THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH | 2009
Annual Report M A G A Z I N E
Global Significance. Local Impact.
Mission We protect and improve the health of the people of Ohio, the nation and the world. Through interdisciplinary research, we seek to understand the forces that affect public health and the delivery of health services. We prepare the next generation of public health practitioners, health care managers and scholars. Collaborating with government agencies and other partners, we develop solutions to current and emerging public health problems.
Vision We aspire to be a leader in public health research and education with local impact and global significance.
Values Equity We believe in the fundamental fairness of a healthy world. All people should have an environment that optimizes health, access to affordable and high-quality health care, awareness of personal choices for improving health, and opportunities to help improve the health of our communities. Ethics We maintain high levels of academic and scientific integrity, conduct research that protects the rights and welfare of all study participants, and create an inclusive environment that supports our faculty, staff, students and constituents. Excellence We pursue innovative research that is scientifically rigorous and relevant. We are committed to providing a high-quality learning experience and the tools to enable students to meet future challenges. We value dedicated service and leadership that helps individuals and communities live healthier lives. Diversity We celebrate the richness that diversity brings to our society and work to create a welcoming culture that respects all forms of diversity. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff and to equipping all our graduates to contribute effectively to a diverse public health workforce.
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
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Table of contents
Editorial Staff Christine O’Malley, Communications Director Wendy Pramik, Communications Coordinator Publication design by The Drawing Room College of Public Health Home Page: http://cph.osu.edu “Global Significance. Local Impact.”
Dean’s Message
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Progress Report
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Research: College to build Foundations for Healthy Living
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Research News and Selected Projects
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Teaching and Learning News
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Engagement and Outreach: Public Health in Action
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Engagement and Outreach News
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Faculty Feature: Michael Bisesi, new associate dean
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Faculty News
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Alumni Spotlight
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Alumni News
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By the Numbers
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All photo credits are from University Photography or CPH Communications except: p. 4, Shutterstock; p. 12, courtesy of Chris Volpe; p.18, courtesy of Duane Reynolds; back cover, courtesy of Elena Rodriguez. The CPH Annual Report Magazine is published annually every fall by the OSU College of Public Health for the alumni, faculty, students, staff and friends of the college. This is the fifth issue. Copyright 2009. Permission to reprint any portion must be obtained from the college. Contact: College of Public Health Communications Office, 320 W. 10th Ave., Starling-Loving M116, Columbus OH 43210. Phone: (614) 293-9406.
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
DEAN’S MESSAGE
A healthy future, in all phases of life I had the privilege of visiting several European countries last summer, and I was struck by how healthy everyone looked. It reminded me of the irony that the wealthiest nation in the world has some of the worst health indicators of any industrialized country. This reminder also reinforces my belief that a strong college of public health can contribute to a healthier society through our research, education and community engagement.
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Many times, this commitment reveals itself in activities related to groups that face disadvantages, but all of our work results in greater health for everyone. This publication details some of that work. • Kenny Steinman’s research shows that domestic violence has an economic impact beyond the walls of individual families. He also shows that while domestic violence is widespread, it is also preventable like many other health threats. (see p. 6) • Electra Paskett is working to improve colorectal cancer screening rates. (see p. 6) • Our Center for Public Health Practice is actively working with local health departments on how to prepare for mass fatalities in the face of epidemics and disasters. (see p. 15) • Our new Prevention Research Center will work to prevent obesity in children on the South Side of Columbus. (see p. 4) All of these activities contribute to improving the health of the people in our society. Our individual health is directly related to the health of others in the world we live in. When our neighbor is healthy, that increases the chances that we will be healthy as well. I’m optimistic that the faculty, staff and students in this College of Public Health will continue to play important roles that will help all of us be healthy, in all phases of our lives. As I write this, we are awaiting the final report on our reaccreditation. The preliminary report was very positive, so we have reason for optimism about our final status. We remain on an aggressive growth plan to rise to a level enjoyed by this nation’s top-tier schools of public health. With each new faculty member we add (see p. 17-18), our horizons get broader. With each student who earns a fellowship or works at a state or local public health agency (see p.10), our ability to make an impact increases. As always, I wish you the best of health.
Dean Stanley Lemeshow
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
PROGRESS REPORT
Conference shines light on health disparities The College of Public Health hosted a conference in March on “Health, Race & Research: Community Engagement to Eliminate Health Disparities.” The conference drew approximately 120 people from public health academia, practice and community engagement. Co-sponsored with the Center for Minority Health in the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, the conference served as a basis to create a collaborative plan for eliminating health disparities in Ohio. Speakers and panelists included researchers and leaders of Ohio’s multicultural communities and civic organizations. Conclusions included the realization that the next wave of health disparities research must address inequities in health status, not just identify them. The group also noted that efforts to reduce health disparities must engage legislators, planners and government. The college’s Center for Health Equity and Multicultural Health will be a catalyst for this effort.
2009 Champions of Public Health Each fall, the college presents the Champions of Public Health Awards. Winners of the 2009 awards are: • Cheryl Boyce, executive director, Ohio Commission on Minority Health, in the Public Health Practitioner category. • Lois Hall, executive director, Ohio Public Health Association, in the Community Leader category.
Researchers convened on the Ohio State campus to discuss health disparities at “Health, Race & Research,” a conference hosted by the college in March.
• Grant Family Medicine Physicians, in the Organization category. These awards recognize individuals and groups who have made a significant impact on the health of Ohioans. For more about the winners, go to our web site at http://cph.osu.edu/about/ champions09.cfm.
College hosts site visitors Throughout fall, winter and spring, the college prepared its accreditation selfstudy document and hosted the spring visit of Council on the Education of Public Health (CEPH) reviewers. Both the self-study and the site visit included contributions from faculty, staff, students, alumni and public health practitioners. The preliminary report received in June was very positive. The full council will vote in the fall.
Those divisions and the Center for Public Health Practice are temporarily occupying space in Smith Lab. The Cunz Hall project is the university’s first renovation to be a LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building. This certification incorporates many energy-efficient and sustainable design strategies. These strategies include targeted reuse of 75 percent of the building’s shell and materials plus the replacement of all mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Construction work is due to start in Spring 2010. The design plans will alter the building exterior by cutting a slot into the south end to allow for more interior daylight. Move-in is targeted for fall 2011. Keep up with our progress at http:// cph.osu.edu/blogs/cunz.
New scholarship created Cunz Hall designs complete, construction begins soon The College of Public Health’s future home has seen significant progress over the past year. Architectural design is complete and construction documents have been finalized for Cunz Hall. The faculty and staff of two divisions moved out of the building in August.
The college recently established its first general scholarship fund with an inaugural gift from Liz and Brian Burkett of Worthington, Ohio. Mrs. Burkett graduated with a Master of Public Health in 2007. This new fund was created as part of a university-wide initiative, “Students First, Students Now.”
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THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
RESEARCH
An ounce of prevention College to build Foundations for Healthy Living starting with childhood obesity By Wendy Pramik, CPH Communications
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of residents through research, said Mary While many important public health Ellen Wewers, principal investigator of discoveries have been developed, implethe center and professor in the college’s mentation of that research into local Division of Health Behavior and Health communities sometimes lags behind. Promotion. The College of Public Health is aim“Our mission for this center is to ing to change that by creating Foundaenhance public trust in research by tions for Healthy Living, a prevention engaging community partners in setting research center that will diffuse prevenpriorities, participating in tion-based research to the and evaluating the research public. The center is being that will take place,” she said. funded by a 5-year, $2 milThe new center will leverlion grant from the Centers age efforts through Ohio for Disease Control and State’s NIH-funded Center Prevention. for Clinical and Translational The initial pilot project is Science to enhance relationa community-based initiative to prevent childhood ships between Ohio State academic researchers and the obesity on the south side Mary Ellen Wewers, PhD community. Foundations for of Columbus. Mortality Professor Healthy Living also will put rates for cardiovascular in place an administrative infrastructure disease and diabetes there are substanto coordinate and accelerate prevention tially higher than those countywide or research. statewide. Nearly 40 percent of residents “It’s important that strong and effecon the south side have been diagnosed tive partnerships be established so we can with hypertension, and 12.5 percent with nurture this research in more representadiabetes. tive settings, like the south side neighOne goal will be to improve the health
borhoods selected for this pilot project,” Wewers said. The center’s associate director is Phyllis Pirie, professor and chair of the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion. She also serves as principal investigator of the pilot project. Timothy Buckley, associate professor and chair of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, serves as co-investigator. The center will also provide research opportunities for students. Participating community partners include Columbus Public Health, Children’s Hunger Alliance, Healthy Ohio, United Way of Central Ohio and the Ohio Department of Health. They will act to help reduce childhood obesity in the south side community, where 66 percent of adults are obese, compared with 56 percent in Franklin County as a whole. “This community is in need of this pilot project,” Pirie said. “Obesity represents a public health priority for the 21st century. It’s a risk factor in many of the health threats faced by this community. n
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
RESEARCH NEWS
the Employed Latino Health Initiative, a 2-year project launched in December 2007. The project strives to improve the health of employed Latinos in central Ohio. Allard Dembe, associate professor and chair of the Division of Health Services Management and Policy, is leading the evaluation along with Eric Seiber, assistant professor in the division. “This project involves an innovative approach in which employers and their Mac Crawford, assistant professor, with the virtual world he helped create as a training tool for public health practitioners.
Managing public health crises through a virtual world If you were a city health commissioner, how would you manage an infectious disease outbreak that resulted in mass fatalities? Close schools? Quarantine neighborhoods? Suspend public transit? A new training simulation program enables public health practitioners to get hands-on experience in a virtual world similar to Second Life. In addition, the simulation allows training from a distance, which can reduce time-consuming, expensive travel for understaffed and underfunded health departments. The virtual world is being developed by Mac Crawford, assistant professor in the college’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences, in collaboration with colleagues in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Ohio Supercomputer Center. The college’s Center for Public Health Practice is also involved. Now that the program has been developed, Crawford and the team will compare the virtual world training to traditional PowerPoint-based exercises. “What we’re trying to accomplish with this project is to create a system that
allows effective, public health training and exercise simulations to be conducted without participants needing to travel for the experience. We hope that the world we are creating will engage participants more fully than a standard PowerPoint table-top exercise might,” Crawford said. After pilot testing with students and staff, he hopes to recruit up to 70 practitioners, half randomly assigned to the virtual world and half assigned to the standard table-top exercise. “We hope that the ‘virtual’ system does allow participants to fully engage in a small part of the planning process involved in responding to a novel infectious disease outbreak,” Crawford said. The pilot testing began in August, and the team would like to begin testing practitioners in the fall and winter. The project is funded by Ohio State’s Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases (PHPID) research initiative.
Latino workers cooperate with local health care organizations to ensure basic health screening services for the employees,” said Dembe, who is the director of HOPES. “In the absence of this kind of assertive outreach, many Latino workers might face difficulties in obtaining basic health care.” Funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and implemented by Access HealthColumbus and Health Management Associates, the project uses case managers and community health navigators to help workers obtain health screenings, health education, and personalized support services such as referrals, transportation, and assistance with applying for the state Medicaid program. The health screenings are provided by
HOPES project to benefit Latino workers The Center for Health Outcomes, Policy and Evaluation Studies (HOPES) is the lead organization for evaluating
Allard Dembe
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THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
RESEARCH NEWS
Managed Health Care System, a unit of The Ohio State University. “Our role is to help design the intervention and then evaluate its effectiveness in terms of costs, improved health status, and, importantly, ability of workers to stay productively employed,” Dembe said.
on understanding why people do not get screened for colorectal cancer as well as reasons physicians might not recommend screening. TIME also will test clinic-directed and patient-directed interventions to improve screening rates, said Paskett. A grant from the National Cancer Institute will support this research.
Measuring and preventing family violence in Ohio
gaining ground nationally. He feels that it could be accepted in Ohio once people become aware of the problem. Each year, 66,000 Ohio women are physically abused by an intimate partner. About 29,000 seniors are harmed by abuse or neglect. Steinman directs the Ohio Family Violence Prevention Project – a collaborative project between the college and the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. “It’s about getting Ohioans to change the way they think about family violence,” said Steinman. “We need to recognize that it is common, yet can be prevented.” Steinman believes an important step in prevention is to collect and analyze local data on problems like child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and elder abuse. Because these problems are difficult to measure, it is hard to demonstrate the effectiveness of prevention programs, let alone build awareness. With support from the Anthem Foundation of Ohio, Steinman is analyzing little-known data sets associated with different types of family violence. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation, for example, collects reports on more than 70,000 domestic disturbance calls fielded by hundreds of Ohio law enforcement
Government agencies traditionally approach the topic of family violence from the perspective of response — how should we react when episodes of violence take place? But a researcher at the College of Public Health is asking a different question: “How do we prevent a violent relationship from starting?” Kenneth Steinman, a clinical assistant professor in the college’s Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, believes this complementary approach is
Kenneth Steinman
Diesel exhaust linked to cancer development
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Electra Paskett
Paskett leads research on colorectal cancer Electra Paskett, Marion N. Rowley Professor of Cancer Research in the college’s Division of Epidemiology, is the principal investigator on a project seeking to increase colorectal cancer screenings among patients 50 and older who are treated within the OSU Primary Care Network. The project includes a team of researchers in The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Colorectal cancer can be prevented if polyps are detected and removed,” Paskett said. “Also, early stage colorectal cancer is curable. Both are detected by screening. That’s why screening is important.” The new study, Testing Interventions to Motivate and Educate (TIME), focuses
Qinghua Sun, assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, published research results that are the first to demonstrate the link between diesel fume exposure and cancer. The link lies in the ability of diesel exhaust to induce the growth of new blood vessels that serve as a food supply for solid tumors in invivo and invitro models. The data suggest that previous illness isn’t required to make humans susceptible to the damaging effects of diesel exhaust. “The message from our study is that exposure to diesel exhaust for just a short time period of two months could give even normal tissue the potential to develop a tumor,” Sun said.
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
RESEARCH NEWS
Klein: smoking bans don’t kill jobs
From left, Raj Chimanji, Scherika Brown, Song Liang, Qinghua Sun and Zubin Yavar gather in Sun’s lab. Undergraduate researchers not pictured are Cancan Zhang, Matt Verdin and Silis Jiang.
agencies each year. Whereas each data set has limitations, together they can help state officials understand regional differences and trends over time. His efforts are already attracting attention. Attorney General Richard Cordray featured Steinman’s work as part of efforts to strengthen domestic violence prevention. The Department of Job and Family Services has hired him to use local data to guide child abuse prevention efforts in Ohio’s 88 counties. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is consulting with the project and has agreed to co-teach a course with Steinman on family violence surveillance methods.
EHS faculty recruit undergraduate researchers Two professors in the college’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) have recruited undergraduate researchers, partially supported by college funds targeted for this purpose. Qinghua Sun and Song Liang, assistant professors in EHS, have recruited six undergraduates to assist with research.
“I’m more than happy to support undergraduate research,” said Sun, who brought on four students to work on projects relating to air pollution. “These topics have significant impact on human health, and this will have significant impact on their careers in public health.” Funding has been made available in the college for undergraduate students to participate in active research projects that have a CPH faculty member as either a principal investigator or co-investigator. Students can work up to 10 hours a week for a maximum of five quarters through spring quarter 2010. “Their curiosity in public-health research and strong motivation to learn benefits the research team and projects in many ways,” said Liang. Scherika Brown, an evolution and ecology major, works with Liang on a project about schistosomiasis, caused by a parasite commonly found in water sources in Asia. “I am grateful to have this opportunity,” Brown said. “I’m gaining lab and field experience while training to work independently.”
Smoking bans do not cause job losses in bars and restaurants, according to research by Liz Klein, assistant professor in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion. Klein was the lead author of a study on smoking bans in restaurants and bars, which was published in the June issue of the journal Prevention Science. The project examined employment in eight Minnesota cities with clean indoor air policies and two cities with no such policies. Over a 3-year period, Klein studied employment in cities with comprehensive bans as well as other communities that banned smoking in most public places and businesses but exempted bars. Though economic effects of smoking bans have been studied in many individual communities before and after clean indoor air policies were established, this analysis was the first to compare the economic effects of different types of clean indoor air policies. “Consistent with other studies using objective measures of economic health, we found that there was no significant change in employment associated with clean indoor air policy type,” Klein said. “The public health benefit clearly comes from a comprehensive policy where all employees are protected from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.” Klein is currently working on another economic effects study using Minnesota’s state-level clean indoor air policy. The study will evaluate bars and restaurants separately, exploring the association between clean indoor air policies and employment in the hospitality industry.
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THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Selected Projects Childhood overweight and obesity: Prospective analyses of child behavior problems as a risk factor for obesity American Heart Association, USDA Anderson, Sarah Household routines and the development of obesity in U.S. preschool children Economic Research Service Anderson, Sarah Center for Public Health Preparedness Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Buckley, Timothy Clinical and Translational Science Award (Community engagement pilot) National Center for Research Resources Buckley, Timothy Protecting public health at Ohio inland beaches: development of water quality indicators for recreational microbial exposure Ohio Water Development Authority Buckley, Timothy Public engagement demonstration projects on pandemic influenza Ohio Department of Health Buckley, Timothy Cancer survivors’ employment patterns and consequent economic and health outcomes National Cancer Institute De Moor, Janet Cancer survivors’ intentions for work following diagnosis and treatment Lance Armstrong Foundation De Moor, Janet Clinical and Translational Science Award (Evaluation Core) National Center for Research Resources Dembe, Allard Employed Latino health initiative Access Health Columbus Dembe, Allard Evaluating the impact of state coverage initiative reform proposals Health Policy Institute of Ohio Dembe, Allard Follow-up on status of recommendations from the January 2005 report of the Ohio Commission to reform Medicaid The Center for Community Solutions Dembe, Allard
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) - Advancing accreditation and quality improvement in Ohio Association of Ohio Health Commissioners Drabczyk, Anne Deliberation days: national vaccine program public engagement project Oak Ridge Associated Universities Drabczyk, Anne Clinical and Translational Science Award (Community engagement pilot) National Center for Research Resources Ferketich, Amy Examining the reach of clean indoor air policies in Appalachia The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Ferketich, Amy Design of the Ohio employer health survey Health Policy Institute of Ohio Ferketich, Amy Emergency department brief intervention to increase carbon monoxide detector use Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Prime: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Fernandez, Soledad Clinical and Translational Science Award (Biostatistics Core) National Center for Research Resources Jarjoura, David Genetic and signaling pathways in epithelial thyroid cancer (Biostatistics Core) National Cancer Institute Jarjoura, David Patient activation to increase colon cancer screening National Cancer Institute Katz, Mira Clinical and Translational Science Award (Public health preparedness for infectious disease pilot) National Center for Research Resources Lee, Jiyoung Genetic analysis of the breast tumor microenvironment (Biostatistics Core) National Cancer Institute Lemeshow, Stanley
Reducing cervical cancer in Appalachia (Biostatistics Core) National Cancer Institute Lemeshow, Stanley Critical evaluation of a passive epidemiological surveillance and investigation protocol of illnesses reported by neighbors of land application sites of biosolids and other soil amendments Franklin County Board of Health, Prime: Water Environment Research Foundation Liang, Song The socio-environmental determinants of schistosomiasis re-emergence University of California at Berkeley, Prime: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Liang, Song Statistical issues in the analysis of the Ohio family health survey Health Policy Institute of Ohio Lu, Bo Work-related injuries among immigrant workers Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Prime: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Lu, Bo Evidence-based practices to maximize physician adoption and use of electronic health record systems in ambulatory care settings Health Research & Educational Trust McAlearney, Ann Health literacy, technology acceptance, and on-line self-care: Understanding teens Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Prime: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development McAlearney, Ann Promoting safety and quality through human resource practices Health Research & Educational Trust, Prime: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality McAlearney, Ann A randomized controlled trial of the combination of two school-based, universal preventive interventions Johns Hopkins University, Prime: U.S.
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
2008-2009 Department of Education Murray, David Community youth development study University of Washington, Prime: National Institute on Drug Abuse Murray, David Etiology of childhood obesity: A longitudinal study University of Minnesota, Prime: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Murray, David A randomized study to prevent lymphedema in women treated for breast cancer Lance Armstrong Foundation and Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Paskett, Electra Appalachian cancer center network University of Kentucky, Prime: National Cancer Institute Paskett, Electra Breast cancer prevention through nutrition program The Breast Cancer Research Foundation Paskett, Electra Cancer information service Wayne State University, Prime: National Cancer Institute Paskett, Electra Community-based participatory research strategies to increase colorectal cancer screening in Ohio Appalachia National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities Paskett, Electra Enhancing colorectal cancer screening in primary care National Cancer Institute Paskett, Electra Ohio patient navigation program American Cancer Society Inc Paskett, Electra Reducing cervical cancer in Appalachia National Cancer Institute Paskett, Electra Evaluation services for the Happy Healthy Preschoolers (HHP) program United Way of Central Ohio Pirie, Phyllis
Allergic condition susceptibility polymorphisms and glioma risk National Cancer Institute Schwartzbaum, Judith Assessment of family violence outcomes and prevention capacity Health Policy Institute of Ohio Steinman, Kenneth Profile of family violence in Ohio Health Policy Institute of Ohio Steinman, Kenneth MRSA colonization in EMS personnel and equipment as a risk factor for secondary infections in Ohio trauma patients Ohio Department of Public Safety Stevenson, Kurt Air pollution and microvascular dysfunction: Leukocyte-dependent NAD(P)H Oxidase National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Sun, Qinghua Diesel exhaust particles on angiogenesis Health Effects Institute Sun, Qinghua Exposure to air pollution in childhood increases susceptibility to diabetes/insulin resistance development in adulthood Diabetes Action Research & Education Foundation Sun, Qinghua
National Cancer Institute Weghorst, Christopher Clinical and Translational Science Award (Community Engagement Core) National Center for Research Resources Wewers, Mary Ellen Reducing cervical cancer in Appalachia - Tobacco use and cessation among Appalachian women National Cancer Institute Wewers, Mary Ellen Smokeless tobacco marketing approaches to Ohio Appalachian populations National Cancer Institute Wewers, Mary Ellen Bioaerosols in midwest greenhouses and respiratory symptoms among the workers University of Cincinnati, Prime: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Wilkins, John Developing and evaluating new approaches to youth agricultural injury prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health Wilkins, John
The role of consumer-operated services in a transforming public mental health system Ohio Department of Mental Health Tanenbaum, Sandra Are anthocyanins necessary for oral cancer chemoprevention by berries? National Cancer Institute Weghorst, Christopher Chemoprevention of oral cancer in Appalachia American Cancer Society Inc Weghorst, Christopher Food-based modulation of biomarkers in human tissues at high-risk for oral cancer National Cancer Institute Weghorst, Christopher Genetic susceptibility and cervical cancer development Phi Beta Psi Sorority Weghorst, Christopher Prevention of oral cancer by strawberries with selenium assimilated in the fruit
Connect with us:
To learn more about the College of Public Health and our activities, please visit the following websites: • http://cph.osu.edu • facebook.com/publichealthbuckeyes • twitter.com/osupublichealth • flickr.com/photos/18577731@N02/ • youtube.com/publichealthbuckeyes
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
TEACHING & LEARNING NEWS
From left, Beverly Byrum of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Kathy Smith of the Ohio Department of Health meet with Master of Public Health Students Jeanette O’Quinn and Sarah Morrow.
ODH hosts students on culminating projects 10
Two students in the College of Public Health conducted research for their culminating projects through the Ohio Department of Health. Deborah Carter, a Master of Public Health student in the Program for Experienced Professionals, helped plan care centers for stroke patients in underserved regions of Ohio. The goal of Carter’s project was to establish a “hub-and-spoke” telemedicine system. The hub will be a primary stroke center capable of serving all types of stroke patients, and the spokes will lead to smaller facilities located in regions of Ohio that don’t offer specialty care. “The telemedicine part is basically connecting the hub and spoke hospital via the Internet using a computer system in which both parities can see and speak to each other,” said Carter, who’s also a paramedic. “The specialist will be able to see the patient and labs and give direction to treatment.” Sarah Morrow, a Master of Public Health student with a specialization in
veterinary public health, analyzed the results of a survey on the environmental impact of livestock feeding operations in Ohio. The goal of Morrow’s project was to better understand how the public views large animal facilities, such as dairies and livestock feeding operations, and how these operations negatively impact people’s health. Ultimately these findings could lead to the implementation of alternate waste management practices. “I want to make a difference in public health,” Morrow said. “I would love to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture or U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding regulatory action or public awareness.”
Student group holds leadership symposium The Association of Future Healthcare Executives (AFHE) held its sixth annual Leadership Development Symposium in April. Attendees included alumni, faculty, staff and students, as well as other health
care professionals. The 2009 symposium, “Entrepreneurial Leadership: Leading in Times of Change,” featured Steven Bjelich, president and chief executive officer of Saint Francis Healthcare System in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and MHA alumnus David Miller, a partner in Healthcare Strategy Group, a consulting firm in Louisville, Ky. “This year’s symposium opened my eyes about entrepreneurial leadership in healthcare,” said AFHE past-president Kyle Dorsey, who graduated in spring quarter. “This type of interaction helps me and other young professions set goals for where we would like to be in the future.” AFHE is a student organization for those interested in health care management. Aaron Fields took over as the organization’s new president in spring quarter 2009.
Recent MPH graduate earns national fellowship John Billington, who received a Master of Public Health in June, won the Association of Schools of Public Health’s Public Health Policy Fellowship.
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
From left, Denise Kissell, alumni society president, with honorees Carol Smathers and Heather Baltic.
The fellowship is a nationally competitive year-long position working with Congress on public-health issues. ASPH Public Health Policy fellows are placed in either a congressional or committee office on Capitol Hill, where they can observe and participate in the legislative process as it pertains to public health. Billington accepted a position in Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office, where he will work with the senator’s health policy staff. “This is an exciting time in Washington for those interested in health policy,” said Billington. “Experience on the Hill is an important asset for any career involving public health, policy and law.”
Newly minted alumni celebrate at luncheon The College of Public Health commencement luncheon on June 12 honored the 2009 graduating students for their achievements. Graduates included recipients of Master of Public Health, Master of Health Administration, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Phyllis Pirie, interim associate dean of
research, addressed the graduates. Denise Kissell, president of the CPH Alumni Society, awarded Carol Smathers, MPH-PEP, Kyle Dorsey, MHA, and Heather Baltic, MPH, the student choice awards. The college’s Division of Health Services Management and Policy (HSMP) hosted a commencement reception on June 14 recognizing those graduating with a Master of Health Administration degree. Among those who were honored were the Caswell Scholars who earned a GPA of 3.8 or higher. This is the second year the award was presented in honor of R. Jeffrey Caswell, who retired as associate professor in the HSMP division. The honorees were Julie Johnston, Jennifer Lenihan, Priscilla Pham, Eva Underwood, Kyle Dorsey and Maria Fondriest.
Recent grads receive leadership award The Health Services Management and Policy Alumni Society presented its 2009 Past Presidents’ Leadership Award to MHA graduates Kyle Dorsey and Priscilla
Pham. Pham is completing an administrative fellowship at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. Dorsey is completing an administrative fellowship at Duke University Hospital, and working toward his goal of becoming a chief operations officer at a large, medical center. Both students graduated in Spring 2009.
Students give presentation at Combined Conference Several College of Public Health students conducted presentations at the 2009 Public Health Combined Conference, held in May in Columbus. Lana Uhrig, current PhD student with a focus in environmental health sciences, and Margarette Shegog, current MPH student, gave an oral presentation “Family violence prevention in Ohio: Perspectives of special populations.” Uhrig and Shegog, who collaborated with faculty members Kenneth Steinman and Randi Love on the project, said they appreciated the opportunity to showcase their work.
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THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
TEACHING & LEARNING NEWS
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“Family violence isn’t just something that happens to the poor and uneducated. It occurs in all walks of life, and its occurrence has lasting effects for future generations.” Uhrig said. Christopher Bell gave a poster presentation based on findings from his study, “MRSA in EMS: Emergency Medical Services personnel colonization and equipment contamination in central Ohio.” Bell is in the final year of the MPH Program for Experienced Professionals. He is also a paramedic and a faculty member in the EMS program at Columbus State Community College. Christina Jackson, who recently received an MPH in Veterinary Preventive Medicine, presented her findings from her study “Prevalence of MethicillinResistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on human and canine contact surfaces in a large veterinary teaching hospital.” Ross Kauffman, who received his PhD in June, presented on “Indoor Smoking Bans and Cigarette Consumption in Low Security Prisons.”
Productive year for Society of Public Health Students
The Society of Public Health Students participated in a number of community outreach events. Society members partnered with the Physicians Free Clinic in downtown Columbus for a canned-food drive and collected 568 pounds of food. “It was enough to feed a family of four, three meals a day for two and a half months,” said Chris Volpe, the society’s president. Members also prepared a fullcourse dinner at the Unverferth House, a housing complex for families with loved ones receiving care at the Ohio State Medical Center. For its annual fundraiser, the society designed and sold College of Public Health T-shirts. “We hope to participate in larger-scale, community-service events,” Volpe said.
MPH student creates safe-sex program for gay youth Master of Public Health student Justin Smyer designed a program to promote safe sex among youths attending Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ)
HBHP student awarded SOPHE scholarship Kristen Force, a student in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, received the 2009 Ohio SOPHE Karen Evans Scholarship. The award, presented by the Society of Public Health Education, recognizes a public health graduate student in Ohio who exemplifies academic excellence, leadership and community service. Force will be awarded the one-year scholarship in October at the SOPHE Health Educators’ Institute in southeastern Ohio. “Receiving this scholarship and becoming a member of Ohio SOPHE is an honor,” Force said. “It will help me to achieve my academic and professional goals.” Force says she looks forward to learning more about health education efforts in Ohio and meeting the educators who work in the field. “I think health promotion and disease prevention are critical for good quality of life,” she said, “and I want to encourage people to make choices that will benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.
youth ages 12-20. Smyer’s eight-week program, his culminating project to earning his MPH degree, began in May 2009. “Research shows that LGBTQ youth are at a disproportionately higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases, victimization, depression, substance abuse, suicide and homelessness,” Smyer said. “Unfortunately, many of these youth lack the knowledge, skills and tools to protect themselves and work for a healthy and Chris Volpe, president of the Society of Public Health Students, sports a T-shirt he helped design for the society’s annual fund drive.
productive future. Therefore, the need for comprehensive sexual education programs targeting LGBTQ youth is high.”
Kristen Force
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
ENGAGEMENT & OUTREACH
Lessons from the field
Public Health in Action students evaluate effectiveness of drug-treatment program By Wendy Pramik, CPH Communications Diane Sasalar observes the behaviors of children in a summer camp for the class Public Health in Action taught by Randi Love. 13
Diane Sasalar sits quietly in a room full of chatty boys seated in a circle. The Master of Health Administration student observes them as they take turns discussing what it’s like to be raised by a parent who’s addicted to drugs. A counselor leads their discussion, and the boys toss a ball to one another, signaling when it’s their turn to speak. “My name is Jack, and I’m having a bad day,” one boy says. “My mother got high again last night.” Sasalar is busy taking notes for a class called Public Health in Action. It’s taught each summer by Randi Love, clinical associate professor in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion. “The class gave me perspective on how difficult it is to collect research,” said Sasalar, who plans to graduate in spring 2010. “It really helps to get out in the field in order to understand public health.” Getting students out of a classroom setting to conduct meaningful research in the community is the point of the
graduate-level class. Public Health in Action provides students with real-world experience in public health research and practice. The class allows students to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs and suggest improvements. “Often there’s little opportunity for students to participate in community engagement,” Love said. “Because public health is a field concerned with the health of populations and communities, this experience is invaluable.” The first two weeks of the 10-week course are taught in the classroom. The remaining weeks are Diane Sasalar spent in the field. Students are expected to spend 30 hours conducting research.This year the class evaluated the effectiveness of a drug-treatment program for women in Columbus called Amethyst. The program offers safe and
affordable housing to more than 150 women while they recover from their addictions. The program also offers counseling for the women, and a 12-week summer camp called SummerQuest for their children. About 40 children, ages 6-14, attended the program Love, who serves on the board of Amethyst, said the rationale for the study includes contradictions in research regarding the offspring of addicts and alcoholics. In general, she says, investigators agree that children of addicted parents are at a higher risk for developing behavioral and emotional problems. But these consequences aren’t inevitable. Prevention and intervention strategies, such as the Amethyst program, may reverse the outcomes. n
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
ENGAGEMENT & OUTREACH
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Farmers’ market serves more than 9,500 customers
Scenes from the 2009 Public Health Farmers’ Market
More than 9,500 people attended the 2009 Public Health Farmers’ Market, co-sponsored by the College of Public Health, Columbus Public Health Department and the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The market took place over three days, July 30, Aug. 6 and Aug. 13 on the grounds of Columbus Public Health. “What you don’t see for sale are things like chips and cigarettes and things that we know will hurt people’s health,” said Stanley Lemeshow, CPH dean. “We get healthy by eating the right foods and exercising.” Vendors accepted food stamps and WIC vouchers for the produce. The WIC program is intended for low-income, pregnant women; breastfeeding women; and infants and children under the age of 5. WIC vouchers issued represent $67,500 in purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables, a program record at the market. The number of customers using the Ohio Direction Card, a debit card issued to food stamp recipients allowing electronic access to their benefits, more than doubled from last year and resulted in $4,887 spent on market produce, a 207
percent increase over last year. The market was funded in part by a grant from Women & Philanthropy at The Ohio State University Foundation.
Practice-based activities evolve into new center In July, the Office of Workforce Development became the new Center for Public Health Practice. The Office of Workforce Development opened in 2004, as a link between the then School of Public Health and public health practitioners. OWD coalesced around the Ohio Center for Public Health Preparedness, the Buckeye-Bluegrass Regional Leadership Academy, and the Pennsylvania & Ohio Public Health Training Center. The office added customized content, strategic planning and leadership development programs. The creation of the Center for Public Health Practice acknowledges this evolution. The new center will be supported by the public health expertise of Associate Director Joanne Pearsol and Assistant Director Adam Negley, who have first-hand experience in the field.
Diversity committee raises awareness through events The College of Public Health Diversity Enhancement Committee hosted “Pizza with a Purpose” to address diversity and cultural differences. Yosef Khan, clinical research manager in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Ohio State College of Medicine and a PhD candidate in the College of Public Health, spoke in April about Islamic Perspectives on Public Health. “As members of a profession whose primary goal is the betterment of human-
Yosef Khan
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
Center leader served on panel at Fatality Planning conference ity and the general public, adding and enhancing diversity in the college is integral part of creating an outstanding College of Public Health and living up to the standards of our profession,” Khan said. The committee also held a World Café discussion in May at the university’s Recreation and Physical Activity Center. The event provided an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to engage in a meaningful discussion about the importance of diversity.
H1N1 spring outbreak was teachable moment The College of Public Health faculty saw the spring 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza as a teachable moment. Song Liang, assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, was teaching a class on risk assessment, and used the outbreak to show students how to analyze information from a variety of sources to judge the health risks of infectious disease outbreaks. “The occurrence of any infectious disease outbreak is always unfortunate,” Liang said. “Meanwhile, it provides an opportunity for us to explore and learn.”
Liang and his students also compared H1N1 to the 1918 flu epidemic and how it differed from other types of infection outbreaks, such as SARS. Students in the class Infectious Diseases in the Developing World, taught by Associate Professor Kurt Stevenson, discussed the outbreak as well. The class used the outbreak as a case study for how viruses cause infections, noting how H1N1 crosses borders. The Center for Public Health Practice also responded. In July, coordinators Adam Negley and Melissa Sever facilitated a statewide public health meeting to prioritize critical issues that needed to be addressed before the fall flu season and the arrival of the H1N1 vaccine. About 160 attended the meeting, including members of the Ohio Department of Health and representatives from Ohio’s 130 local public health agencies. Finally, several members of the CPH faculty spoke with local media about what the public should know and how they should react. Dean Stanley Lemeshow and Associate Professors Frank Holtzhauer and Tim Buckley were featured faculty experts in the local newspaper.
Joanne Pearsol, associate director of the Center for Public Health Practice, addressed the Ohio Public Health Association’s (OPHA) Sept. 1 conference on mass fatality planning. “Mass Fatality Planning 101: Is Your County Prepared for Mass Fatalities?” Hurricane Katrina, possible pandemics, and man-made emergencies are prime examples of the need to prepare for mass fatalities at the federal, state and local levels. A comprehensive approach with both government and community resources must be employed. “While no community hopes to have a mass fatality incident, we all agree it is better to have a plan in place,” said Pearsol. Pearsol was part of a panel , sharing the public’s expectations during a mass fatality event based on a community engagement project in northwest and southeast Ohio. Pearsol also gave a poster presentation on the same topic at the fall conference of the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners (AOHC). The poster presentation was co-authored by Mark Eckhart, epidemiologist for six counties in northwest Ohio.
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THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
FACULTY FEATURE
Bisesi takes the baton for academics, practice By Wendy Pramik, CPH Communications
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The College of Public Health made a significant move in July to improve the links among academic programs, research and practice when it welcomed a new faculty member. Michael Bisesi, new associate professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, was named associate dean of academic affairs and the director of the Center for Public Health Practice. Bisesi comes to Ohio State from the University of Toledo’s College of Medicine, where he was professor and chair of public health, senior associate dean of the graduate college and director of the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health. Wearing many hats is typical in public health, Bisesi says, because the field is multi-disciplinary by nature. Here, he will evenly split his time between administration and research. Bisesi defines himself as an environmental and occupational health scientist with roles in teaching, research, service and administration.
On the practice side, Bisesi will direct the Center for Public Health Practice, formerly named the Office of Workforce Development. “It’s one thing to come in and build a center, but they gave me a head start due to the past leadership and management of Dr. Frank Holtzhauer,” Bisesi said. “He really had the hard part of pulling things together. He left me with an outstanding staff.” One of Bisesi’s main goals is to strengthen the communication between the academic side of the college and the center, which is primarily engaged in teaching and service roles. Bisesi wants the center’s staff to develop teaching modules and college faculty to provide input on what’s being offered to the public. His new staff is motivated by his positive energy and his track record. “We are so excited to have Dr. Bisesi on board,” said Adam Negley, the center’s assistant director. “His experience working with health departments and
their partners will serve us well.” Bisesi’s roles also include facilitating growth and expansion of the College’s academic programs in alignment with its research strengths. This will involve monitoring the academic programs and emerging trends in academics. He said he wants to foster continuous improvement of the existing programs and expand the scope of interdisciplinary specializations. Bisesi is an environmental health scientist, certified in industrial hygiene and recognized as a Fellow by AIHA. His major interest is assessment, health impact, and control of human exposures to toxic chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms. He has a PhD in environmental science from the State University of New York CESF at Syracuse in association with Syracuse University. He earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Rutgers University. Bisesi lives in Columbus with his wife Christine, who also is an environmental health specialist, and two sons, Nino and Nico. n
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
Mac Crawford
Phyllis Pirie
Crawford receives award for teaching excellence Mac Crawford, assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, received the 2009 Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes College of Public Health faculty for exemplary teaching. “Mac is a natural in the classroom,” said Timothy Buckley, associate professor and chair of the division. “It’s gratifying that students have recognized his combination of talents including subject matter knowledge, a classroom rapport conducive to learning, and a passion for both environmental health and teaching.” Nominations for the award are submitted by students, faculty and alumni of the College, and the recipient is selected by a committee composed of past award winners and students from each division.
Pirie appointed to interim associate dean Phyllis L. Pirie, chair and professor in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion (HBHP), was appointed to the position of interim associate dean of research in July. The position was previously held by Mary Ellen Wewers, also a professor in the division. Wewers will continue her appointment as professor in HBHP and
Allard Dembe
director of faculty development. In her new role, Pirie will be responsible for monitoring, evaluating and promoting the college’s research program. She will also work closely with the dean to implement policies and practices designed to improve research in the college.
Dembe presents paper at international conference Associate Professor Allard Dembe, chair of the Division of Health Services Management and Policy, presented a paper concerning the effects of long-hour shifts on workers’ health at the World Economic History Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands on Aug. 7. Dembe, who also directs the Center for Health Outcomes, Policy and Evaluation Studies (HOPES), detailed the history of work-hour regulation in his paper, entitled “Historical Perspectives on Working Time Regulation in Europe, Britain and the United States.” Dembe said that regulating working hours in the United States generally has been a response to underlying conflicts between labor and management, and, in Europe, has been a seen mainly as a strategy for reducing unemployment. Dembe’s attendance at the conference was sponsored by the Université d’Evry in France.
Rebecca Andridge
NEW FACULTY Division of Biostatistics Rebecca Andridge joins the College of Public Health this fall as an assistant professor in the Division of Biostatistics. Her research interests include developing and evaluating statistical methods for handling missing data and for grouprandomized trials. “The problem of missing data arises in virtually every research study in the diverse field of public health,” said Andridge, who received a PhD in biostatistics from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health in August. “No matter how hard investigators try, there are likely to be some holes in their collected data. I work on creating statistical methods that evaluate the impact of the missing data, to reduce bias and improve the accuracy of study conclusions.” Andridge says she enjoys being a biostatistician because it allows her to work with a diverse group of investigators, from doctors examining the effect of radiation therapy to social scientists evaluating behavioral interventions. “Since missing data is a problem that occurs across a wide spectrum of medical, biological and public-health research, my interest in analyzing it has broad applicability.”
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THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
FACULTY NEWS
Andridge also has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University.
Division of Epidemiology
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Susan Olivo-Marston joins the College of Public Health this fall as an assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology. Her research interests include examining the association between childhood secondhand smoke exposure and lung cancer risk, and how this is modified by genetic background. She also is interested in how childhood nutrition relates to obesity and cancer risk later in life. “I’m interested in studying the effect of early life exposures on cancer risk because I believe it represents an ideal time to focus on cancer prevention,” OlivoMarston said. “Cancer has a long latency and many studies focus on exposures during the time of cancer development. By understanding how exposures earlier in life affect cancer risk, we can develop effective prevention strategies to reduce cancer incidence.” Olivo-Marston received a PhD in tumor biology from Georgetown University, an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an MS in cancer biology from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and a BS in psychology from the College of William and Mary. She previously served as a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md.
Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion Shelley Francis joins the College of
Susan Olivo-Marston
Shelley Francis
Public Health this fall as an assistant professor in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion. Francis, who specializes in adolescent and young adult health, currently is researching health disparities and risk factors associated with the human papilloma virus and cervical cancer, as well as vaccine acceptance in Cleveland and Johannesburg, South Africa. “My research focuses on examining health disparities in reproductive health,” Francis said. “Specifically, I examine social and environmental correlates that are associated with sexual risk taking and substance use among adolescents and young adults, particularly of color.” Francis received a DrPH from the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, an MPH from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a BA from the University of Richmond. She previously served as a senior instructor in the Division of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.
Division of Health Services Management and Policy Thomas Wickizer joins the College of Public Health this fall as the first Stephen
Thomas Wickizer
F. Loebs Professor in Health Services Management and Policy. Wickizer is a widely known expert on health policy and health services research. His research interests include applying economic analysis to health-care issues and assessing health outcomes. For the past 10 years, much of his research has focused on studying the effects of quality improvement initiatives within the workers’ compensation system. “Persons with substance abuse problems impose considerable costs on society in the form of excessive use of health care, criminal behavior and use of the welfare system,” Wickizer said. “My research has been directed at understanding substance abuse treatment outcomes, especially for disabled adults on Medicaid.” The Loebs Professorship is the college’s first endowed faculty position. It was created by alumni in honor of Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Loebs. Wickizer received a PhD in health services and policy from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, as well as an MA in economics and an MPH in health administration from the University of Michigan. He previously served as a professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington.
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT MPH alumnus battles zoonotic diseases at ODH MPH alumna Kathleen Smith is using her post as state public health veterinarian to control zoonotic diseases, those that are transmitted from animals to humans. Smith, who received a Master in Public Health from Ohio State in 1994, has worked in the Ohio Department of Health Laboratory since 1988. Her responsibilities include addressing the surveillance and control of diseases transmitted from animals to humans, such as rabies and West Nile Virus. She also consults with physicians, veterinarians and public health professionals on animal-human interactions. “The Zoonotic Disease Program fills a unique consulting niche in the public health field,” Smith said. “We get the tough questions that the local health departments struggle with, including
monkey bites, pet store nuisances, health issues and mega-farms. We also get questions from people in the community who weren’t able to get good answers from others.” For example, in 2005, four patients who received tissues from a single donor died of a rodent-borne virus called lymphocytic meningitis (LCM). The donor had recently purchased a pet hamster that traced back to an Ohio supplier. Smith worked with other state and federal agencies in a sting operation to obtain hamsters and mice from the distributor for testing. About 5 percent of hamsters tested positive for LCM, so the animals were euthanized and the facility closed. “We never know what novel situation the next phone call might get us involved with, which keeps the job interesting,” Smith said. n
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Kathy Smith, MPH, 1994
MHA alumnus thrives on day-to-day challenges at work
Duane Reynolds, MHA, 2004
If variety is the spice of life, then MHA alumnus Duane Reynolds is living with zest. Reynolds manages the Division of Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Md., where he oversees operational aspects of the division including administration, finance and human resources. “I enjoy the variety of responsibilities within my position,” said Reynolds, who received an MHA from the College of Public Health in 2004. “On any given day I can be team building with staff, developing new business plans, analyzing the financial condition of the division, implementing strategic initiatives or working with a physician to help with an operational issue.” Juggling multiple responsibilities also can be challenging, Reynolds said. “The culture moves and thrives by analysis, negotiation and relationships. Ideas and decisions are not dictated or made quickly. But when a fraction of people are in agreement about direction, the momentum and resolve to be the best is amazing. Understanding this reality is vital to success within the organization.” Reynolds says his hard work pays off each day, knowing that he’s helping people in a field he loves. “Public health was an attractive career field to me because it aligned with my sense of life purpose and alignment with personal values,” Reynolds said. “I have always felt that the work that I do is meant to positively impact the lives of others.”
To view these complete profiles and for more Alumni Spotlights, visit our web site at http://cph.osu.edu/alumni/spotlight. cfm
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
ALUMNI NEWS
College of Public Health hosts Alumni Reunion Weekend
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Each September Ohio State alumni return to their alma mater to celebrate Alumni Reunion Weekend. This year, the College of Public Health welcomed about 50 of its alumni, who returned to participate in several college-planned activities including two annual meetings and a tailgate. The CPH Alumni Society held its fall meeting at the Graystone Winery in Columbus. The event featured keynote speaker Cindy Parker, MD, MPH, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The society also presented the
The CPH and HSMP alumni societies held their first Alumni Reunion Weekend tailgate before the USC vs Ohio State football game on Sept 12, along with the College of Optometry. Pictured from left are Lexi Noice, Bob Gilbert (MHA ’81), Stanley Lemeshow, Dave Arnold (MHA ’81), and Mary Gilbert.
Mary Plummer Scholarship to Prabasaj Paul and the William R. Gemma Distinguished Alumnus Award to Jackie Davis, MPH ’08. The alumni society presented a new award for outstanding service to alumnus Mac Crawford, assistant professor in the college’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences. That same weekend, The Health Services Management and Policy Alumni Society held its annual Executive Committee Retreat on campus. The weekend concluded with the CPH/HSMP Alumni Society Tailgate.
HSMP Alumni Society hosts annual Chicago Dinner
Robert Woods and MHA alumna Manju Oommen-Woods at Picnic with the Pops
Alumni reunite at Picnic with the Pops College of Public Health alumni took advantage of a pleasant summer evening at Picnic with the Pops featuring The Ohio State University Marching Band. About three dozen people attended, including alumni from the colleges of Public Health, Optometry and Medicine. Discounted tickets were made available to all alumni and their guests.
Approximately 35 students and alumni attended the annual HSMP Alumni Society Dinner in Chicago on March 24. The event was held during the American College of Healthcare Executives Congress on Health Care Leadership conference. “It’s a wonderful way for students to meet with alumni and network in a little more casual atmosphere,” said Amy Thaci, executive director of the HSMP Alumni Society. “Students and alumni learn about all the various activities the Alumni Society is engaged in and ways to get more
involved. They also hear from the division leadership and MHA Program Director Sharon Schweikhart.”
Alumni give career advice at Lunch’n’Learn session The College of Public Health Alumni Society held a Lunch’n’Learn session in May to help students better understand working in the field of public health. Jen Morel, MPH, CHES, from Columbus Public Health, and Amy Wermert, MPH, from Grant Medical Center Trauma Program, took questions from students who wanted to know what steps they took to get where they are today. “The students were interested in hearing about our career path - where we started, where we are now and how we got there,” Wermert said. “We stressed the importance of networking and not ‘burning bridges.’ “We also discussed the importance of being able to ‘step out their box’ when it comes to the job search. For example, not to necessarily shy away from a position focusing on injury prevention when they think the only job they would like to have would focus on obesity prevention. They may find a new passion by trying something new.”
ANNUAL REPORT | 2009
CPH BY THE NUMBERS
317, total number of graduate students in CPH programs for the past academic year
42 percent, increase in the
number of students over 5 years
65 percent, increase in the
number of applicants over the past 5 years
1,300, number of professionals
attending programs offered by the Center for Public Health Practice during the past academic year
$13.5 million, CPH budget for
12 months ending June 30, 2009
$10 million, grants awarded
to CPH faculty in FY09
65 percent, the proportion of $5.7 million, grant
female students in the college
expenditures in FY09
70 percent, the percentage
21st, rank of Ohio State’s College
of female students enrolled in all accredited schools of public health
of Public Health, according to U.S. News & World Report
9, total number of Graduate School 12th, rank of Ohio State’s MHA Fellowships given in the past academic year
program, according to U.S. News & World Report
28, total number of Graduate
18th, rank of The Ohio State
Associates
190, number of professionals
attending the 2009 Summer Program in Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiological Methods
University, according to U.S. News & World Report’s list of the best public universities
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COLLEGE OF
PUBLIC HEALTH College of Public Health The Ohio State University M116 Starling-Loving Hall 320 W. 10th Ave. Columbus OH 43210
The College of Public Health recruited students, faculty, staff and alumni to participate in the first Pelotonia bike ride benefitting cancer research at Ohio State. The ride, held Aug. 29-30, included cycling legend Lance Armstrong and more than 2,250 other riders. Pictured from left are Alumni Relations and Fundraising Coordinator Lexi Noice, College of Public Health Dean Stanley Lemeshow, Graduate Fellow Blake Warner and PhD candidate Jason Marion.