Building a Foundation for Healthy Aging From the Dean This issue of our magazine highlights a topic of growing importance to everyone: healthy aging. Aging, of course, begins at birth, and the correlates of healthy aging involve a complex interplay of biological, behavioral, and environmental factors operating over our lifetime. As such, the topic serves as a primary example of our School’s broadbased ecological approach to human health. Throughout this issue you will read examples of our faculty’s innovative research on the interaction of biological, behavioral, and environmental forces that influence the aging process. Importantly, you will also read about how we work to ensure that the results of this research are used in everyday practice to maintain and enhance the health and independence of older citizens. While the primary focus of this issue is on older citizens, we are also working on achieving a better understanding of the determinants of health at conception, birth, and the early stages of life that provide the foundation for healthy living at later stages. Some of these exciting discoveries will be highlighted in future issues of the magazine.
Dean Stephen M. Shortell
In this issue, we also celebrate a number of awards received by our faculty and alumni for their contributions to the public’s health. Three of our faculty and three of our alumni received major awards from the American Public Health Association (APHA). Among the faculty, Barbara Abrams, professor of epidemiology and associate dean for student affairs, received the March of Dimes Agnes Higgins Award; Mark van der Laan, professor of biostatistics, received the Mortimer Spiegelman Award; and Richard Scheffler, Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and director of the Petris Center on Health Care Markets & Consumer Welfare, received the Carl Taube award. (See sidebar, p. 20.) It is unprecedented for faculty from a single school to sweep all three of these awards in a given year. Among our alumni, Marion Nestle, professor at NYU and the School’s most recent Alumna of the Year and commencement speaker, received the David P. Rall Award; Larry Green, visiting professor at the School and former director, Office of Science & Extramural Research at the CDC, was honored with the Mayhew Derryberry Award; and Pat Crawford, codirector of the Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley, received the Catherine Cowell Award. (See sidebar, p. 29.) In addition, the School is singularly honored by the announcement that three of its recently retired professors emeriti received The Berkeley Citation award from the University. This highly selective and prestigious honor is given to Berkeley faculty who have made significant contributions over the course of their careers at the University. Professor Leonard Duhl was honored for his intellectual leadership in developing the concept of healthy cities and healthy communities, which has now spread worldwide. Professor Teh-wei Hu was honored for his lifetime work in health economics, particularly in regard to the examination of the effects of taxation on smoking. Professor Zak Sabry was honored for his contributions to the field of nutrition, and particularly for his longitudinal work on the examination of diet in adolescent minority populations. These awards are, indeed, an “embarrassment of riches” for the School and provide further evidence of the quality of our faculty and graduates and the growing impact of their work on the public’s health. I know that you join me in expressing our congratulations and pride in their accomplishments. Finally, I am pleased to end this fall message with a warm welcome to our new chancellor, Robert Birgeneau. An accomplished physicist and academic leader who served as dean of science at MIT for nearly two decades and as president of the University of Toronto for the past three years, Professor Birgeneau is extremely well qualified to build on the success of his predecessors in leading UC Berkeley to even greater heights in the years ahead. We look forward to working with him on this journey.
Cover: Students in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program meet regularly with residents of continuing care retirement facilities to learn about geriatrics. At Oakland’s Piedmont Gardens, student Kevin Marsee (left) meets with resident Irene Hasenclever (center) and preceptor Dr. Claudia Landau, while Dr. Landau’s dog, Lucy, lends support.
Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H. Dean, School of Public Health Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy & Management Professor of Organization Behavior