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  From the Alumni President  
     
  As I write, the 2007-2008 academic year has just begun at the RSPH. Although it has been a decade since I last started a school year, I still think of fall as a time of new beginnings and fresh starts as well as a time to take stock of the past. There are now more than 4,500 alumni spanning more than 30 years of RSPH classes who reside in 50 states and 91 countries. This certainly speaks to our growing national and global reputation in the public health world, which was recognized by our recent 7th-place ranking by U.S. News & World Report.
     Looking forward, this year looks to be an exciting one for the Alumni Association, and I invite you to participate in whatever way possible. Whether you attend the upcoming RSPH Alumni Reunion or the Dean’s Reception at the APHA Conference in Washington, D.C., or mentor a student, we welcome your participation. In the past, the RSPH Alumni Board has worked to reach out to alumni and to create a supportive and dynamic community. To build on these efforts, this year the Alumni Board will also focus on reaching out to those of you who, like myself, live outside of Atlanta—both within the United States as well as abroad.
     I encourage you to contact me (angiemcgowan@gmail.com) or any of the RSPH Alumni Board members with ideas about how we can better serve you. I am honored to be the president of the RSPH Alumni Association and hope to have a chance to interact with many of you this year!

Angie K. McGowan

Angie K. McGowan, JD, 98MPH
President, RSPH Alumni Association
Senior Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
 
     
   
         
 
1980s
Don A. Franco, 85MPH, has published Poverty ~ Malnutrition ~ Disease ~ Hopelessness: A Cry for Social Justice (Sierra Publishing, 2007.) It examines the domino effect of poverty on global health. A former adjunct faculty member at Emory, Franco recently retired and then formed the Center for Biosecurity, Food Safety, and Public Health in his hometown of Lake Worth, FL.

1990s

Elizabeth W. (Betty Lu) Bernhart, 90MPH, retired from Grady Health System as a physician assistant in July 2007. She now lives on St. Simons Island, GA.

BORN: To Tina Rizack, 93MPH, 98M, and her husband, Christopher Langlois, a son, Holden Martin, on Feb. 3, 2007. They live in Providence, RI.

Roger Sherman, 96MPH, recently joined the obstetrics and gynecology department at Franciscan Skemp Healthcare in LaCrosse, WI. He earned his MD at Northeastern College of Medicine in Rootstown, OH, and completed his ob/gyn residency at San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium in Texas. Prior to joining Franciscan Skemp, Sherman was an ob/gyn staff physician at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

Nicole S. Umemoto, 96MPH, moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in early 2007 with her husband, Tom Wingfield, and their two children. Their son, Ryan, was born on Aug. 7, 2006, in Bangkok, Thailand. Daughter Violet is 3.

BORN: To Erin Brand Jakum, 97MPH, and her husband, Joshua A. Jakum, 98M, a daughter, Amelia Flaherty Brand Jakum, on Nov. 17, 2006. Amelia has two big brothers, Ethan William and Adam Edward. Erin is development director for the Fauquier Free Clinic in Warrenton, VA.

MARRIED: Ann Marie McConnell, 97MPH, to Daniel Joshua Goldman on Feb. 17, 2007, in San Antonio, TX. Eunice Franklin-Becker, 97MPH, Ami Bhalodkar, 97MPH, and Lisa Russell, 03MBA, were in attendance. The couple lives in Seattle, WA, where Ann is a health care management consultant.

Thomas Hoff Prol, 97MPH, was elected to the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Board of Trustees in May 2007.

Sureyya E. Hornston, 98MPH, recently returned from a detail with WHO’s Western Pacific regional office in Manila, the Philippines, and received an award from the CDC for her international work in avian and pandemic flu. A senior health communication specialist at the CDC, she has worked in the Division of STD Prevention since 1999.

MARRIED: Emlyn Starr Jones, 99MPH, to Eric Michael Poolman on April 28, 2007, in Waterford, CT. The couple met at Yale where she is a candidate for a medical degree and a master’s degree in health science research. He is a postdoctoral fellow, researching the spread of infectious diseases. They both served as health aides in the Peace Corps during the 1990s, when Emlyn was stationed in Niger and Eric in Morocco.

Megan Benoit Ratcliff, 99MPH, received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia in May 2007. She is now a postdoctoral fellow with the AFLAC Cancer Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

     
  Alumni Honors  
     
       The RSPH honored two alumni with annual awards last spring.
Dixie Snider, 84MPH, received the Distinguished Achievement Award for lifetime achievement during his 33 years with the CDC. A physician expert in tuberculosis and mycobacterial diseases, Snider was the major architect of the strategic plan to eliminate TB in the United States and was a key player in developing a national plan to address multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
     During the past decade, Snider focused on improving the quality and integrity of science and strengthening the science infrastructure. Most recently, he served as chief science officer for the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
     “Dixie’s work in science and control of tuberculosis is internationally recognized,” says RSPH Dean James Curran, who worked with Snider at the CDC. “He formed and guided overall science policies for the agency and strengthened collaborations with other federal agencies, WHO, and other global agencies. As an adjunct faculty member at the RSPH, he has shared his knowledge and experience. Our graduate students are to be counted among the many individuals he has mentored during his career.”
     Like Snider, Cheryl Cardinez, 99MSPH, has strong ties to the CDC. Cardinez received the Matthew Lee Girvin Award for improving the health and lives of others through her work as a cancer prevention epidemiologist. The award recognizes younger professionals in memory of Girvin, a 1994 alumnus who died in 2001 during a United Nations surveying mission.
     At the CDC, Cardinez leads the National Longitudinal Mortality Survey Linkage, a project of the National Program of Cancer Registries, to improve the quality of racial and ethnic data in NPCR registries collected through the U.S. Census. She is also preparing an American Indian/Alaska Native monograph, which will describe the burden of cancer in this population.
     Cardinez began her career with the American Cancer Society, focusing on original research regarding the causes and prevention of cancer.
     “I have always been impressed with Cheryl’s ability to talk about the difference that epidemiology findings can make in educating the public,” says Nancy Hunt, 87MPH. “She has taken her education from Rollins and used it to make a difference. And she continues to support the school and the next generation of professionals, especially as a mentor. She has a bright career ahead of her.”
 
     

2000s
MARRIED: Melissa Davey, 00MPH, to Adam Rothwell, 96C, on Oct. 28, 2006, at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. She is a research faculty member in public health at Johns Hopkins, and he owns an immigration law firm. The couple lives in Baltimore.

Ryan A. Maddox, 00MPH, recently published his first book of public health-themed cartoons, This Book Does Not Cause Cancer: A Collection of Hot Zone Public Health Cartoons. He is an epidemiologist at the CDC, and his cartoons run regularly on the CDC Intranet site. Ryan is a doctoral student in epidemiology at the RSPH.

Ilze Jekabsone, 01MPH, has worked for the United Nations in Moscow since February 2006 in an organization that combats drugs and crime in Russia and Belarus. She is a project coordinator for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment among injecting drug users and prisoners.

Olivia Chelko Long, 01MPH, is now executive director of AIDS Athens. The Athens, GA, organization provides support services to address the needs of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Olivia has a 2-year-old son, Hamilton, whom she adopted in Guatemala.

BORN: To Brynne Klasky Goncher, 02L, 02MPH, and her husband, Marc, 00L, a son, Harrison Lewis, on Sept. 11, 2006. She is an associate with the law firm Morris, Manning, and Martin in Atlanta.

BORN: To Andrea Snyder Nelson, 02MPH, a son, Laith Oliver, on Feb. 15, 2007, at the US Army Hospital in Lanstuhl, Germany. He joins his 2-year-old brother, Rhys Asher. Nelson is an epidemiologist with the US Department of Defense.

BORN: To Jennifer Pritzker Sender, 02L, 02MPH, and her husband, Eric, a son, Gavin Michael, on Nov. 1, 2006. She practices health care law with Smith Moore LLP in Atlanta.

MARRIED: Michele Sinunu, 04MPH, to Nick Menzies, 05MPH, on March 31, 2007. She is a research analyst at the CDC in the HIV/AIDS prevention unit. He is a senior research associate at the Global AIDS Program at the CDC. Michelle began her doctorate at Boston University this fall.


Katherine Jane (Kate) Alexander, 06MPH, is a health care strategy consultant with Tatum, LLC. She lives in Atlanta with her son Xander.

Suzanne M. White, 06MSN/MPH, is a nurse manager in a med-surgical unit at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, WA.

Marie Chisholm-Burns, 07MPH, was named by the National Academies of Practice in Pharmacy as a distinguished practitioner. She now leads the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy.

Carla Jeffries, 07MPH, was recently profiled in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for her work as an environmental epidemiologist for the DeKalb County Health Department.

     
  Commencement 2007  
     
       Writer Melissa Fay Greene first stepped into the world of African children as a mother, not a journalist. Her family of nine now includes four adopted children from Ethiopia. The harsh reality of AIDS in Africa, where the disease will orphan 18 million children by 2010, moved Greene to expand her family. “How can these numbers be anything other than the number of stars in the universe?” Greene asked the record class of 413 RSPH graduates last May.  
     

Alumni Deaths
Alice Chow, 06MPH, on March 3, 2007, in New York City at age 49. She was killed while crossing a street in Queens with her mother, who was injured.
     Born in Taiwan, Chow earned earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from Boston University. Although her primary focus was medical research, she took an avid interest in public health in recent years. She began auditing classes at the RSPH and in 2005 became a full-time student in epidemiology. After earning her MPH in December 2006, Chow moved to Washington, DC, to work for the FDA. She worked with the agency for three months before her accident.


Other Deaths
M.B. “Bud” Seretean, on August 13, 2007, at age 83. He died in London after suffering an aneurysm.
     A prominent businessman and philanthropist, Seretean was committed to improving the health and well-being of others. Tall and slim throughout his adult life, Seretean was surprised to learn more than 30 years ago that his cholesterol and blood pressure had climbed to an unhealthy range. He turned his lifestyle around, striving to eat right, exercise, and spread the word about the benefits of fitness and proper nutrition. During the 1990s, he developed a special interest in the RSPH and subsequently provided gifts for the M.B. Seretean Center for Health Promotion, the M.B. Seretean Scholarship Fund, and the Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental Health. He also supported health and wellness at Oklahoma State University, his alma mater.
     When he was 80, Seretean published a book, Living Healthy to 100: A Wellness Program for Seniors. He also lectured on the benefits of healthy living. Earlier this year, he was among the first recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Formerly president of the Jewish Welfare Foundation, Seretean funded multiple facilities for Israeli soldiers, including a wellness center.
     In the business world, Seretean was known as the co-founder of Coronet Industries Inc., a carpet manufacturing company in Dalton, GA. He served as chairman and CEO of the company for 30 years. An avid sports fan, he was former owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and a board member with the Braves and Thrashers, the city’s baseball and hockey teams.
     A native of New York City, Seretean made his home in Boca Raton, FL. He leaves behind a legacy of sharing the benefits of good health with others and advancing public health as a longtime friend of the RSPH.


   
         
     
 

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