If you are unable to view this correctly, please access issue online. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
My end-of-the-year message typically highlights some of the accomplishments we’ve made as a school and encourages the Rollins community to aim for new heights in the New Year. However, the devastating tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, and the terrible storms that battered mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states last month remind us that the world can change in an instant. And it becomes even more apparent how we are inextricably connected. Those who lived or grew up near Newtown or some of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy are dealing with loss in ways that many of us can never imagine. I hope that the Rollins community has been a place that links you to valuable resources, listens willingly to your concerns and frustrations, and provides a shoulder on which you can lean. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. The public health aspects of these recent events are readily apparent. Rollins continues to excel in training professionals who can respond to emergencies; address environmental concerns caused by natural disasters, such as contaminated water and disease outbreak; issue a call for action around the proliferation of handguns and automatic weapons; and raise awareness about the inadequacy of health care for mental illness. In this season of giving and hope, I remain optimistic that Rollins faculty, staff, students, and alumni are bound by their passion to safeguard the health and well being of others, here in the United States and around the world. CEPH board renews school accreditation The RSPH received much-anticipated good news this fall when the Council of Education for Public Health (CEPH) Board of Councilors extended the school’s accreditation through December 13, 2019. Rollins received a 'met' finding on all 27 criteria evaluated. “Meeting each criterion means that we have rigorously evaluated the quality and content of our instruction, research, and service programs,” says Richard Levinson, executive associate dean for academic affairs and leader of the accreditation process. Reaccreditation concludes a process that began in fall 2010, when a steering committee comprised of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners was formed to ensure broad representation in the self-assessment process. Supporting this committee was a seven-member working group that created the self-study report, which was submitted in final form to CEPH this past March. In April, a team of reviewers conducted an on-site visit at Rollins to validate the self-study findings. They interviewed a host of individuals in and outside of the Rollins community, inspected the school’s facilities, examined documentation supporting the self-study, and prepared a report of its findings. “The CEPH site visit team was very impressed by the quality of our self-study and recognized the tremendous effort invested in the process by the steering committee and all members of the Rollins community,” says Laura Lloyd, who played a major role as coordinator for the RSPH self-assessment. NIH awards up to $19.4 million for malaria research The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded a five-year contract up to $19.4 million, depending on contract options exercised, to establish the Malaria Host-Pathogen Interaction Center (MaHPIC).
The consortium includes researchers at Emory, with partners at the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the CDC. Yerkes National Primate Research Center will administer the contract. Jane Fonda Center leads partnership on sexual health
The School of Medicine's Jane Fonda Center will partner with Rollins and Grady Health System's Teen Services Clinic to design, implement, and evaluate a clinic-based intervention to improve the use of "dual protection" in young African American females. The five-year, $3.2 million grant is a collaboration with the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Jessica Sales, assistant professor of behavioral sciences and health education at RSPH, is the co-principal investigator for this initiative. "One of the most exciting aspects of this project is that it merges the best of health behavior research and clinical services," says Sales. "It will be rewarding to see the impact of providing cutting-edge clinical care coupled with what we've seen can work from behavior change models." Read more. These grants are among more than 20 new grants awarded to faculty for research and training from September to November 2012. View the complete list here. Study examines HPV vaccine and sexual activity in girls In the first study examining clinical markers of sexual activity after receiving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil, researchers at Emory and Kaiser Permanente found no association between the vaccine and an increase in sexual activity among girls. The results were published online (October 2012) in the journal Pediatrics. The study, an independent research project funded by Kaiser Permanente and Emory, included 1,398 girls ages 11 to 12 who were members of the Kaiser Permanente health plan in Georgia in 2006 and 2007, during the first 18 months after Gardasil became available. "Our study found a very similar rate of testing, diagnosis, and counseling among girls who received the vaccine and girls who did not. We saw no increase in pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, or birth control counseling—all of which suggest the HPV vaccine does not have an impact on increased sexual activity," says lead author Robert Bednarczyk, an epidemiologist in RSPH's Hubert Department of Global Health and a clinical investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research–Southeast. Bednarczyk's coauthors include Saad B. Omer with RSPH and the Health and Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research–Southeast; Kevin Ault and Walter Orenstein, with Emory School of Medicine; and Robert Davis, senior investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. Read more. Illustrating a Point: mental health poster series opens
On December 5, the RSPH hosted an opening reception for the mental health series of Illustrating A Point, a practicum for students from the Atlanta-based Portfolio Center who create posters on a selection of public health topics. Past topics in the series included handwashing and obesity. Mary Campbell, the creative director for Illustrating A Point, and student designers from the Portfolio Center were on hand for the reception along with nearly 100 guests. The mental health poster series is displayed on the Claudia Nance Rollins Building side of the bridge. Obesity posters are now located in the Claudia Nance Rollins Building stairwell; handwashing posters are in various restrooms in both buildings and on the first floor of the Grace Crum Rollins Building. Faculty appointments and promotions
Promotions
Michael Windle, Rollins professor and chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, received a five-year grant of more than $1 million from NIH to continue his 23-year research examining the transitions in drinking status, indicators, and impact of alcohol use and disorders across the lifespan. A major component of this research will reveal the long-term implications of alcohol abuse in young adults. Windle and his team of researchers will more closely study the implications of patterns of alcohol use and abuse on the next stage of life, adulthood. They will also examine earlier predictors such as the social, genetic, and environmental contributors of these
alcohol-related behaviors. By studying behaviors and factors at each stage, they are able to proactively identify targets for effective interventions.
Martorell honored by India's nutrition society CMPH program ranked No. 1 in the country Among the online MPH programs ranked in the top 20 are the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida (No. 2) and the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (No. 3). Read more.
Faculty complete Emory Academic Leadership Program They are members of the third cohort of graduates, a select group of faculty members nominated by their respective deans. Over the past year, the 10 graduates participated in a series of activities designed to advance an interest in academic leadership among Emory's outstanding teachers, scholars, and institution builders. Rollins well-represented in Woodruff Leadership Academy Upcoming Events Follow the Rollins School of Public Health on Twitter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
To view The Dean’s Letter online, visit our web page.To submit news items for future issues, please contact Tarvis Thompson-Pace, Rollins Communications Manager, at 727-3516 or tthomp8@emory.edu, or Pam Auchmutey in Health Sciences Creative Services at 712-9265 or pam.auchmutey@emory.edu. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||