PUBLIC HEALTH
impact The Research Magazine of The Ohio State University College of Public Health
Inside this issue: • Identifying water quality risks in Kenya • Genetic circumstances makes cocaine abuse death more likely • Using biostatistics to search for improved treatments • Undergraduate researcher named Marshall Scholar
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2013
Table of Contents 1 Dean’s message 2 Improving the water of Kenya Editorial Staff Christine O’Malley, Executive Director, External Relations and Advancement, College of Public Health Brianna Loesch, Communications Coordinator Publication design by The Drawing Room Photo credits: All photos are credited to University Photography or college staff except p. 2-3, Jason Marion; p. 9, Kevin Donges.
4 Deadly cocaine abuse 6 Calculating cancer 7 Faculty news 9 Student news 11 Alumni news
p.2 Researchers collect drinking water samples to identify water quality risks in Kenya.
12 Lemeshow student scholarship established Impact Magazine is published annually by The Ohio State University College of Public Health for the alumni, faculty, students,
13 Champions of Public Health
staff, and friends of the college. This is the eighth issue. Copyright 2013. Permission to reprint any portion must be obtained from the college. Contact: bloesch@cph.
For additional content, scan the QR squares with your smart phone or navigate to the URLs listed. p.6 Public health researchers use biostatistics to search for improved cancer treatments.
osu.edu. On the web at http://cph.osu.edu “Global Significance. Local Impact.”
Support Public Health
If you support what public health research can do for Ohio, consider funding scholarships for our graduate students or contributing to our endowments. For more information on giving to the college, contact our development office at 614-2474241. On the web, go to cph.osu. edu/alumni/giving for a complete list of our endowments.
Research News go.osu.edu/CPHresearchnews
Faculty Grants and Contracts go.osu.edu/CPHgrants
p.12 Scholarship fund established in honor of Stanley Lemeshow’s deanship.
Collaborating for a better world Public health is collaborative in nature. We work together to prevent disease and promote good health in our communities and around the world. The College of Public Health continues to focus on partnerships and collaborations here at Ohio State and in Ohio, but we have been reaching beyond our backyard more and more through international projects, such as those in Africa. This issue of Impact spotlights the most recent of these international projects: a collaboration between Ohio State and Eastern Kentucky University identifying water quality risks in Kenya; and research initiatives in Ethiopia and Malawi. You’ll find that our faculty work to reveal new drug risks, explore statistical methods for cancer research, prevent childhood obesity, and so much more. Public health students continue to impress with their outstanding research and passion for the field. You will discover several of their most recent accomplishments in this publication. Whether we are working within the walls of our wonderful building, partnering with other Ohio State health sciences colleges, or establishing and fostering friendships abroad, the College of Public Health is a fruitful and dynamic environment for limitless collaborative efforts. I hope you will join us in these efforts by teaming up with our faculty for research, supporting our students with scholarship gifts, staying in touch through college events, or by nominating a public health champion on the last page of this publication. Together we can build a better future for the world through public health.
Global Significance. Local Impact.
Dean’s Message
Sincerely,
Stanley Lemeshow, PhD Founding Dean
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Improving the water of Kenya Ohio State alumnus collaborates with CPH professor to identify water quality risks in Kenya By Bri Loesch CPH Communications
“I love this work because everyone wants to know what is in their water,” said Jason Marion. Marion is an Ohio State College of Public Health alumnus (PhD, 2011) and assistant professor of environmental health science at Eastern Kentucky University. Over winter break, Marion took two Master of Public Health students from EKU, along with his brother, Jarrett Marion, on a three-week visit to Kenya where they helped residents identify health risks posed by contaminated drinking water. “It doesn’t matter if I am on a beach in Ohio, at a lab bench in Columbus, or in a friendly mud home lit by a small solar lamp in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley,” said Marion. “I am happy studying water quality and enumerating bacteria that indicate the presence of contamination.” The EKU students on the project, Ben Cheruiyot and Peter
Jason Marion collects a drinking water sample from a household near Bomet, Kenya. 2
Sigilai, are Kenyans who came to the U.S. for their college education, as well as to compete as All-American runners. The two were invaluable to the project as they were able to converse with residents and put their minds at ease as the team conducted research. Marion worked with Jiyoung Lee on the study design for the Kenya project. Lee is a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Science in Ohio State’s College of Public Health, and holds a joint appointment with the Department of Food Science and Technology in the College of Food Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. The two decided to filter household water samples to capture all bacteria on the filters for analysis. The research team set out to compare gastrointestinal (GI) illness incidence among households that had differing perceptions of water purification methods, and to identify the risk factors associated with the presence of GI incidence in the area. “Among the people who did not have publically treated water in Kenya, we saw elevated levels of fecal indicator bacteria, specifically E. coli,” Marion said. “Not surprisingly, households with the highest levels of E. coli were most likely to have reported a recent illness.” To preserve the household water samples collected, Marion had the filters shipped to the nearest freezers at two hospitals in Kenya until departure. He then took them to the U.S. by plane on ice, and immediately shipped them to Lee’s lab. Analysis will reveal if animals or people are the most common cause of contaminating rain water collection systems, creeks, cisterns, and wells in this region of Kenya. “The laboratory molecular analysis about the source of the contamination, called microbial source tracking, is not yet complete,” Lee said. “Based upon the results we receive, we will be able to tell what type of host the E. coli comes from. By
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A group of locals gathers around Marion, second from right, and his research team as they survey households on the sources of their drinking water.
Marion believes he was “influenced to think big and think knowing the major contamination sources, we can suggest the globally and to do that often” through his education at Ohio most effective management practice to reduce contamination State. Having been adequately trained in environmental sources, thereby reducing the waterborne infectious disease health and epidemiology, and having a solid understanding in the studied region in Kenya.” of human and zoonotic waterborne diseases and water quality Lee acted as Marion’s co-advisor on his doctoral research, assessment was critical for this research. Marion said that to and continues to be a professional mentor. Because Marion is the Kenyan people, this skill set is critical, and something familiar with Lee’s expertise, partnering with her on this was they highly value. a natural fit. “But for Ohio State, the Kenyan “We have been fortunate to publish government would not have had a cutting-edge research in the areas serious environmental health problem of microbial source tracking and investigated with appropriate scientific waterborne disease epidemiology,” rigor,” Marion said. Marion said. “Dr. Lee’s laboratory is The Kenya project was funded by very effective in quantifying the DNA of a grant from the EKU Division of very specific microbes in water samples Sponsored Programs, funds from EKU’s as well as pathogens.” Master of Public Health program, and a For this project, the research team private individual donation to EKU. hopes to be able to quantify potential “Whether you are in Columbus or pathogenic bacteria to see if they are in Kenya, as humans we care so much responsible for any of the illnesses they about the condition of the water we observed in the study. Roughly 170 personally use,” Marion said. people out of 850 (20 percent) reported Jiyoung Lee analyzes Marion’s water samples The college uses a development fund experiencing some type of GI illness to determine contamination sources. to support global health travel as well within the two weeks preceding the as environment health sciences research & education. To team’s visit, suggesting improved water quality and sanitation contribute to either of these funds, go to igive.osu.edu and would improve the health of the region. enter fund number 314259 or 310502, or scan the QR codes “The scientific community wants to know if bacteria DNA below. can explain or predict waterborne disease,” Marion said. “Additionally, many believe that rain water is a good option for human drinking when publically chlorinated water is unavailable; however, our results already show that the rainwater collection system is frequently contaminated by fecal bacteria. Our quantified DNA results can point to who or what is causing the fecal inputs.” 3
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Deadly cocaine abuse Scientists find gene interactions that make cocaine abuse death eight times more likely By Emily Caldwell Ohio State Research Communications
Scientists have identified genetic circumstances under which common mutations on two genes interact in the presence of cocaine to produce a nearly eight-fold increased risk of death as a result of abusing the drug. Danielle Sullivan, a doctoral student in biostatistics in the College of Public Health, was the first author on the study. Co-authors on the study included Hong Zhu and Stanley Lemeshow of the college’s Division of Biostatistics. An estimated one in three whites who died of cocaine exposure is a carrier of variants that make cocaine abuse particularly deadly. The variants are found in two genes that affect how dopamine modulates brain activity. Dopamine is a chemical messenger vital to the regular function of the central nervous system, and cocaine is known to block transporters in the brain from absorbing dopamine after its release. The same dopamine genes are also targeted by medications for a number of psychiatric disorders. The researchers say that these findings could help determine how patients will respond to certain drugs based on whether they, too, have mutations that interact in ways that affect dopamine flow and signaling. The scientists had previously identified a total of seven mutations on two dopamine-related genes, some of which were linked to the risk of cocaine abuse death. Years of molecular genetics studies showed that the mutations had specific functions – a single variant alone was associated with an almost three-fold increase in risk of dying of cocaine abuse – and led researchers to hypothesize that the variants probably interacted because the genes themselves relied on each other for proper function. A statistical analysis that dissected the complex interactions among the variants combined with cocaine exposure revealed gene-gene-environment interactions that would dramatically 4
increase the risk of death from cocaine abuse. “Finding an impact factor of eight just blew us away,” said Wolfgang Sadee, professor of pharmacology and director of the Program in Pharmacogenomics at Ohio State University and senior author of the study. “Beyond that, this represents a new paradigm. Going forward, we can ask whether such interactions do exist between variants that may be a normal variation in the population. These kinds of interactions may underlie the genetics of behavior.” These specific findings apply primarily to whites. The researchers found that a different combination of variants affect the risk of cocaine abuse death in African Americans, and that in this population, some of the variants had protective properties. The research is published in the online journal Translational Psychiatry. The mutations are mostly single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs (pronounced “snips”). Each gene contains two alternative forms – called alleles – that are functionally identical in most people. However, in some cases, the activity level, or expression, of an allele can differ from its partner allele in a single gene. The SNPs described here are on two genes: the dopamine receptor D2, which is a target for antipsychotic drugs, and the dopamine transporter DAT, the main target of cocaine and amphetamines. The variants’ clinical relevance was determined in earlier work led by Sadee that analyzed human brain autopsy tissues of people who had died of cocaine overdose and from agematched drug-free controls. The variants identified in this work are harder to detect and analyze than many mutations because these variants have no role in making protein; they exist in deeper and often overlooked regions of genes. Sadee’s lab has designed a technique
Global Significance. Local Impact.
Danielle Sullivan (right), first author on the study, discusses research with Professor Hong Zhu (left) and Stanley Lemeshow (center).
to predict and determine their functions based on measurements of how much messenger RNA, a carrier of genetic information, each specific allele expresses. Having a defined set of a manageable number of variables then made a statistical analysis both possible and a critical step to more fully understanding the effects of these variants. First author Danielle Sullivan, a doctoral student in biostatistics at Ohio State, built logistic regression models to search for the main effects and interactions among the variants associated with the higher risk of cocaine death. “A combination of variants turned out to have a high effect on the risk of dying. That is called epistasis – a gene-gene-environment interaction that is seen only when there is that extra stimulus, in this case the cocaine,” Sadee said. “It’s a three-way system, which is incredibly complex unless you know beforehand that these variables are all related to each other.” Sadee said consideration of how gene-gene-environment interactions affect the impact of single genes could help solve the mystery of “missing heritability.” Scientists know that genes are behind the causes of many diseases and conditions, but to date have been unable to document the complete genetic history of any given disease. More immediately, what he has discovered about these variants is likely to increase understanding of numerous psychiatric disorders and improve the effectiveness of medical therapies for these problems. Dopamine-related conditions include attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, phobias, anxiety and schizophrenia. “The gene-gene interaction that we’ve reported here, elicit-
ing what might be a ‘perfect dopamine storm’ under cocaine stimulation, could well contribute to other conditions and affect response to drugs such as antipsychotics and amphetamines,” Sadee said. Clinical studies led by his lab so far suggest that gene-gene interactions occurring without an environmental stimulus such as cocaine do appear to help predict response to certain medications. He is also extending the research to a handful of other genes that affect signaling in the brain. “Each gene gives us new combinations; each one has novel variants that can be tested in this way. And they may be considered normal variations – they’re not associated with a disease process, but if there are multiple variants together, they may push this whole system in the direction that makes disease more likely or influences individual response to circumstances like stress or drugs,” Sadee said. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Abuse and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (formerly the National Center for Research Resources). Additional co-authors include Julia Pinsonneault and Audrey Papp of the Department of Pharmacology and Program in Pharmacogenomics; and Deborah Mash of the University of Miami School of Medicine.
An estimated one in three whites who died of cocaine exposure is a carrier of variants that make cocaine abuse particularly deadly.
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Calculating cancer
Public health researchers use biostatistics to search for improved treatments By Bri Loesch CPH Communications Michal Seweryn (left) and Grzegorz Rempala (right) discuss statistical equations.
Grzegorz Rempala’s vision is bold – math that can cure cancer. “You can imagine in a number of years, you just go to a physician and he tells you have a tumor, hands you a prescription to take for a week, and that’s it. That’s hopefully what this research will eventually lead to — very effective cures for various types of diseases which are incurable or prolonged,” Rempala said. Rempala, the newest addition to the biostatistics faculty at Ohio State’s College of Public Health, is the principal investigator on a project funded by the National Cancer Institute, “Statistical Methods for Analyzing Antigen Receptors Data.” The research team is studying immune systems and how they respond to diseases. They are looking at potentially promising therapies that can be developed based on training your own immune system and its ability to better identify the dangers inside. Rempala explains that it’s like a very effective kind of chemotherapy but without the side effects. If done properly, it will only destroy or neutralize the molecules of that specific disease, but nothing else. Michal Seweryn, who moved to Ohio State with Rempala, is a post-doctoral researcher who is partially funded by the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI). When asked why he decided to make the move, Seweryn said he wished to continue working on the project, saw the opportunity for more interaction with a broad scientific community, and also was drawn to the MBI. “It makes more sense to move to a place where you are able to learn more and interact more because the science we do is mainly based on interactions with scientists who are interested in practical applications,” Seweryn said. Seweryn looks forward to collaborations with researchers 6
from Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and the College of Medicine. He believes that math without application has no purpose. “With their participation we’ll be able to work more on practical applications of curing different types of disease. I strongly believe that mathematics can provide a way to describe how things are happening in cancer treatment and immunology, and how any immune response operates,” said Seweryn. So how exactly can mathematics lead to treatments and cures to disease? “In between the idea and the equation, and then the living breathing human being or animal, we have a lot of computer simulation and computer modeling to do. My group uses computing technology visualizations in order to simulate the potential effects of the particular interventions or treatments on the system or the disease,” said Rempala. The team is specifically working on T-cell models and applying the methods they are developing to cancer and autoimmune diseases. The research funding for this project began two years ago, and the team has around three more years on the project. The team also receives funding from the National Science Foundation. “The type of research I am engaged in requires constant interaction with scientists from other disciplines: with physicians, with mathematicians, with statisticians, with computer scientists, and possibly with policy researchers — people who are more involved in awareness and community intervention,” Rempala said. “Ohio State is a perfect place that contains all of these components in one location.”
Global Significance. Local Impact.
Faculty news
Haikady Nagaraja By Bri Loesch and Emily Caldwell
Nagaraja selected among national class of AAAS Fellows
Haikady Nagaraja, professor and chair of biostatistics, was one of 18 Ohio State University faculty elected among the newest class of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Nagaraja was selected for distinguished contributions to the field of statistics, particularly for methodologic work in the areas of order statistics and stochastic modeling. “I credit the spirit of interdisciplinary research fostered by Ohio State, and my students and numerous colleagues from Health Sciences who have kept me engaged in science for all these years,” said Nagaraja. “My lifelong passion is the study of ordered statistical data.” Members across the nation receive this honor because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
Study links mother-toddler relationship to teen obesity The quality of the emotional relationship between a mother and her young child could affect the potential for that child to be obese during adolescence, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed national data detailing relationship characteristics between mothers and their children during their toddler years. The lower the quality of the relationship in terms of the child’s emotional security and the mother’s sensitivity, the higher the risk that a child would be obese at age 15 years, according to the analysis. Among those toddlers who had the lowest-quality emotional relationships with their mothers, more than a quarter
Sarah Anderson
Jianrong Li
were obese as teens, compared to 13 percent of adolescents who had closer bonds with their mothers in their younger years. “It is possible that childhood obesity could be influenced by interventions that try to improve the emotional bonds between mothers and children rather than focusing only on children’s food intake and activity,” said Sarah Anderson, assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology and lead author of the study. Co-authors included Ohio State College of Public Health Dean Stanley Lemeshow, and graduate student Rachel Gooze and Robert Whitaker, professor of public health and pediatrics, both at Temple University.
‘Sticky’ stomach flu virus stands up to typical restaurant dishwashing measures Restaurant dishes and silverware may be an overlooked place where people can catch stomach viruses, according to a study. While the current industry guidelines for cleaning dishware used in public settings are effective at neutralizing bacteria, researchers at Ohio State found that they appear to fall short of eliminating norovirus. Norovirus is the leading cause of epidemic gastroenteritis and the major cause of foodborne illness worldwide, responsible for at least 50 percent of all gastroenteritis outbreaks in the U.S. Melvin Pascall, associate professor, Department of Food Science and Technology (College of Food Agriculture and Environmental Sciences), and Jianrong Li, assistant professor of food virology in the Department of Food Science and Technology, and the Division of Environmental Health Sciences (College of Public Health), were supported by a grant 7
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Faculty news
Stanley Lemeshow
from the Ohio State Center for Clinical and Translational Science. The two led a team of virologists and public health experts to test the ability of the norovirus and common bacteria to make it through a variety of “real life” food service cleaning scenarios that included manual and mechanical washing. The team found that while both the commercial dishwasher and manual washing reduced bacterial loads of E. coli K-12 and L. innocua enough to meet safety standards, neither technique was able to significantly reduce the presence of MNV-1. Overall, dishes that were hand washed were more likely to contain traces of both bacteria and viruses than those cleaned in a commercial dishwasher. “Even though the protocols were able to kill some of the virus, norovirus is highly contagious and it takes only a few viral particles to infect humans,” said Li. “These results would indicate that the neither the detergents nor sanitizers used in current cleaning protocols are effective against the norovirus at the currently used concentrations.” From The OSU Center for Clinical & Translational Science
Book nets more than 30,000 citations The third edition of the textbook Applied Logistic Regression was recently published as an expanded version of the original work, providing an easily accessible introduction to the logistic regression model. The book is authored by Stanley Lemeshow, founding dean of the College of Public Health, David Hosmer, professor emeritus of biostatistics at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Rodney Sturdivant, associate professor and director of the Center for Data Analysis and Statistics at West Point. Sturdivant will join Ohio State’s College of Public Health this fall as an associate professor of clinical public health in the Division of Biostatistics. 8
Eric Seiber
According to Google Scholar, the work has been cited more than 30,000 times. This most recent edition emphasizes applications in the health sciences and hand-picks topics that best suit the use of modern statistical software.
Seiber receives Fulbright fellowship Eric Seiber, assistant professor of Health Services Management and Policy, was one of nine Ohio State faculty members selected as recipients of prestigious Fulbright fellowships. Seiber received the fellowship for his project, “Identifying Colombian-U.S. Trade in Healthcare Services,” at La Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, from January to May 2014. “I’ll be teaching a course to Colombian graduate students and will be giving talks at universities around the country,” Seiber said. Seiber’s ongoing research focusses on health care reform in the United States. “On the research side, I’ll be looking at strategies and interviewing hospital executives and members of professional associations in Bogotá to estimate the market size and services sought by Colombian Americans traveling to Colombia for health care services.” Seiber’s goal is for this initial project to lead to an ongoing collaboration with Colombian faculty and students collecting empirical data from Colombian hospitals to research trade in health care services between the two countries. Seiber says that the rapid increase in the Colombian community in the United States over the last 20 years presents a unique opportunity for Colombian health care providers and for policy makers to understand cross-border healthcare flows.
Alex Chaitoff, right, with his research mentor, Professor Thomas Wickizer. By Bri Loesch and the Undergraduate Fellowship Office
Researcher named Marshall Scholar
Ohio State senior Alexander Chaitoff was named a 2013 Marshall Scholar. The Marshall Scholarship supports graduate study at any academic institution in the United Kingdom; 36 scholarships were awarded to outstanding seniors and recent graduates across the country. “I’m humbled to have been chosen for the award, proud to represent Ohio State, and also very excited to be continuing my education in the United Kingdom,” Chaitoff said. During his sophomore year, Chaitoff began conducting research in the College of Public Health under Thomas Wickizer, professor in the College of Public Health, studying racial disparities in seeking treatment for mental illness. “Dr. Wickizer has been an amazing mentor,” Chaitoff said. “He was the type of advisor I dreamed of finding in college, and I feel very lucky that I have been able to work so closely with him.” For his senior thesis, Chaitoff is comparing how different people who have experienced symptoms of depression view their own race and how this view can affect the likeliness of these individuals to seek out and receive mental health care. A Presidential Scholar and member of the Honors Collegium, Chaitoff is completing a double major in microbiology and political science.
Koch Fellowship awarded to CPH student Kevin Donges, a PhD student in the College of Public Health, was named the inaugural recipient of the Gary G. and Carolyn Koch Fellowship in Biostatistics. “I’m honored to be the inaugural recipient of the Koch Fellowship. It’s allowed me to take some extra classes and to spend more time on my research,” said Donges. Donges is currently in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program
Global Significance. Local Impact.
Student news
Kevin Donges
in Biostatistics. The program is a collaboration between the Department of Statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Division of Biostatistics in the College of Public Health. Completion of the program leads to an MS in Statistics, which Donges earned in June, and a PhD in Biostatistics, which he hopes to earn in May 2015. Prior to attending Ohio State, Donges earned a BS in Mathematics Education and an MS in Mathematics at Miami University, where he spent five years as an instructor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He also spent 11 years as a member of the Ohio Air National Guard and is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran. Kevin’s research interests are in the influence of environmental factors on cancer and on epidemiological studies. “I’ve migrated away from mathematics and toward statistics over the years since the latter is more applied than the former,” said Donges. “I enjoy the fact that statistical methods can be applied to a very diverse set of problems in almost any field.” Funds for this fellowship were graciously provided by a gift made by Gary G. Koch, an Ohio State alumnus, and his wife, Carolyn.
Study looks at predictor of outdoor playtime A study by public health researchers shows that the amount of time spent playing outdoors at preschool is not related to the time spent playing outdoors at home. Alexis Marino, who received her MPH in Environmental Health Science in 2011, was the first author on the article, “Amount and environmental predictors of outdoor playtime at home and school: A cross-sectional analysis of a national sample of preschool-aged children attending Head Start,” published in Health & Place. The purpose of the study was to estimate the amount of 9
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Student news
Christopher Gaw, a biology major, took first place in the Clinical Health From left: Josh Snowden, Stephanie Williams, and Brian Needham Professions category at the 18th annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. participate in case competition.
time preschool-aged children attending Head Start spend playing outdoors at home and school, and whether aspects of the home and school environment are associated with greater outdoor play. The group hypothesized that preschool children who had access to outdoor play spaces would spend more time playing outdoors. “We found that having a yard near the home, and/ or a parent that visited a park or playground with their child was associated with more time outdoors; however, having a playground near the home was not,” Marino said. “Surveillance of the amount and predictors of outdoor play in preschool-age children may help parents, teachers, or other caregivers foster an environment that will help children spend more time outdoors and achieve the recommended time spent being active each day.”
Public health minors place at research forum Christopher Gaw, a biology major and global public health and neuroscience minor, took first place in the Clinical Health Professions category at the 18th annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. Gaw joined more than 700 students in presenting research and competing for awards in 11 categories. “My research project focused on tennis-related injuries treated in United States emergency departments and was conducted at Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” Gaw said. “Our research team was interested in characterizing the epidemiology of tennis injuries in the U.S. population to better understand not only how, but why injuries occurred while people played this popular sport.” Gaw wasn’t the only public health minor to place in the forum. Dheeraj Duggineni, a major in microbiology, placed first in the Social and Behavioral Sciences category. Alexandra Butz, biomedical science, took third in Clinical 10
Health Professions. Srirama Josyula, biochemistry, placed third as well in the Laboratory/Cellular Health Professions category. The Denman is one of the largest events of its kind in the country. “There were so many other amazing projects at the Forum, so winning an award was both surprising and an honor,” Gaw said. “But more importantly, the Denman Research Forum provided me the opportunity to interact with other inspiring, dedicated peers from many different disciplines across the university. The entire day was truly a great experience.”
Students compete at UAB case competition Stephanie Williams, MHA student, Brian Needham, MBA/MHA student, and Josh Snowden, JD/MHA student, Students compete at UAB case competition in the Health Administration Case Competition in Birmingham, Ala. This competition provides graduate students from CAHMEaccredited health administration programs an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice with a real-life, real-time case. Students are given approximately four weeks prior to the competition to analyze the case and produce recommendations. This year’s case involved a for-profit health system in the Nashville area, requiring students to strategize about the placement of 15 urgent care centers. Teams had to take into consideration who to target, care coordination strategies, operational logistics, and financials. The team prepared by giving practice presentations to members of the HSMP faculty as well as mid- and seniorlevel administrator from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and OhioHealth.
Stanley Lemeshow, CPH founding dean, is presented with the Loebs Leadership Award.
Global Significance. Local Impact.
Alumni news
Edward Howell, Class of ’77, and wife, Susan, inside the R. Edward Howell Alumni Conference Room.
Dean presented with leadership award Stanley Lemeshow, dean of the College of Public Health, was presented with the Loebs Leadership Award at the Health Services Management and Policy (HSMP) Alumni Society alumni banquet Nov. 2. “The award was a very pleasant surprise, and I’m deeply honored. It’s always amazing to see how supportive our alumni are of Ohio State and our HSMP students,” said Lemeshow. This award recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions through innovation, discovery, and dissemination of new knowledge or leadership. “Dean Lemeshow has done an incredible job at leading the College of Public Health to new levels of prominence nationally, as well as, within the university community,” said Jamie Cleverley, president of the HSMP Alumni Society. “He’s been a strong supporter of the HSMP program and has worked with our society creatively and collaboratively to further our goals. He was a natural choice for this award and we were honored to recognize him for his contributions.”
Alumna appointed to board of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health “My appointment to the commission that I looked up to as a student is a true honor.” Deena Chisolm, joint associate professor in the Division of Health Services Management and Policy and a CPH alumna, was appointed by the governor to serve on the Board of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. “As a commissioner, my role will include serving on the grants committee and the fiscal committee,” Chisolm said. “I will also serve as a voice on the board focused on child and adolescent health issues, and on innovative approaches to research.” The mission of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health is to eliminate disparities in minority health through innovative strategies and financial opportunities, public health promotion,
legislative action, public policy, and systems change. “I first encountered the commission over 20 years ago when I was a master’s student in the preventive medicine program,” Chisolm said. “I was hugely impressed that Ohio was the first state in the nation to have a state-level commission dedicated to improving minority health. I was still finding my path in public health, but I knew then that ensuring optimal health for all of our community, regardless of race or ethnicity, was part of my personal mission.” Chisolm is principal investigator in the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Ohio State College of Medicine.
Conference room named in honor of alumnus Reinvention through education has been Ed Howell’s secret to career success. Howell, a health administration alumnus from the class of ’77, has seen dramatic changes in health care over the last 35 years. His education at Ohio State provided a foundation to manage those changes. “My educational experience at Ohio State was life changing,” Howell said. “Not only was I fortunate enough to develop a number of lifelong relationships from fellow classmates, but my education established the foundation for an enriching and rewarding career. Out of a sense of gratitude I felt a responsibility to pay forward for the benefit of future generations of Buckeyes.” The first floor conference room of Cunz Hall has officially been named the “R. Edward Howell Alumni Conference Room” in honor of a gift from Howell to the College of Public Health. “As the next generation looks at the daunting challenges of health care reform, understand it is inherent in what we do and that the education they received at Ohio State will position them well for all the changes to come,” Howell said. by Bri Loesch 11
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Lemeshow student scholarship fund established Stanley Lemeshow completes his 10-year service as dean. By Bri Loesch CPH Communications Much has changed in the past decade for Ohio State’s College of Public Health. Ten years ago it was the School of Public Health, becoming a college in 2007. Over the past 10 years, the number of faculty and graduate students has grown, undergraduate programs have been established, and the college moved to Cunz Hall, bringing the whole college under one roof for the first time. This decade of change and progress has been achieved under the direction of founding dean, Stanley Lemeshow. Last fall, he publicly announced that he is stepping down as dean to return to the faculty. In honor of his service, The Ohio State University has established an endowed student scholarship fund in his name, the Stanley Lemeshow Student Excellence Fund. Lemeshow’s dedication to the faculty, students, and college inspired the creation of the fund. The fund will provide scholarships, support for student research, travel, and other activities to enhance the education of public health students. The scholarships are available to both undergraduate and graduate students. Lemeshow joined Ohio State in 1999 as a biostatistics professor in the School of Public Health and the Department of Statistics. He took the reins as the school’s first permanent dean in 2003, when Public Health separated from the College of Medicine. “Dean Stan Lemeshow is all about his students and what the college can do to open the doors to a profession in public health,” said Barbara Brandt, a member of the College of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Board. “A scholarship that assists in making this possible and removes some of the financial barriers is such a fitting way to say ”thank you” for years of service and devotion.” After hearing of the idea for the fund, Brandt helped raise nearly half the endowment in just a few short months. “To be part of an effort to help all men and women who are interested in the work accomplished through public health is
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an honor and a joy,” Brandt said. Gary Koch, professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health, mentored Lemeshow while he was earning his Master of Science in Public Health degree. “When I initially met Stan during his time in the MSPH graduate program in biostatistics at UNC-CH during the late 1960s, I knew he would have an outstanding professional career in biostatistics and public health,” Koch said. “It was no surprise when I learned that he had the opportunity to become dean at Ohio State’s College of Public Health-- to which I think he has provided outstanding leadership.” Abdelmonem Afifi, professor of biostatistics and biomathematics at the UCLA School of Public Health reflected on his long history with Lemeshow. “I met Stan when he came to the UCLA School of Public Health as a PhD student in Biostatistics in September 1972,” Afifi said. “I was then an associate professor of biostatistics, and Stan took several of my courses. It was clear to me from the beginning that this was a man with a future, not only as a scientist, but also as a future mentor and a leader.” Also a member of the College of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Board, Afifi looked forward to the annual board meetings in Columbus. “They afforded me the opportunity to see Stan on a oneto-one basis,” Afifi said. “Some of my favorite moments are the walks we around the campus or around the neighborhood and just chat.” Afifi strongly encouraged Lemeshow to accept the position as dean of the then School of Public Health. “Stan has really put the Ohio State College of Public Health on the map,” Afifi said. Make a donation to fund #482343 today by visiting go.osu.edu/CPHgive. by Bri Loesch
Global Significance. Local Impact.
2013 Champions of Public Health Awards
Nomination Form Sponsored by The Ohio State University College of Public Health
We invite you to identify and nominate worthy individuals who, through their professional achievements, volunteer service or civic involvement, personify the mission of the College of Public Health to advance knowledge and improve lives. • Nominees must be an individual or organization who has made a significant contribution to the health of Ohioans. • Individuals may be nominated posthumously, but the committee prefers nominees who are living at the time of nomination. • For the community leader category, the college encourages nominations of volunteers as well as public health professionals. • Individuals may come from all fields of public health. • Submit this nomination form and a one-page nominating statement.
• You may include up to two letters of support. Letters of support are limited to one 8 ½” x 11” page each, singlespaced. Please attach your nomination to this form and mail to: Champions of Public Health Awards Committee OSU College of Public Health 132 Cunz Hall 1841 Neil Ave. Columbus, OH 43210 Or you may email the complete nomination packet to cherr@cph.osu.edu. All nominations packets must be postmarked no later than July 12. Additional forms are available online at cph.osu.edu/ about/champions or by emailing cherr@cph.osu.edu
I nominate (full name) for the Champions of Public Health Award in the category
Nominee
(community leader, public health practitioner, or organization)
street address
city/state/zip
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Nominator
your name
street address
city/state/zip
phone number
email address 13
College of Public Health The Ohio State University 1841 Neil Ave. Cunz Hall 250 Columbus OH 43210
The Multicultural Public Health Student Association (MPHSA) promotes minority health outside Cunz Hall as part of National Public Health Week and Minority Health Awareness Month.