to create and amplify lasting positive change in local, national and global communities through collaboration and data-informed innovation to address complex problems with its clients. Abacus-led evaluation can identify areas for growth and innovation, drive change and prioritize communities. Abacus also reflects the School of Medicine’s commitment to providing infrastructure and opportunities to support outstanding research throughout and beyond Carolina.