Evidence-based learning

lang-walker
Delia Lang (left) & Elizabeth Walker (right)

Delia Lang and Elizabeth Walker have launched the Office of Evidence Based Learning in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education. The idea is to create a supplement to teaching support offered by Emory’s Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, offering instruction in innovative pedagogy with a focus on public health. Delia and Elizabeth are researching evidence-based novel teaching strategies and eventually will offer training in such techniques. At some point they would like to grow the initiative so that it can serve the entire Rollins faculty.

Recent publication

Stacey Fedewa 16PhD, Michael Goodman, Dana Flanders, and Kevin Ward (all epidemiology) published a paper, “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Interval Colorectal Cancer Incidence: A Population-Based Cohort Study” in the Annals of Internal Medicine in May.

Two chair searches underway

The Department of Epidemiology has begun its search for a new department chair. The search committee is chaired by Paige Tolbert (environmental health). Viola Vaccarino is stepping down after 7 ½ years of service as department chair in order to devote more time to research and mentoring. She will remain in charge until her successor is nominated.

The Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics continues its search for a new department chair to replace Lance Waller, who has held the post for 8 years. Lance would like to devote more time to teaching and research. Colleen McBride (behavioral sciences and health education) is leading the search.


 
   
 
K.M. Venkat Narayan (global health) has been selected as the 2017 recipient of Emory's Marion V. Creekmore Award for Internationalization. The award is given each year to an Emory faculty member who excels in the advancement of the university's commitment to internationalization.


Vijaya Kancherla(epidemiology) is the 2017 recipient of the Alessandra Lisi Award from the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research.


Jodie Guest (epidemiology) has been selected as the 2017 Outstanding Educator in the School of Medicine.


40 under 40

Four Rollins alumni were selected in the Emory Alumni Association’s inaugural class of 40 Under 40. Yoran Grant-Greene 02C 06MPH is the associate director for West Africa in the CDC’s Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis. As a leader in the agency’s PEPFAR program, her efforts contribute to improved access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV around the world.

Candis Hunter 009MPH 18PhD is an environmental health scientist for the CDC. Also an environmental health officer in the USPHS Commissioned Corps, Candis has responded to public health emergencies including the 2011 earthquake in Japan, the 2015 Ebola virus disease outbreak, and the 2016 Flint, Michigan, water crisis.

Fatima Stanford 00C 01MPH is an obesity medicine physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center and an instructor in medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She received the Massachusetts Medical Society’s 2017 Women’s Health Award for her “immense expertise on the medical and social aspects of obesity.” Other honors include the Gold Congressional Award and the Harvard Medical School Diversity Award.

Cassidy Logan Rist 14MPH, an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, developed an infectious disease prioritization tool used globally by the CDC. She also served as interim emergency coordinator for Maryland and Delaware with the US Department of Agriculture as part of the national response to the avian flu outbreak.

 

 
   
 

September 26: Women’s Health at the Intersection of Multiple Political Movements. Panelists include: Staci Fox (Planned Parenthood Southeast), Linda Blount (Black Women’s Health Imperative), Jeff Graham (Georgia Equality), Andrea Young (American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia). 4:00 – 6:00 pm, Lawrence P. and Anne Estes Klamon Room, RSVP to bgmagee@emory.edu by September 22nd.

November 5: Viva Villa, a fund-raiser for Villa International Atlanta, which will honor Jeffery Koplan of the Global Health Institute. 4:00 – 6:30 pm, the Ballroom at the Thalia N Carlos Hellenic Community Center. Ticket price $100 per person. For more information, villainternational.org.

November 6: Alumni reception during the American Public Health Association’s 2017 annual meeting in Atlanta. 6:30 – 9:00 pm, Capital City Club Downtown.

*View all Rollins events on the online calendar.

 
 
 
FALL 2017

A strong start to our fiscal year

 
Dean James W. Curran

We start this new school year on a high note. Last month we welcomed 576 MPH and MSPH students—by far our largest class yet. These students come to us from 29 countries and 42 states. Our numbers are even more impressive when you consider that applications to public health programs across the country are flat, but ours rose 6 percent.

In 2016-17, we garnered research grants and awards totaling $131 million—a nearly 40 percent increase over last year. I want to thank our faculty, our admissions and enrollment team, and our research administration team for jobs well done.


Kleinbaum to retire

“Kleinbaum”

David Kleinbaum is retiring after teaching epidemiology at Rollins for 24 years. He has been a popular and sought-after professor, as reflected by his many teaching honors. David won Teacher of the Year at Rollins in 1998, the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award in 2000, and the inaugural Association of Schools of Public Health/Pfizer Award for Teaching Excellence in 2005.

David authored seven textbooks in epidemiology and biostatistical methods. This includes ActivEpi Web, a multimedia electronic textbook that provides an interactive resource to learn the fundamentals of epidemiology. David developed this innovative online text and has made it available to all at no cost. Continuing that spirit of giving back, he established the David G. Kleinbaum Fund for Teaching Excellence in Epidemiology/

After hours, David is the flutist in the Moonlighters Jazz Band, which he founded in 2006. We’ll miss his academic excellence, including his teaching acumen, his humor and his Hawaiian shirts.


Upcoming APHA conference

“apha”

The American Public Health Association will be holding its annual meeting in Atlanta November 4 - 8. This year's theme is "Creating the Healthiest Nation: Climate Changes Health." Given our school's robust research and scholarship in many areas related to climate change, it is not surprising many Rollins faculty members, students, and alumni will be making presentations at the conference. Presenters from our environmental health department include Stefanie Sarnat, Daniel Rochberg, and Qiang Zhang. In addition, Lance Waller (biostatistics) will deliver the Lowell Reed Lecture. This lectureship is awarded from the Applied Public Health Statistics Section of the APHA.

Two of our faculty will be recognized at the meeting. Limin Peng (biostatistics) has been selected to receive the APHA 2017 Mortimer Spiegelman Award recipient. This top award is given to junior biostatisticians in the U.S. for their contributions to the statistics and biostatistics community. Dabney P. Evans (global health) will receive the APHA's 2017 Mid-Career Award in International Health. The award is presented annually to an outstanding emerging professional from APHA's International Health Section.

We will host an alumni reception on November 6 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Capital City Club Downtown. Emory President Claire Sterk will speak, and we will recognize this year’s recipients of our Distinguished Achievement and Matthew Lee Girvin Alumni Awards.


Lyddan joins DAR team

“lyddan”

Brooks H. Lyddan has joined the Rollins development and alumni relations team as associate director of development. In this post, she manages our annual giving program including lead annual gifts and MyEmory. Brooks comes to Rollins from the Mercy Care Foundation, the fund-raising arm of Mercy Care, which serves the medical, dental, and social service needs of the uninsured and under-insured community. At the foundation, Brooks served first as annual giving and membership manager and then as development officer overseeing major gifts and planned giving.


New grants

Robert Breiman, Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $4.9 million

Thomas Clasen, Household Air Pollution and Health: A Multi-country LPG Intervention Trial, NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, $4.1 million

Kevin Ward, Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER), NIH National Cancer Institute, $2.3 million

Saad Omer, Efficacy and Immunogenicity of Tdap Immunization of Pregnant Women, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $1.7 million

Gary Miller, HERCULES: Health and Exposome Research Center at Emory 5 Yr - Competitive Renewal, NIH National Institute of Health Sciences, $1.6 million

Patrick Sullivan, Enhancing Models of HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STIs, and Tuberculosis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $1.2 million

Aaron Siegler, Making it Last: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of a Home Care System, NIH National Institute of Mental Health, $1.1 million

Patrick Sullivan, Theoretically Based Mobile App to Increase PrEP Uptake Among MSM, NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse, $1.1 million

Patrick Sullivan, Mobile Messaging Intervention to Present New HIV Prevention Options for MSM, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $1.1 million

Carlos del Rio, the ADELANTE program within Center for AIDS Research at Emory University, NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, $1 million

Rollins faculty have received many other grants for research and training between May 1 –Sept. 1. View the complete list.


Appointments and Promotions

Faculty promotions
  • Vijaya Kancherla, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology

  • Michael Root Kramer, Associate Professor, Epidemiology

  • Yan V. Sun, Associate Professor, Epidemiology

New faculty

  • David Benkeser, Assistant Professor, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics

  • Xuan Chen, Assistant Professor, Environmental Health

  • Benjamin Risk, Assistant Professor, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics

  • Courtney Yarbrough, Assistant Professor, Health Policy and Management

Post Doctoral Fellows

  • Natasha Crooks, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education

  • Nicole Dionne Ford, Global Health

  • Umedjon Ibragimov, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education

  • Robin Elizabeth McGee, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education

  • Sheela Selin Sinharoy, Environmental Health

  • Dongni Ye, Environmental Health

Staff Promotions

  • Bianca Booker, Clinical Research Coordinator I, Epidemiology

  • Shauntae Cleveland, Human Resources Associate, Human Resources

  • Robie Freeman Michaux, Director, Registration (School), Student Services

  • Allyson Frye, Finance/Accounting Specialist, Finance and Compliance

  • Prudence Goss, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Student Services, Student Services

  • Megan Lee Higdon, Senior Public Health Program Associate, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education

  • Dominique Lavoisier, Pre-Award II Research Administrator, Research Administration

  • Claudia Paez Ellett, Assistant Dean of Career Services, Career Services

  • Kimberly Randle, Post Award III Research Administrator, Research Administration

  • Nicole Regan, Student Academic Services Administration, Epidemiology

  • Nicole Regan, Business Analyst I, Student Services

  • Joyce Reilly, Post Award II Research Administrator, Research Administration

  • Marcus Scott, Post Award II Research Administrator, Research Administration

  • Ralph Valenzuela Jr., Fulfillment Services Rep II, Fulfillment Services

  • Ryan Zahn, Senior Public Health Program Associate, Epidemiology

New Staff

  • Lauren Ahlschlager, Public Health Program Associate, Epidemiology

  • Kimberly Bagot, Accountant, Environmental Health

  • Allyson Bianchi, Student Academic Services Administration, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education

  • Edward Cartwright, Client Service Rep I, Information Services

  • Emily Chuba, Senior Research Administration Coordinator, Global Health

  • Lakeia Culler, Senior Research Interviewer, Epidemiology

  • Karen Dominguez, Associate Director, Programs, Epidemiology

  • Mallory Ellingson, Public Health Program Associate, Global Health

  • Gabriela Ganados, Senior Research Interviewer, Health Policy and Management

  • Lauren Guterman, Public Health Program Associate, Global Health

  • Sean Halpin, Associate Director, Research Projects, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education

  • Jordan Helms, Public Health Program Associate, Epidemiology

  • Mbuyi Kabongo, Project Coordinator, Epidemiology

  • Denise Kenson, Senior Manager, Information Technology, Information Services

  • Ann Margaret Lockard, Public Health Program Associate, Epidemiology

  • Karin Maloney, Research Administration, Post Award II, Research Administration

  • Helena McAllister, Senior Administrative Assistant, Epidemiology

  • Shelby Mullin, Data Analyst, Epidemiology

  • Jeffery Roman, Research Interviewer, Epidemiology

  • Casey Siesel, Public Health Program Associate, Global Health

  • Amanda Trotter, Research Specialist, Environmental Health

  • Andie Tucker, Public Health Program Associate, Global Health Institute

  • Sarah Wiatrek, Public Health Program Associate, Epidemiology

  • Ryan Wilkerson, Public Health Program Associate, Epidemiology

  • Erin Williams, Research Specialist, Environmental Health

  • Rami Yacoub, Lead Research Specialist, Epidemiology

 
       
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