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On April 22 at 6:00
PM in the Rita Anne Rollins Room, Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey
III will present the 2003 Virginia S. DeHaan lecture. The first
attorney general in the nation to bring an antitrust and consumer fraud
lawsuit against the tobacco industry, Humphrey has been recognized nationally
for his accomplishments as an anti-crime activist, watchdog for taxpayers-
interests, children's advocate, environmental leader, and consumer protector.
Currently, he is senior vice president at GCI Tunheim, where he provides
strategic public affairs counsel to a variety of business, nonprofit,
and government clients. He also serves as a senior fellow at the University
of Minnesota School of Public Health's Division of Epidemiology. A reception
follows the lecture, which honors the memory of an outstanding faculty
member of the public health community.
The Commission on Research--made
up of 28 faculty members from across campus and co–chaired by Claire
Sterk, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Behavioral Science
and Health Education––recently released an 80–page draft on research
at Emory. Developed as part of the critical self–study component for
Emory's accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools,
the draft gives an empirical snapshot of the current state of research
at Emory. With input from campus groups and from information–gathering
meetings, the commission plans to produce a final report in September.
The draft (at www.emory.edu/PRESIDENT/StrategicDevelopment/ResearchAtEmory)
gives a set of six guiding principles for consideration:
- Ideas, their corresponding modes of inquiry, and their intellectual
communities should drive Emory's development.
- Faculty and administrative leaders must collaborate creatively
and effectively to advance Emory's intellectual priorities.
- Emory should increase resources to its scholars and its intellectual
community to allow the highest standards of innovation and excellence.
- The infrastructure supporting research should seek to improve scholarly
work while acknowledging that needs may vary across career stages,
areas of knowledge, and cultures of research.
- As ethical guardians of scholarly inquiry, Emory should address
society's needs and concerns while recognizing the scholar's obligation
to intellectual independence.
- Our substantial endowment carries with it the responsibility to
achieve the highest level of excellence as a research university.
Administrative and faculty leaders should reassess current priorities
for resource allocation and seek ways to maximize Emory's development.
In April, Usha Ramakrishnan,
assistant professor in the Department of International Health, will
receive the prestigious Norman Kretchmer Memorial Award in Nutrition
and Development. This award is given to a young investigator aged 45
years or younger for a substantial body of independent research in the
field of nutrition and development with potential relevance to improving
child health. Reynaldo Martorell, Woodruff Professor
of International Health and chair of the department, nominated her for
the Kretchmer award. Ramakrishnan is currently engaged in ongoing studies
in Mexico that examine the effect of micronutrient supplementation on
pregnant women and children from 3 months to two years. She also is
leading a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiative
to design a digitally based training program for nutrition professionals
worldwide. The program will cover basic information on global nutritional
status, as well as nuts–and–bolts training on how to assess, survey,
and evaluate local nutrition projects.
I'd like to welcome JoNell (Jody) Usher as assistant dean
for student affairs, a newly created position at the RSPH. Usher has
a PhD in cognitive and developmental psychology from Emory and has served
in a number of administrative roles on campus, including assistant dean
of Emory College, assistant and associate dean of the Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences, and associate director of the Student Information
System. Most recently, she served as assistant to the president for
special projects, in which she headed the exhibit and related programs
for "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America." She will oversee
activities related to serving RSPH students and coordinate student advising
across the school.
In April, John
Youngblood, director of student services, will assume a new
position as director of student affairs and admissions in the Nell Hodgson
Woodruff School of Nursing. He built the office of student services
at the RSPH and has been a tireless advocate for students throughout
his tenure here. Among his many accomplishments, he developed and launched
the Public Health Employment Connection, a unique national website listing
public health positions, which was formally adopted by the Association
of Schools of Public Health. He also developed the Public Health Candidate
Connection, a website used by our students to market their availability
and skills to prospective employers. His service and accomplishments
have made the RSPH a better place, and we look forward to collaborations
between public health and nursing as he moves next door.
For the seventh year
running, a student from the RSPH has been selected as one of Emory's
annual Humanitarian Award recipients. Nishant Shah,
a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar who is enrolled in the MD/MPH program,
was one of seven 2003 humanitarians recognized in January. As an undergraduate
of Emory College, Shah volunteered to tutor refugee children in Clarkston,
Ga., and served in the Catholic Social Services Refugee Family Friends
Program, teaching adult English. He also tutored Bosnian children after
school through All Saints Episcopal Church and did additional volunteer
work on behalf of Bosnian refugees. After graduating with a 3.9 GPA
with degrees in anthropology and human biology, Shah spent almost a
year in Cambodia, where he helped develop management tools and nutrition
education programs at the Angkor Hospital for Children. During medical
school, he has participated in significant political action groups to
improve the health care of those who are underserved, according to Executive
Associate Dean of Medicine Jack Shulman, who nominated Shah. A leader
of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Shah helped organize a student
group interested in alternative medicine, and he volunteers frequently
at the Open Door Community Health Clinic. He plans to begin his year
of public health studies in the fall.
The Senegal cultural awareness
initiative, coordinated by the RSPH Association of Black Public Health
Students, was a big success, according to faculty and students recently
back from Africa. Ronald Braithwaite (Behavioral Science
and Health Education) served as faculty adviser to seven students who
traveled to Senegal in January. Their focus, says trip organizer Tameka
Ray, was to study firsthand the success of Senegal in maintaining
a low incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Based on her experiences
there, including visits to hospitals and health facilities, she believes
that Senegal's health care system works well because of close collaboration
on health among government, health care officials, and religious leaders.
The trip also offered students insights into the culture of Senegal,
where they dined with host families and toured markets, churches, and
historic landmarks. They even attended local concerts, hearing mbalax
music and learning the accompanying dances. "I believe these types of
initiatives provide one with a global perspective not only to public
health but also life in general," says Ray. "Pictures do not do justice
to the true experience received in an African country," writes Kweli
Rashied–Walker, an alumnus who participated in the initiative.
"I recommend that this trip, or similar trips to African countries,
become a part of the fabric of the public health experience at the RSPH."
A new book
seeks to explain the law of public health practice to people with limited
or no background in law. With 20 chapters that range from criminal law
to vaccination mandates, The Law in Public Health Practice
provides a thorough examination of the legal basis of public health
practice and covers emerging areas where law and public health intersect.
CDC's Richard Goodman, adjunct professor at the RSPH,
is co–editor of the volume, and Professor of Epidemiology James
Buehler is a contributor.
Several faculty members
were honored with awards at the American Public Health Association (APHA)
meeting in Philadelphia in the fall. Congratulations to:
- William Foege (International Health), who received
the Presidential Citation in recognition of "extraordinary contributions
to public health,"
- Stan Foster (International Health), for the Career
Achievement Award, section on international health,
- Jennifer Hirsch (International Health), for the
Outstanding New Professional Award, section on population, family
planning, and reproductive health,
- Deborah Houry (Center for Injury Control), for
the Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award, recognizing her outstanding contributions
to research and leadership within the specialty of emergency medicine,
and
- Jeffrey Koplan (Epidemiology and Health Policy
and Management), who was honored with the Public Health Heroes Citation,
which recognizes extraordinary leadership in protecting the health
and safety of the public.
- Jay Bernhardt (Behavioral Science and Health Education)
has been named chair of APHA's Task Force on Association Improvement
and Reorganization of the American Public Health Association. The
Task Force is charged with conducting a comprehensive assessment of
the association and developing recommendations that can make it more
effective and efficient in operations.
- Jeffrey Koplan (Epidemiology and Health Policy
and Management) received an honorary fellowship at the 53rd annual
meeting of the Society for Public Health Education.
- Claire Sterk (Behavioral Science and Health Education)
has been appointed to the National Institute on Drug Abuse Council.
- Career MPH student Brian Wheeler was part of an
Alabama Department of Health team that won the Association of State
and Territorial Health Officials' 2002 Vision Award for work on a
perinatal hepatitis B case management initiative.
- I received the John T. McGovern award from the Association of Academic
Health Centers.
James W. Curran, MD, MPH
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