From the Director
Corinne Kyriacou, PhD, MPH Associate Professor and Director MPH and MSCH Programs Department of Health Professions Hofstra University Since the May 2013 issue of The Bridge, many exciting developments have transpired here in Hofstra’s graduate public health programs, and across our county, state and country. As you will read in this issue, our growing community of public and community health scholar-practitioners has spearheaded extraordinary health programming, participated in critical training, and taken action to improve the health of vulnerable communities locally and abroad. A diverse new cohort of MPH and MSCH students started this fall, bringing a different set of backgrounds, experiences and interests to the student body (see article by Maria Akhondzadeh and Anu Anish). Additionally, we further expanded academic, research and practice opportunities for students by bringing on five new adjunct faculty with expertise in community organizing, emergency preparedness, nutrition and global health (learn about one of these new faculty members in the interview by Maria Akhondzadeh) and by developing our community-based partnerships (see article by Nuzhat Quaderi). Enriched and engaged, our students and faculty interact often with the larger community to discuss, identify and implement solutions to critical public health challenges. Over the summer we developed or participated in a number of exciting events. In July faculty members Dr. Martine Hackett (Hofstra’s Department of Health Professions) and Dr. Larry Eisenstein (Nassau County health commissioner) presented at a summer series exploring public health issues in the suburbs, discussing the Wisconsin Public Health Rankings and Contemporary Suburban Public Health Inequities, respectively. 2
On August 3, our students were invited to attend The Aspen Institute’s “Excellence in State Public Health Law Leadership Retreat,” where several observed closeddoor meetings about state efforts at health care reform (see article by Amy Singh and Nuzhat Quaderi). On August 6, new faculty member Dr. Josh Moskovitz hosted several of our students at a disaster drill at North Shore University Hospital, providing an insider’s view of how health care organizations develop, test and modify plans to protect patients and the community (see article by Amanda Dugan). On August 18, our public health students successfully led the development and implementation of Nassau County’s first Health and Wellness Fair (see Alicia Colangelo’s article). In an effort to share our excitement about the field of public health with college-bound high school students, I presented in late summer as part of the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine Pipeline Program. Inspired by the momentum spreading across the country to reshape how care is organized and delivered, and particularly energized by the historic launch of the health insurance exchanges, our community is ramping up efforts to increase awareness and understanding about the purpose and benefits of health reform for individuals and the community at large. Soon after the semester got underway, our student Society of Public Health Advocates (SOPHA) partnered with faculty to hold a screening of the nationally acclaimed documentary film Escape Fire. In late September, faculty member Dr. Ken Spaeth held a riveting special field report on his role in the investigation of tainted vitamins on Long Island. On October 8, the MPH program partnered with North Shore-LIJ’s Zucker Hillside Hospital to present a panel discussion titled “Breaking the Silence: Stop the Stigma of Mental Illness.” On October 16, MPH faculty member and Hofstra Law Professor Dr. Janet Dolgin, together with Hofstra’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law and the new Gitenstein Institute for Health Law and Policy (of which Dr. Dolgin is director) hosted a full-day symposium titled “Affordable Healthcare’s Next Act,” bringing together practitioners, academics, policymakers and health care administrators to examine issues related to the impact and future of the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA). A number of other MPH faculty served as panelists during this symposium.
Finally, to educate Nassau County residents about the online marketplace and connect them with essential community-based service organizations, SOPHA worked hard to organize the inaugural Service Fair, which was held at Nassau University Medical Center on November 21, 2013. Our collective momentum has been further charged by this year’s theme for the American Public Health Association Annual Conference: “Think Global, Act Local.” Many of our students and faculty are interested in applying best practices from the United States to troubled communities abroad, and in learning about international best practices and finding ways to apply successful strategies to improve population health among communities suffering right here on Long Island. Some students and faculty are traveling abroad to participate in learning visits, conduct needs assessments, or develop and implement programs (see articles by Nathalie Jean-Baptise, Ronald Sanchez, Sophia Noel, Hope Zewou; Akshat Jain; Rahul Sinha; and, Bakhtawar Bajwa). Indeed, our first graduate from Hofstra’s MPH program, Shaanan Meyerstein, is now working in Botswana with HIV-infected children as part of a Pediatric Global Health Corps run by Baylor University and Texas Children’s Hospital. Other students and faculty are attending this year’s APHA conference in Boston or studying new data on global challenges as a means to identify priority areas for future initiatives (see articles: “Public Health Response to Chemical Warfare in Syria” by Pascale Frederique; “Global Health Goals in Our Backyard” by Johanna Andrews and Dr. Martine Hackett; and “The Killer Gap” by Akshat Jain). To bring some of this global health work to a larger audience, Dr. Omolara Thomas Uwemedimo, MPH faculty member and pediatric attending at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital, presented her work at an MPH webinar over the summer called “Clinical Mentorships: A Public Health Approach to Improving Pediatric HIV Care in Africa” (link available at hofstra.edu/publichealth), and we will focus on global health issues during Hofstra’s Second Annual National Public Health Week in April 2014. Students and faculty working in partnership with the community to study pressing public health challenges and implement solutions describes what you’ll find in this issue of The Bridge, and essentially defines who we are.