‘Smart’ vending aims to improve community health with NIH grant

HERSHEY, Pa. — For Alice Zhang, instructor in Penn State College of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, earning a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award grant was a community effort. She was awarded this 5-year, $1.49 million grant this May, and said the funding road was paved with collaboration, mentorship and a critical support system provided by Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s (CTSI) Early-Stage Investigator Training Program (KL2).

The KL2 Program provides a supportive interdisciplinary environment for junior faculty scholars to acquire the skills and experience needed to become successful, independent clinical and translational scientists. This is accomplished through coursework, mentored research and career development programs. KL2 funding provides 75% protected time for research; funds for research supplies; tuition support for up to three courses per semester; and travel.

Zhang joined the KL2 program in July 2024, and she said it helped provide her with protected time to start her research and to build the key foundation for her NIH-funded project. With the dedicated time and support from her mentors — Aleksandra Zgierska, endowed professor of family and community medicine, professor of public health sciences and anesthesiology and perioperative medicine, and co-lead of CTSI's Community-Engaged Research Core; William Calo, associate professor of family and community medicine and public health sciences, and lead of CTSI’s Implementation Science Core; Lauren Van Scoy, professor of medicine and co-director of the KL2 program; and Paul Griffin, professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) — Zhang drafted the now-funded grant application.

Zhang’s research explores how to increase access to and community health services and resources. Two “smart” interactive vending machines, strategically placed outside a Harrisburg emergency room and inside a Reading YMCA, are stocked with essential items such as personal hygiene products and overdose reversal kits like naloxone. The vending machines are touchscreen-operated, which allow users to interact with the vending machine to obtain items, view local resources and answer anonymous survey questions.

“We're learning who’s using the machines, what items are most in demand and how often individuals are returning,” Zhang explained. “We also gather follow-up data through optional surveys and interviews with users, as well as focus groups with community partners. It’s all part of making the intervention more effective and scalable.”

One of the most important support aspects of KL2, according to Zhang, is the sense of community she experienced.

“[I had] a forum of peers at similar and more advanced stages of their careers,” she said. “We had both informal and formal discussions that were incredibly practical and insightful. I always came away from our seminars thinking, ‘I have a real connection here.’”

KL2’s structured seminars and leadership development training equipped Zhang with skills and tools to manage her complex and growing research, she said.

“One of the biggest revelations early on was just learning about the resources that CTSI offers,” she said. “Before KL2, I was really struggling to figure out the mechanics of how to get a study off the ground — how to manage participant reimbursements, standard operating procedure (SOP) development and more. With KL2, I found answers and protocols I didn’t know existed.”

This practical aspect of the training proved critical to Zhang’s work, she said. Through KL2, she learned how to develop SOPs for multiple aspects of her research that helped seamlessly onboard a new research assistant.

“That kind of forward-thinking — being proactive about structure — is something KL2 really helped instill in me, and it is key as I think about developing my research long-term,” Zhang said.

The long-term goal is to expand the project into other communities, including rural northern Dauphin County and in York. While implementation has presented some challenges, learning to overcome the challenges is a lesson in and of itself.

“We're not just studying use — we're studying how to implement,” Zhang said. “That includes logistical, cultural and technological components.”

Thanks to her KL2 experience, Zhang said, was the completion of a systematic literature review on vending machine-based harm reduction interventions. Her article was recently accepted for publication in the Harm Reduction Journal.

“It had been a project I’d been working on for over a year, but the protected time from KL2 is what finally allowed me to finish it,” she said.

According to Van Scoy, Zhang and her work provide a prime example of how the program’s peer support, structured research training and mentorship can help early-career faculty elevated her research.

“Having Dr. Zhang as a part of our KL2 cohort has been a real joy and we are all so proud of her accomplishments,” Van Scoy said. “She has been so engaged in the program, offering insight to our peer review sessions, grant proposals and her comments always add so much value to our sessions. We expect to see and hear a lot more from Dr. Zhang.”

Zhang said she highly recommends others starting out participate in the program.

“It’s more than a steppingstone,” Zhang said. “It’s a launching pad. And I’ll be carrying those lessons forward as I continue this work.”