In the newly published September/October 2009 issue of Public Health Reports, acting Surgeon General RADM Steven K. Galson gives an overview of what he describes as "nation’s most important, yet perhaps least known public health resources"—the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS). RADM Galson explains that the USPHS is not only essential to maintaining our nation’s public health, but it is also increasingly fulfilling public health needs on a global level. He also highlights the USPHS’s role in emergency preparedness and response and notes that the 6,000+ officers in the Corps are "trained and equipped to respond to any national health threat, including public health crises and national emergencies."

Please mark your calendars for the upcoming "Meet the Author!" web cast sponsored by Public Health Reports (PHR), which will take place on Tuesday, September 15 at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern). Dr. Kevin Sullivan, associate professor in the department of epidemiology and global health at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, will discuss his recently published research in PHR, "Multivitamin Use in Pregnant and Nonpregnant Women."

ASPH is hosting an open casting call for a short video on public health. We are looking for enthusiastic people who are using a public health degree to make a positive impact on the world we live in. If you have a story to tell, we want to hear from you. Candidates should be available for a casting call and video shoot in Washington, DC the week of September 14, 2009. This is your chance to inspire someone else to pursue a career in public health!

The Association of Schools of Public Health invites all prospective students to participate in the third annual "Visit Accredited Schools of Public Health Day" on Wednesday, November 11.   This event allows interested students to meet admissions staff from the CEPH-accredited schools of public health at one convenient location during the American Public Health Association 137^th Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Public Health Reports (PHR) is a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal offering articles in public health practice, research and viewpoints/commentaries, and a key resource for the public health community. The journal is distributed to member schools, the research community, academic libraries, government agencies and many health related industries. Advertising in PHR is an excellent way to connect with practitioners, scholars and students of public health. Click here for more information and here to view the upcoming issue’s Table of Contents.

Leaders of six of the nation’s top foundations announced a joint call for prevention measures to be central to the reform of our national health systems. In a letter released on Monday, August 17, leaders at The California Endowment, The Kresge Foundation, Nemours, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a top official at Kaiser Permanente, wrote that community prevention measures like improved access to healthy food and physical activity will save both lives and money.

ASPH hosts a public health advocacy section on its web site, which provides an opportunity to share information on advocacy efforts with all ASPH members. The site also highlights information on policy priorities, including several policy papers exploring the nation’s public health priorities, and provides links to sources of legislative information and resources and tips on how to contact Members of Congress. ASPH will also use the web site to post alerts on activities on the Hill that are critical to public health. Visit www.asph.org/advocacy for more information. Check out the new "Action Alert" just added this week!

ASPH regularly provides members and Friday Letter readers with information about grant opportunities. New opportunities are listed each week in the "Funding Opportunities" section of the Friday Letter. Readers can access a full listing of grant notices by visiting the "Funding for Faculty" section of the ASPH web site. You may want to bookmark this page (www.asph.org/document.cfm?page=747). Listed below are grant opportunities that have been posted within the last seven days.

This funding opportunity, issued by the National Eye Institute (NEI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), encourages Research Project Grant for Secondary Data Analysis (R21) applications from institutions/organizations that propose to conduct secondary data analyses utilizing existing database resources.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a funding opportunity announcement titled "Transforming Primary Care Practice (R18)," as well as two task order notifications for: "Comprehensive EPC Comparative Effectiveness Reviews for Effective Health Care" and "EPC Methods Research and Resource Activities for Evidence Synthesis." Information about each is posted below.

The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a two-year, postgraduate program of service and on-the-job training for health professionals interested in the practice of epidemiology. Each year, EIS provides approximately 90 persons, who have been selected from around the world, opportunities to gain hands-on experience in epidemiology at CDC or state or local health departments.

Due to a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene awards three postdoctoral fellowships each year. Each awardee receives two years of support. Although the program targets postdoctoral infectious diseases fellows, applicants who have completed training in other clinical specialties relevant to tropical medicine (e.g. internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN) will also be considered.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program provides two years of support to postdoctoral scholars at all stages of their careers to build the nation's capacity for research and leadership to address the multiple determinants of population health and contribute to policy change. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2009-2010 program. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 2.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Public Agency of Barcelona, in collaboration with the Pompeu Fabra University, have established a Hopkins Fall Institute on Policy and Management in Barcelona, Spain. The 6^th Annual Fall Institute will take place from November 2-28.

Ms. Genevieve Martínez-García, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in College Park, has been awarded the Mabel S. Spencer Award. The honor, which includes a $15,000 stipend and doctoral candidacy tuition remission, comes in recognition of her research into unintended pregnancies among Latino youth in Montgomery County, MD.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) are in the midst of preparations to control the spread of the swine flu virus throughout the United States this fall. University at Albany School of Public Health graduates Ms. Nicole Spencer and Mr. Greg Giambrone have won Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) fellowships and are currently working at the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH).

Ms. Ndidi Amutah, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in College Park, has been selected as an American Public Health Association (APHA) Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Section Senior Fellow for 2009-2010 academic year. After serving as a student fellow during the 2008-2009 school year, Ms. Amutah was chosen to mentor the new student fellows that were selected for the coming academic year. As part of her Senior Student Fellowship, she will assist MCH section leaders with projects related to evaluation of the MCH fellowship program and increasing program-related web-based resources.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/ASPH Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership celebrated 10 years of building capacity for minority-serving community-based organizations this past weekend, August 21-22, in Atlanta, GA. The Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership (IHPL) was created following a national needs assessment conducted by the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health in conjunction with the CDC in 1997. The first cohort completed the intensive capacity building program in 2000.

In mid-July, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health’s International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) supported a peer educator training for 50 inmates living with HIV at Kigali Central Prison in Rwanda. The training, held in collaboration with Rwanda’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health, focused on a range of HIV-related topics, including treatment adherence, as well as women’s and children’s rights.

The Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Inc., has awarded the Georgia Southern University Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH) a $100,000 grant to design a cross-site and site specific evaluation of the five Georgia Childhood Asthma Management projects, also funded by the Foundation, to improve asthma outcomes among Georgia's child and adolescent populations. Dr. Lynn Woodhouse, the associate dean of academic affairs in the JPHCOPH, is the principle investigator of the grant.

Research Into Action (RIA), an initiative within The University of Texas School of Public Health’s Institute for Health Policy, has launched KTExchange.org, a web portal dedicated to the field of knowledge translation (KT), the process of translating research findings into usable advice for decision makers and practical recommendations for improving public health.

In a new podcast on global health issues, Dr. Sandro Galea, director of University of Michigan's Center for Global Health, discusses the goals for the new Center for Global Health, and why global health is an important concern. The center aims to "catalyze what is already happening (in global health) and work with partners engaged in the area." Key partners for the new center include organizations in Ghana, South Africa, the Middle East, China and countries in Central and South America. Dr. Galea also discusses how the world is experiencing an "epidemiologic transition" as the burden of disease shifts from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. To view the podcast, click here.

An article written for the Healthy Passages research study by Dr. Luisa Franzini, associate professor at The University of Texas School of Public Health (UT SPH), was voted the second most influential research paper during the past year in a survey conducted by The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation web site.

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s (DDCF) African Health Initiative has selected the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health as one of four research partnerships to design and implement large-scale primary healthcare programs in sub-Saharan Africa, totaling roughly $44 million over five to seven years. The DDCF grant to the Mailman School in the amount of $14.7 million is to develop an exchange of health system innovations between Tanzania and Ghana, two countries that are at the forefront of health development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Distance learning programs are growing at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (SPH), as illustrated by a recent article that appears on the school’s web site. This summer, 14 distance-learners joined 10 on-site classmates to watch and listen to adjunct lecturer Dr. Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer for a three-week, accelerated "Fundamentals of Epidemiology" course offered as part of the Graduate Summer Session in epidemiology.

More than 1,000 business, academic, health care and political leaders will gather October 29 in Ontario, CA to identify the specific challenges of providing health care to a state as diverse as California and a place as unique as Southern California. Loma Linda University School of Public Health and Healthcare Executives of Southern California are spearheading the event, called the Southern California Health Care Summit.

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health (SPH) professor Dr. Faith Davis was elected president of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE). Dr. Davis, who is also associated dean for research services at UIC School of Public Health, was chosen by ACE membership and will serve as president-elect for 2009-2010 and as president the following year.

Dr. Jo Anne Earp has been appointed chair of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health's Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, effective Tuesday, September 1. The selection follows an extensive search by a committee led by Dr. Dianne Ward, professor of nutrition at the school. Dr. Earp was chair of the department from 1996 to 2005 and has served as interim chair since 2008, when Dr. Edwin Fisher left the position to become global director of Peers for Progress, a diabetes peer-support program.

Dr. Tong Tong Wu, assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in College Park, and a team of researchers from a variety of disciplines have been awarded a multi-million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant, which is slated for $3.8 million over five years, will fund the team’s collaborative research project entitled "Next-Generation Model Checking and Abstract Interpretation with a Focus on Embedded Control and Systems Biology."

Several University of Michigan School of Public Health policy experts were featured in a recent National Public Radio series on the "Health Care Debate." Faculty featured in the series include: Dr. Leon Wyszewianski; Dr. Richard L. Lichtenstein; and Dr. Dean G. Smith.

Dr. Preston A. Marx, professor of tropical medicine at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, has co-authored the comprehensive text "Simian Virology," released by Wiley-Blackwell. Dr. Marx is also the chair of the division of microbiology at the Tulane National Primate Center.

A new textbook authored by Dr. Richard K. Riegelman, professor of epidemiology, biostatistics, medicine and health policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, has just been released by Jones and Bartlett Publishers. "Public Health 101: Healthy People––Healthy Populations" provides a big-picture, population perspective on the determinants of health and disease and the tools available to protect and promote health.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently announced that Dr. Janet Collins has agreed to serve as the acting associate director for program in the Office of the Director (to be made permanent upon approval of the position by the Department of Health and Human Services).  Dr. Collins is currently the director of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), a role which she will continue until a successor is chosen. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it is establishing the Center for Tobacco Products and has selected Dr. Lawrence Deyton as the center director. This announcement comes just two months after Congress approved and President Obama signed into law historic legislation giving the FDA authority over tobacco products. Dr. Deyton comes from the Veteran’s Administration (VA) where he has been serving as the chief public health officer. 

As health reform advanced through congressional committees this summer, much attention was given to trimming the federal budget cost and slowing the growth in Medicare outlays. However, equal attention needs to be focused on provisions to address the rising costs of health insurance premiums for employers and families. In a new blog post, Commonwealth Fund President Dr. Karen Davis emphasizes that without health reform that controls premium costs, middle-class families will be priced out of health insurance altogether.

Mirroring a national trend, unintentional poisoning rates are a growing problem in Iowa and poisoning deaths are climbing, according to a University of Iowa report. The study led by Dr. James Torner, University of Iowa College of Public Health professor of epidemiology, found the number of unintentional poisoning deaths in Iowa rose from 67 in 2002 to 160 in 2008. Nationally, unintentional poisoning deaths increased by 57 percent from 2002 to 2006, while Iowa saw an 85 percent increase during that period.

According to a new study, women with a family history of breast cancer were 59 percent less likely to develop breast cancer themselves if they breastfed their children. Dr. Alison Stuebe, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) School of Medicine and associate at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health's Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, was the study’s lead author.

In the current issue of The Nation’s Health¸ the newspaper of the America Public Health Association (APHA), it is reported that what some people might think of as online entertainment or a fun way to stay in touch with friends has turned into a communications boon for the public health community, particularly in times of crisis. Social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook are allowing public health officials to reach out fast and directly to the public on everything from salmonella-related food recalls to disease outbreaks and weather emergencies.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recently released reports on: "Global Environmental Health: Research Gaps and Barriers for Providing Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services"; "Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008"; and "The U.S. Oral Health Workforce in the Coming Decade: Workshop Summary." Information on each of these reports is available below:

The Commonwealth Fund's continuing case study series on high-performing organized health care delivery systems in the U.S. turns next to the Midwest. Information on the latest case studies in the series are posted below:

ASPH will regularly provide members and Friday Letter readers with links to other electronic newsletters that may be of interest to the public health community. Links to E-newsletters will be added to a web page found at www.asph.org/document.cfm?page=924. This week’s additions include:

AHRQ Electronic Newsletter: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Issue #280
www.ahrq.gov/news/enewsix.htm

AMCHP Pulse, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, August 2009: "Back to School"
www.amchp.org/AboutAMCHP/Newsletters/Pulse/August2009/Documents/Pulse_August09.pdf

AUPHA Exchange, Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Summer 2009
www.aupha.org/files/public/SUMMER2009Exchange.pdf

Global Health Weekly Update, Global Health Council, August 17, 2009
Click here to view.

NCRI Cancer Conference Newsletter, National Cancer Research Institute, August 2009
Click here to view.

Urban Green Partnership Newsletter, Urban Green Partnership, August 15, 2009
Click here to view.

Washington Health Policy Week in Review, The Commonwealth Fund, August 17, 2009
Click here to view.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new guidance to help decrease the spread of flu among students, faculty and staff of institutions of higher education (IHE) and post-secondary educational institutions during the 2009-2010 academic year. The CDC has also released guidance for businesses and employers to help decrease the spread of flu. Information on both sets of guidelines can be found at www.flu.gov.

Presentations and slides are now available from "Weight of the Nation," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's inaugural conference on obesity prevention and control. The conference was held July 27-29, and was designed to provide a forum to highlight progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies. To view the materials, click here.

The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has launched a blog on its web site. The blog is a resource allowing public communication between ORI and the research community. ORI directors Dr. John Galland and Dr. John Dahlberg will be posting blogs frequently on topics such as research education, responsible conduct of research, policies and regulations and other pertinent topics on research. ORI encourages the research community to post comments on the blog. To access the blog, visit http://ori.hhs.gov/blog.

Research!America has developed an interactive map that details how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is distributed on both the state and district level. To underscore the value and economic impact of research projects funded the Recovery Act, each state page includes research highlights. Research!America seeks firsthand stories on how this investment is impacting your institution and your community.

The Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) calls for presentations for its 2010 annual conference, "Moving Ahead Together: Celebrating the Legacy, Shaping the Future of Maternal and Child Health," which will be held March 6-10, 2010 at the Gaylord National Convention Center and Hotel in National Harbor, MD.

The 15^th Annual Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiology Conference, "Making Methods and Practice Matter for Women, Children and Families," will be held December 9-11 at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay in Tampa, FL. The student/fellow/summer intern Call for Abstracts is now available. The deadline to submit is 5 p.m. (Eastern) on Monday, August 31.

CES4Health.info is a new web-based portal designed as a mechanism for peer review and dissemination of diverse products such as documentaries, training manuals, policy briefs and curricula. CES4Health.info is seeking diverse products of health-related community-engaged scholarship to be included in the public launch this fall.  CES4Health.info is also looking for peer reviewers from diverse settings, including community, academic, government and philanthropy.

As the national debate on health care reform climbs to the very top of the U.S.'s list of priorities, the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA) holds its third Community Forum on Healthcare Reform in Washington, DC this Tuesday, August 25 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (Eastern).  NHCOA will provide an update on the current healthcare reform debate and discuss the importance of working together toward a plan that benefits all Americans, including Hispanic families.

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) is hosting a series of online iterative dialogues for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entitled the "National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR)." The next diaglogue in the series will be held, Monday, August 31.

On Thursday, September 17 at 10 a.m. (Eastern), Ms. Molly Eggleston, deputy executive director of the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), will present on experiences with the Certified in Public Health (CPH) exam and share testimonials from public health employers, faculty and CPH professionals.  She will also take questions on the upcoming exam (August 2010).

The fifth annual National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's Pioneer Award Symposium will be held September 24-25, and will feature research talks by the first graduating class of Pioneer Award recipients (see here), as well as by the class of 2008 (see here). Other highlights include a keynote address on inventiveness by the Smithsonian's Dr. Arthur Molella, poster sessions, a roundtable discussion on the interplay between technology development and hypothesis-driven research and announcement of the 2009 Pioneer and New Innovator awardees.

The Admissions Office at the Harvard School of Public Health will be hosting a prospective student information session on Saturday, October 3 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (Eastern). The event will be held in the Kresge Building located at 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.

The National Hispanic Council on Aging's 2009 Annual Conference will be held October 6-7 in Washington, DC. The theme for this year's conference is "Working Together For A Common Aging Agenda."  Topics will include global aging, aging in America and the status of Hispanic older adults as it relates to economic security and health and wellbeing.

On Thursday, November 12 at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern), the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI) is hosting a web summitt titled "Malaria Research: In the Lab and the Field." During the interactive web summit, participants will hear the latest findings in the fight against malaria from top researchers at JHMRI and have the opportunity to ask questions.

New!
Volume 124
Issue 5
September/October 2009

Public Health Reports (PHR) is an informative and accessible resource for practitioners, teachers and students of public health. The Journal provides important research and key discussions on the major issues confronting the public health community. Subscribe Today! Click here to advertise in the Journal.