November 21, 2021
SPH THIS WEEK | SPECIAL ISSUE
SPH This Year.
As SPH's 45th anniversary comes to a close, we approach 2022 with optimism. In this special edition of SPH This Week, we highlight the new issue of our annual magazine SPH This Year, which captures our community’s role in shaping the future of public health after COVID-19.
Messages.
From the Dean
Community Health Sciences:
Seeding the Grassroots.
Where and how we live greatly affects our health. It is imperative that public health challenges are addressed at the grassroots level.
A collaborative of clinicians, researchers, and advocates publish an agenda to tackle maternal mortality, postpartum chronic conditions, and racial disparities.
Narratives are one of the most powerful ways to translate research, says Monica Wang, associate professor of community health sciences and associate director of narrative for BU's Center for Antiracist Research.
Nashira Baril (SPH’06), project director of Boston's forthcoming Neighborhood Birth Center, aims to make birthing experiences more equitable, personalized, and liberating.
|
The associate professor of community health sciences and social epidemiologist has studied and informed alcohol and firearm laws that aim to prevent gun violence and substance use among youth. |
|
For most gun owners in the US, owning firearms is about recreation or self-defense. But there is a third gun culture, and it sees any firearm violence prevention effort as the first step in a scheme to take away all rights. |
Health Law, Policy & Management:
The Power of Policy.
Research, education, and advocacy can help drive policy decisions that create more equitable health outcomes for all.
Housed at SPH, the new lab engages researchers across BU to examine the impact of policy changes on health insurance coverage, access, quality, and eligibility for low-income populations.
Through a partnership between the coffee company and SPH’s idea hub, students populated a database with regulations and public health guidelines that have impacted retail businesses during the pandemic.
After 34 years of teaching, Wendy Mariner, professor emeritus and former Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights, retired from SPH to focus on advocating for voting rights.
As the Editor in Chief of Health Services Research (HSR), Austin Frakt, research professor of health law, policy & management, is making space for in-depth scholarship on health equity and racial justice.
Rachel Mitrovich (SPH'19), director of global vaccines, public policy at Merck, says public health efforts to curb vaccine-preventable illnesses should emphasize equitable access to care.
Jennifer Weuve, associate professor of epidemiology, is leading the first-of-its-kind study to explore air pollution and community noise exposure as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Environmental Health:
Focus on Solutions.
Founded in 1977, the Department of Environmental Health emphasizes the need to not just study public health problems, but to solve them.
Central nervous system proteins in the blood could be the key to objectively diagnosing GWI, a debilitating illness among Gulf War veterans that is currently only diagnosed by self-reporting of symptoms.
As the head of the toxicology and product safety team at the consumer goods company, the SPH alum evaluates the company’s process for ingredient selection and clinical testing.
Madeleine Scammell, associate professor of environmental health, studies unequal exposure to heat and its health consequences among vulnerable populations, from Central America to Chelsea, Mass.
In their Field Methods in Exposure Science class, PhD students Laura Buckley and Stephanie Grady used a sound level meter mobile app to compare noise levels on streets open and closed to traffic in two cities during the pandemic.
Birgit Claus Henn, associate professor of environmental health and director of the PhD program in environmental health, is working to understand the harmful effects of joint exposure to multiple chemicals.
Attorney General Maura Healey and Jonathan Levy presented a new environmental justice policy report based on the SPH mapping tool, which was created by a team of faculty, researchers, and students, led by Patricia Fabian.
Epidemiology:
More than COVID-19.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic is just one aspect of a field that runs the gamut from environmental hazards to health inequity.
The Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center (BEDAC) led the analysis, and the development of an extensive data warehouse of well-being and social determinant measures.
Personal and professional passions guide the assistant professor of epidemiology in his work improving the health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Principal investigators Lindsay Farrer and Rhoda Au will continue studying dementia in generations of Framingham Heart Study participants.
The first of its kind in the US study is led by Jennifer Weuve, associate professor of epidemiology, and explores air pollution and community noise exposure as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Samantha Parker Kelleher, assistant professor of epidemiology, aims to understand maternal and reproductive health across the lifespan.
MPH students Kerra Washington, Mia Haddad, and Meredith Daly have led vaccination clinics and provided data and policy analysis for the public health department in the Massachusetts town.
Biostatistics:
The Intersection of Everything.
Advances in every field of public health—especially interdisciplinary collaborations—depend on the patterns biostatistics reveal.
Individuals with genetic risk factors for dementia can still reduce their risk by improving their cardiovascular health.
Jacqueline Hicks, clinical associate professor of biostatistics, enjoys helping students overcome their 'math and statistics phobias' in her Quantitative Methods core course.
Elizabeth Mulvey, an attorney and part-time MPH student, plans to use her biostatistics training to help prevent adverse medical outcomes.
Bradford Francis, director of administration for the Department of Biostatistics, has developed new financial systems and workflows since joining SPH in December 2019.
The SPH alum, who is senior vice president and head of early clinical development at Pfizer, is the inaugural recipient of the award.
The increasingly common condition still takes an average of two years off of a person’s life, compared to three years back in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Global Health:
A World of Difference.
With public health collaborations from America to Zambia, the Department of Global Health makes a world of difference.
Deaths caused by indirect effects of the pandemic emphasize the need for policy changes that address widening health and racial inequities.
The assistant professor of global health conducts research primarily focused on the design and evaluation of behavioral and health system interventions to improve early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries.
Rupal Ramesh Shah (SPH’15) discusses her work as executive director of Konbit Sante, a Falmouth, Maine-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the healthcare system in Haiti.
|
Almost one in five recently deceased people arriving at Lusaka’s main morgue over the summer tested positive for the coronavirus, indicating that low reported numbers across the continent are due to lack of testing. |
|
Thomas Lee, Jr. (SPH’19) and Pawandeep Kaur (SPH’15) co-founded the Department of Global Health's Diversity & Inclusion Committee to help faculty and staff think critically about interactions with students, one another, and the communities they work with around the world. |
SPH THIS WEEK | SPECIAL ISSUE
Stay Connected.
Thank you for joining us as we continue our mission—with optimism—towards better health for all.
Follow Us.
