UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2018-19

FOR THE

How FSPH Training Addresses Public Health Challenges

DEAN’S MESSAGE

AS A PROFESSOR OF BIOSTATISTICS AT THE FIELDING SCHOOL since 2010, I was well aware of our school’s strengths — accomplished faculty whose impact through research, teaching and service extends from the classroom to the community; bright and dedicated students who inspire us all through their passion and commitment; hardworking and talented staff who make everything we do at FSPH possible; and alumni who contribute to healthier populations, both in our local communities and around the world.

Yet every day in my new role as interim dean, I’m learning even more about our incredible community, and my gratitude for the people and programs that make it so special has grown immeasurably.

I am honored and humbled to serve as interim dean as UCLA undertakes a national search for a new, permanent dean. I am grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from faculty, staff and students and thankful for the vital contributions of Professor Yifang Zhu, who was acting dean for the two months prior to my appointment. I also want to express my appreciation to Dr. Jody Heymann for her leadership as the school’s dean. During the years that Dr. Heymann was at the helm, the Fielding School solidified its position as one of the nation’s leading public health schools with growing national and global impact.

This issue of our magazine showcases work that is central to the Fielding School mission — training of master’s and doctoral students, as well as postdoctoral scholars. FSPH training is both formal and informal, and across all of our programs it is characterized by “doing” — the notion that students and other trainees, in conjunction with faculty, staff and community mentors, benefit greatly from practical, on-the-ground experiences that will prepare them for impactful public health careers. These activities are helping to meet critical public health needs at home and abroad. Indeed, the need for a growing and diverse public health workforce has never been greater.

This is an exciting time for the public health profession, which is poised to make unprecedented progress. By preparing a new generation of public health leaders with training that will allow them to hit the ground running, the Fielding School is leading the charge.

Ron Brookmeyer, PhD Interim Dean

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Magazine

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CONTENTS 24

12

09

10

FEATURES Q&A

04 Fielding School Training Alina Dorian on how hands-on experiences prepare students for their careers

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH

06 Healing the Health System Studies seek to improve the quality, cost-effectiveness and accessibility of care

STUDENT PROFILE

08 Counting on Improved Coverage Jay Xu quantifies how media narratives evolve following mass shootings

Visit us online: ph.ucla.edu

STUDENT PROFILE

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE

WORKFORCE EDUCATION

MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY FOR CANCER

POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR PROFILE

UNDERGRADUATE ENGAGEMENT

SUMMER TRAINING

20 Finding Justice Negar Omidakhsh is determined to use research to lift communities like the one she knew as a child

09 Studying Racism’s Effects Rebekah Israel Cross amplifies the voices of marginalized communities

10 Small Changes, Big Implications Biological clues inform prevention strategies

12 Field Days Students recount their internship experiences

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

17 Hire Education Empowering students with career information, resources and support

18 Workplace Wellness Training FSPH students in how to ensure that all occupational settings are safe

22 Extra Credit FSPH’s Executive Programs in Health Policy & Management impart new skills to working professionals

24 First Impressions Introducing the possibilities of a public health career to top college students

ALUMNI PROFILE

21 Speaking from Experience FSPH biostatistics faculty member Kate Crespi brings students the benefits she enjoyed during her training

DEPARTMENTS 27 School Work 30 Grants & Contracts 32 Transformative Investments

PHOTOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION Rent Control Creative: cover. Jane Houle Photography: Dean’s Message; TOC: photo for article on p. 24; pp. 2-4, 6-8; p. 15: Esther Gao; pp. 17-18, 21-22, 24, 27, 33. Alexandra Foley Photography: TOC: photo for article on p. 10; p. 11. James Huynh: TOC: photo for article on p. 9; p. 9. Thomas Sills: p. 25. Consuelo Cid: p. 26. Paul Barnett: p. 29: photo on the left. Cherish Rider Photography: p. 29: alumni-student mentorship program. An Chuen Billy Cho: back cover. COURTESY OF: Cynthia Blackman: TOC: photo for article on p. 12; p. 13: Cynthia Blackman.

Crystal Shaw: p. 13: Crystal Shaw. Chase Israel: p. 14: Chase Israel. Lamar Hayes: p. 14: Lamar Hayes. Ryan Assaf: p. 15: Ryan Assaf. Mark Alsay: p. 16: Mark Alsay. Marufa Khandaker: p. 16: Marufa Khandaker. Negar Omidakhsh: p. 20. UCLA: p. 28. UNIDAD and SAJE: p. 32.

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE In China, more than 3,000 health professionals have received training over the last three decades through the Fielding School’s UCLA/ Fogarty AIDS International Research and Training Program. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the FSPH-based UCLA-DRC Health Research and Training Program works with government and university partners to build local capacity to respond to emerging infectious disease outbreaks in one of the world’s major disease hotspots. In Southern California, a key region within a state widely viewed as leading the way in transforming the U.S. health care system, many health care system leaders have honed their skills at the Fielding School.

Every day, both within the confines of the Fielding School and in communities near and far, students, postdoctoral scholars and working professionals are advancing their public health knowledge with the help of FSPH experts and their community partners. Through instruction and supervised hands-on experiences, skills and wisdom are passed from trainer to trainee. In the process, leaders are born — leaders who will, in time, impart their FSPH-inherited wisdom to a new generation of trainees.

The road to success for any public health professional is paved with powerful training and mentorship experiences. The pages that follow depict some of the wide-ranging Fielding School training programs and approaches, and the public health benefits they bring.

Ron Brookmeyer, PhD Interim Dean

Rent Control Creative Design Direction

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Website: ph.ucla.edu

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Mikkel Allison Writer & Contributing Editor

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UCLA Public Health magazine is published by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health for the alumni, faculty, students, staff and friends of the school. Copyright 2018 by The Regents of the University of California.

Permission to reprint any portion must be obtained from the school.

Please send requests to communications@ph.ucla.edu.

Carla Denly Executive Editor & Asst. Dean for Communications Dan Gordon Editor & Writer 2

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

EDITORIAL BOARD Haroutune K. Armenian, MD, DrPH Professor in Residence, Epidemiology; Thomas R. Belin, PhD Professor, Biostatistics; Pamina Gorbach, DrPH Professor, Epidemiology; Moira Inkelas, PhD Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management; Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, PhD, MN Professor Emerita, Community Health Sciences; Michael Prelip, DPA Professor and Chair, Community Health Sciences; Beate Ritz, PhD Professor, Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences; May C. Wang, DrPH Professor, Community Health Sciences; Elizabeth Yzquierdo, MPH, EdD Assistant Dean for Student Affairs; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences; Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD Associate Dean for Research; Professor, Epidemiology; Yifang Zhu, PhD Associate Dean for Academic Programs; Professor, Environmental Health Sciences; Frederick Zimmerman, PhD Professor, Health Policy and Management; Mark Alsay and Ivan Barragan Co-Presidents, Public Health Student Association; Rita Burke, MPH ’03, PhD ’08 President, Public Health Alumni Association

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FIELDING SCHOOL TRAINING Alina Dorian, FSPH’s new associate dean for public health practice, discusses how training efforts at the school prepare students for successful careers in public health.

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AS AN EXPERT ON THE ROLE OF PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEMS in planning for and responding to public health emergencies, Dr. Alina Dorian has provided training, education and technical assistance to state and local health departments in the U.S., and has managed projects and led response teams following natural disasters and during complex emergencies around the world. In her new role as FSPH’s associate dean for public health practice, Dorian is ensuring that Fielding School graduates are prepared to thrive in the public health workforce. Through her holistic approach to practice, she focuses on the student experience, providing opportunities to help students and alumni grow professionally.

Dorian, an adjunct assistant professor in the Fielding School’s Department of Community Health Sciences, spoke with FSPH’s Public Health Magazine on her approach to training at the school.

evidence base that we’ve been able to gather through research. Public health is an art as well as a science. The science of public health includes research, but in public health practice there is also art. Our job as public health practitioners is to help mold that science into the art of empowering and collaborating with communities for better health.

That’s why one of the most important things we do in our training programs is to teach the concept of working with communities and with professionals in other fields.

In public health we believe in action that translates research into evidenceinformed practice that makes an impact on communities. It’s not just that we want health outcomes to change; we want the process to empower the community so that those changes are sustainable.

Q: What is the role of training in public health education?

A: Training is a form of education that is typically about building competencies — allowing students to put into practice what they’ve been learning in formal classroom settings. It helps our students build their identities as public health professionals and creates a launching point for their successful careers. Training doesn’t end when students get their degrees. It involves lifelong learning, constantly adding to one’s knowledge base. I view training as the opportunity for additional empowerment — power in the ability to make the right decisions, so that, in turn, we empower the communities we work with. At the Fielding School, our training programs and opportunities focus on adding expertise and competencies not only for our students, but also for faculty, as well as for alumni who come back for these opportunities and programs.

“[Training] helps our students build their identities as public health professionals and creates a launching point for their successful careers.”

Q: So in a sense, training is a bridge between public health knowledge and public health practice?

A: That’s right. Public health practice involves putting into the world the

Q: What distinguishes the student training that takes place at the Fielding School?

A: Typically at universities, research is a top priority, and of course that’s important here as well. But it can’t be research for research’s sake. We need to be able to put the research findings into practice, then assess what’s working and what’s not, and with that understanding go back and conduct more research and then come back with better evidence-informed practices.

That’s where we truly excel at the Fielding School — embracing the idea that research and practice go hand in hand, and making sure that circle continues to feed and strengthen itself.

Our training is both through formal and informal programs, and takes many shapes. In all of the programs, though, we want to create leaders, advocates, scholars, connectors. More than train-

ing within a specific field or on a specific topic, we are shaping individuals who can take the skills they learn and successfully apply them at any level of public health for sustained positive change.

Q: What role do you see for Fielding School alumni and other community partners in enhancing these training efforts?

A: Our alumni and community partners are essential to the success of everything we do, because they’re often the first connection for our students as they gain practice in the real world. They are the true game changers in the field and they offer a wealth of information, resources, and guidance that cannot be taught from a textbook.

Our alumni and our community partners provide invaluable opportunities and mentorship to our students.

It is when knowledge and experiences

are shared that our public health efforts have greater impact. That is what makes our training programs at Fielding so successful.

Q: What continues to stick with you from your own training?

A: For me, the most important part was being tossed out into the field with amazing mentors who, in a sense, held my hand from afar. That trial by fire while knowing you have people behind you is very important in the practice world. You have to get your hands dirty, your feet wet. You have to be out there doing and experiencing public health.

You need to know what you know, learn what you don’t know, and be capable of applying that knowledge in whatever future situation you find yourself in.

I was fortunate to receive that kind of hands-on training, and it continues to inform all of my public health work. ph.ucla.edu

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HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH

HEALING THE HEALTH SYSTEM THE U.S. SPENDS MORE THAN $10,000 PER PERSON on health care per year, approximately twice as much as the average spent by comparable high-income countries. There is ample evidence we aren’t getting our money’s worth. The rate of amenable mortality — premature deaths that could have been avoided with effective and timely health care — is higher in the U.S. than in any comparable high-income country, and more than 50 percent higher than in France, Australia, Japan and Sweden.

“We’re spending a huge amount on the provision of medical care and not nearly enough on the social, organizational and economic factors that can lead to better population health in a more cost-effective manner,” says Dr. Thomas Rice, professor in the Fielding School’s Department of Health Policy and Management.

For more than 25 years, the FSPH-based Los Angeles Area Health Services Research Training Program, funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, has trained doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows who 6

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

Through their insights into the social, organizational and economic factors surrounding health care delivery, FSPH-trained researchers contribute to quality, cost-effective and accessible care.

become leaders in evaluating the costs, benefits, outcomes and financing of health care. The program provides two years of funding to five Fielding School PhD students at any one time, and for two new postdoctoral fellows each year who are trained in a collaboration among FSPH; the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics; the Veterans Administration (VA) Greater Los Angeles Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation and Policy; and RAND Health.

Highly trained health services researchers have contributed significantly to recent positive steps in both the quality of U.S. health care and access to it, notes Rice, the program’s director. But major challenges remain. Health outcomes continue to lag behind those of poorer countries that spend far less. Wide health disparities persist, to the detriment of disadvantaged populations. Despite significant gains in access to care since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, the law faces an uncertain future amid legal and political challenges.

The FSPH-based program prepares trainees for these challenges by exposing them to all of the disciplines of public health and beyond — including economics, management, political science and the social determinants of health. The program’s multidisciplinary tint is reflected in the backgrounds of the trainees. Charleen Hsuan (PhD ’16) was a practicing attorney interested in health care ethics — in particular, how the nation decides to distribute limited health resources — when enactment of the ACA inspired her to apply to the program. “I strongly believe that evidence should drive policy decisions,” says Hsuan, now an assistant professor of health policy and administration at Penn State University. “We sometimes assume that the best policy solution to improve access or reduce disparities is to pass a law or enact a new regulation. However, my experience as an attorney suggested that there may be a gap between passing a law and actually seeing a change. My research focuses on this gap — how health laws and policies improve or restrict access to care, and reduce or increase disparities.”

Dr. Maggie Ramirez (MS ’18) was in the process of completing her PhD in industrial and systems engineering at USC when she joined a study involving faculty members at the Fielding School and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The project was testing a team-based intervention to reduce risk factors for stroke among a mostly Latino population in the county health care system. Ramirez was brought on to help the research team develop and evaluate a mobile application aiming to improve communication among care team members.

“That was my first exposure to the reality that certain groups had higher health risks and worse health outcomes,” Ramirez says. “I decided to see how I could use my engineering training to help eliminate these disparities.” Ramirez completed the two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Fielding School last summer, and is now an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health, focusing on the design and implementation of information technology tools to improve the delivery of care to disadvantaged populations.

Through her experience as clinical nursing director and director of education at a community hospital in Los Angeles, Dr. Linda Kim grew concerned about the potential for ineffective communication and collaboration among members of the health care team leading to preventable medical errors, and even deaths. Kim decided to pursue her PhD at the UCLA School of Nursing, focusing on patient safety and quality of care. After completing her doctorate, with her dissertation focusing on how interprofessional communication and collaboration affect patient outcomes and provider satisfaction,

THE FSPH-BASED LOS ANGELES AREA HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM HOLDS A WEEKLY LUNCHTIME SEMINAR FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS, POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND FACULTY. OPPOSITE PAGE: DR. THOMAS RICE (STANDING), THE PROGRAM’S DIRECTOR, WITH ATTENDEES.

she opted to further develop her health services research skills as an FSPH postdoctoral fellow.

Kim’s FSPH postdoctoral training was based at the VA, where she found an ideal research setting in the system’s patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model, in which each patient’s overall care is coordinated by an interprofessional health care team, working closely with the patient to deliver comprehensive, patient-centered care. “The essence of PCMH is team-based care, so it aligned perfectly with my research interest,” Kim says. Under the mentorship of senior health services researchers at the VA, Kim completed the postdoctoral program in 2016.

Petra Rasmussen started as an MPH student at Columbia University shortly after the ACA was enacted. “It became an exciting time, because we were seeing policies targeted at improving insurance coverage, as well as a host of delivery reforms,” she recalls. “There was also a strong need for research tracking the impact of these changes.”

After several years as a senior researcher for the Commonwealth Fund, Rasmussen decided to pursue her PhD in health services research. She was drawn to the Fielding School program, she says, both by the quality of the faculty and the prospect of studying the ACA’s impact through the lens of California, which has been on the vanguard of the reforms.

“I had a great job, but wanted to be able to conduct higher-quality research, and getting two years of funding made the decision to go back to school much easier,” says Rasmussen, now in her fourth year of the FSPH doctoral program and embarking on a dissertation that will examine consumer decision-making in health insurance marketplaces. “It’s immensely important to have research that helps to shape health policies and shows how these policies affect the population once they’re implemented. I’m excited to become part of a new generation that will be producing — Dr. Thomas Rice that research.”

“We’re spending a huge amount on the provision of medical care and not nearly enough on the factors that can lead to better population health.”

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STUDENT PROFILE

Counting on Improved Coverage As part of his doctoral training, biostatistics student Jay Xu is studying how media narratives evolve following mass shootings, in an effort to inform guidelines.

the coding process for large databases of media articles reporting on mass shooting events. They are also developing statistical methods to compare the coding profiles across events during the same time frame, and across different time periods within the same event.

The training Xu has received as part of the collaboration has been particularly valuable, he says, in that it has involved working with faculty and students in two FSPH departments as well as colleagues outside of the school. The project also inspired Xu to successfully apply for funding from FSPH’s Gun Violence Prevention Pilot Grant program, which has allowed him OF THE 30 DEADLIEST MASS

professor of community health

to build on the media narratives

SHOOTINGS in the U.S. since

sciences, along with research-

research — including presenting

ADVISER, DR. THOMAS BELIN, FSPH

1949, the majority have occurred

ers at the UCLA-Duke Univer-

at the Joint Statistical Meet-

PROFESSOR OF BIOSTATISTICS.

in the last decade. The horrific

sity National Center for Child

ings of the American Statistical

scenes are etched in our national

Traumatic Stress and others

Association in Vancouver last

psyche — from an elementary

— seeks to provide evidence

summer. More recently, Xu

school in Newtown, Connecticut,

that could shape best-practices

received a National Defense Sci-

a high school in Parkland, Florida,

guidelines for media coverage

ence and Engineering Graduate

a church in Charleston, South

of mass shootings.

Research Fellowship from the

JAY XU (LEFT) COMBS THROUGH ARTICLES WITH HIS DOCTORAL

Carolina, an outdoor concert in

—Jay Xu 8

U.S. Department of Defense.

Las Vegas, and a nightclub in

mass shootings are covered can

Orlando, Florida, among others.

have public health implications,”

fortunate to have had the

Jay Xu, a second-year PhD

“Research suggests that how mass shootings are covered can have public health implications.”

“Research suggests that how

“I consider myself very

Xu notes. “There are concerns

opportunity to get involved with

student in the Fielding School’s

about humanizing attackers

this research almost from the

Department of Biostatistics,

and giving them the fame they

moment I set foot on campus,”

is part of a large research

seek, as well as the potential for

Xu says. “It’s allowed for so

collaboration aiming to better

encouraging copycat shooters.

much mentorship from faculty,

understand how media nar-

Studies also show negative men-

and the chance to work closely

ratives evolve following these

tal health impacts on people

with other students, which has

mass shootings, and how they

who are exposed to all of these

helped to develop my skills in

differ across events. The study

violent images.”

research and collaboration. It

— which also includes Xu’s

Xu and other members of

excites me to be involved in

PhD adviser, Dr. Thomas Belin,

the research team are devel-

research that is highly relevant

FSPH professor of biostatistics,

oping a prediction model that

to both public policy and

and Dr. Deborah Glik, FSPH

would enable them to automate

public health.”

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STUDENT PROFILE

Studying Racism’s Effects Doctoral student Rebekah Israel Cross uses her FSPH training to amplify the voices of marginalized communities through research on race, power and health.

WHILE WORKING AT THE

ing how housing and community

BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE

development policies and prac-

in Downtown Los Angeles,

tices shape the health of racial

Rebekah Israel Cross heard

and ethnic minorities, especially

from people who expressed a

through segregation, housing

lack of interest in pre-exposure

discrimination and gentrifica-

prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV

tion. “It’s a great opportunity to

prevention despite being at

study racism and health through

greater risk of contracting HIV.

the lens of restrictive land-use

Their reasoning, Cross explains,

policies that contribute to a lack

is PrEP would do nothing to

of adequate opportunities for

address violence in their com-

well-being in historically margin-

munity and day-to-day lives or

alized communities and among

to eliminate systemic sources of

people of color,” Cross explains.

oppression that hinder health and well-being.

For Cross, the experience

Cross also works as a graduate student researcher in the FSPH-based Center for the

showed that simply creating

Study of Racism, Social Justice

biomedical interventions or

& Health. Under the mentorship

ensuring that people have

of Dr. Chandra Ford, center

JUSTICE & HEALTH, AND TWO CENTER COLLEAGUES, NATALIE BRADFORD (SECOND

access to care isn’t always

director and FSPH associate

FROM LEFT) AND PORCHIA TOUSSAINT WILLIAMS (RIGHT).

enough to improve health — not

professor, Cross is using her

while racism continues to exist

training to help to educate her

critical race theory — which has

low public health researchers to

and perpetuate inequality. “The

colleagues and peers in public

been defined as a framework

not simply document inequality,

problem is bigger than just

health on avoiding introducing

rooted in social justice that

but to help transform it by find-

health care access or educating

seeks to understand and change

ing ways to use their research

people,” says Cross, a third-

the relationship between race,

to change the relationship

racism and power — to better

between racism and health and

capture sources of inequality

improve the health of marginal-

that harm health. In this way,

ized people.

year doctoral student in the Fielding School’s Department of Community Health Sciences.

“I knew then that I needed to study something more macro, like public health.”

Today, Cross is using her FSPH training to examine the many ways racism can have an impact on health. By mapping major urban areas nationwide

“At the Fielding School, I have been able to study structural racism as an actual variable in health disparities research.”

—Rebekah Israel Cross

as part of her coursework in the

REBEKAH ISRAEL CROSS (LEFT) WITH DR. CHANDRA FORD (SECOND FROM RIGHT), DIRECTOR OF THE FSPH-BASED CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF RACISM, SOCIAL

Cross’ FSPH training has come

“People often think about

full circle, empowering her to

racism as interpersonal,” Cross

measure racism at its roots

says. “At the Fielding School, I

— from state-level policies

have been able to study struc-

affecting the availability of

tural racism as an actual variable

affordable housing to more local

in health disparities research.

considerations, such as which

If we treat racism — instead of

neighborhoods in an urban area

race — as a factor influencing

offer access to parks and green

health and study it systemati-

Robert Wood Johnson Foun-

biases into their research, pro-

spaces, or which schools offer

cally, we can find better ways to

dation’s Health Policy Research

grams and service delivery. In

advanced classes and programs.

measure it in order to address

Scholars program, she is explor-

her own research, Cross applies

Cross is also helping to train fel-

its broad health effects.”

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MOLECUL AR EPIDEMIOLOGY FOR CANCER

PANCREATIC CANCER IS TREATABLE when detected early, but since symptoms rarely occur until the disease has spread to other organs, the vast majority of cases are diagnosed in the later stages, making it among the most lethal tumors.

According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate following a pancreatic cancer diagnosis is 9 percent. It is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Brian Huang, a fourth-year PhD student at the Fielding School, was drawn to FSPH’s Cancer Epidemiology Training Program by the potential public health impact that could come from research identifying early, detectable signs of the disease, and factors that increase pancreatic cancer risk. “There’s so much mystery around how pancreatic cancer develops, which is why by the time it’s diagnosed, it’s often too late,” Huang says. “I hope my research can contribute to early detection and prevention strategies.”

As a cornerstone of public health, epidemiology has historically identified environmental and behavioral factors that either promote health or contribute to disease risk in populations. Beginning in 1997, the Fielding School’s NCI Cancer Epidemiology Training Program was among the first to train cancer epidemiologists in molecular epidemiology — a then-emerging branch of the discipline, fueled by the rapid advances in molecular biology and genetics.

SMALL CHANGES,

BIG IMPLICATIONS FSPH’s Cancer Epidemiology Training Program prepares the next generation of researchers to identify molecular-level markers associated with disease risk — findings that inform early detection and prevention strategies.

“In molecular epidemiology we are interested in identifying biological markers — such as serum antibodies, micronutrient levels, protein expression, genetic mutations or methylations — that are associated with disease risk, often through interactions with behavioral influences such as smoking and obesity,” says the program’s director, Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, professor of epidemiology and associate dean for research at the Fielding School. By understanding the molecular factors associated with cancer risk, Zhang notes, public health professionals can identify at-risk populations and urge them to avoid the environmental or behavioral exposures that interact with their genetics to trigger the disease. Molecular epidemiology findings can also pave the way for early-detection strategies, or the development of targeted interventions and drug treatments.

The FSPH program trains five PhD students and two postdoctoral fellows. In addition to traditional epidemiology, the trainees learn laboratory processes and methods involved in determining the biological markers used in epidemiological studies. The trainees benefit from a multidisciplinary group of faculty, both from within the Fielding School’s Department of Epidemiology and across other FSPH departments and other UCLA schools and departments — from toxicologists and biostatisticians to health care professionals who treat cancer, and researchers who focus on cancer prevention and control.

For alum Claire Hahni Kim (PhD ’16), the program married her two academic interests: epidemiology and biology. After completing her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, Kim earned an MPH in chronic disease epidemiology, then worked as an epidemiology analyst at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and as a senior research associate at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, where she analyzed data from the California Health Interview Survey.

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BRIAN HUANG (ABOVE LEFT), A PHD STUDENT IN FSPH’S CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM, WITH DR. ZUO-FENG ZHANG, THE PROGRAM’S DIRECTOR.

“My molecular epidemiology training integrated the biological aspects of disease research with the methodological foundations of epidemiology,” says Kim, whose PhD studies focused on genetic susceptibility to lung cancer. “I learned not only the statistical aspects of diseases, but also how to explore the biology behind them.” Kim is now a senior manager on the epidemiology/ biostatistics team in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, office of the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Genzyme, analyzing clinical data for patients with rare diseases.

Mia Hashibe (MPH ’99, PhD ’02) was part of the first class of cancer molecular epidemiology trainees at the Fielding School. “The idea of combining data-based research with laboratory work was really interesting to me,” she says. “Traditional epidemiology relies to a large extent on self-reported data, but we were beginning to supplement that with biological markers.”

With her FSPH tuition covered by the training program, Hashibe was able to devote 20 hours a week during her PhD studies to working alongside Zhang as a research assistant. After graduation she spent seven years at the World Health Organization’s Interna-

tional Agency for Research on Cancer in France before moving to the University of Utah, where she is currently an associate professor of family and preventive medicine, as well as director of research for the statewide Utah Cancer Registry. Her studies focus on how risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes interact with certain genetic variants to increase susceptibility to head and neck cancers. She also helped to start the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, of which Zhang is an executive committee member, to encourage collaborations and the pooling of data.

Hashibe was trained just as the field of molecular epidemiology — made possible by the revolutions in molecular biology and genetics, including the first successful sequencing of the human genome — was starting. Two decades later, the field is undergoing seismic shifts as genetic sequencing and information technologies continue to advance at a rapid clip, enabling molecular epidemiologists to examine at a more granular level how cancers develop. “When I was in the PhD program we were typically looking at one genetic variant at a time, and now we’re

looking at millions,” Hashibe marvels.

“People used to refer to a ‘black box’ in cancer epidemiology — we knew about the environmental factors, but very little was known about how they interacted with the molecular biology and genetics,” says Wendy Setiawan (MS ’00, PhD ’02), an associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, where she studies genetic susceptibility to the development of liver, pancreatic and endometrial cancers, and how environmental factors can increase or reduce individual risk.

The FSPH Cancer Epidemiology Training Program laid the foundation for her successful academic career, Setiawan says, by giving her the ability to design and implement studies as well as teaching her how to collect and handle biological samples — something that was foreign to her previous education in epidemiology. “I still collaborate with FSPH trainees on projects,” she says.

“The program’s students are always of the highest quality.”

One of those trainees is Brian Huang, who has worked closely with Setiawan on pancreatic cancer studies. “With molecular epidemiology approaches, we have a chance to move pancreatic cancer in the direction of breast and colon cancer, which are very common but also now very treatable,” Huang says. “Being involved in that effort is very exciting.”

PHD STUDENTS IN THE PROGRAM, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: CLAIRE EUIYOUNG KIM, LARA YOON, GINA E. NAM AND CLAIRY (FANG) FANG.

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11

SUMMER TR AINING

FIELD DAYS Each summer, Fielding School students gain hands-on experience practicing public health locally, internationally and in between. For many, these internships provide the first opportunity to apply classroom lessons and to weigh potential public health career paths. On the pages that follow, eight such students recount their recent summer training and how it has influenced their post-graduation plans.

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U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

CYNTHIA BLACKMAN MS Student Department of Environmental Health Sciences

Summer Training: Navy Preventive Medicine Unit, San Diego WORKER HEALTH AND

experience in military

SAFETY, along with

environments, I have had the

environmental protection, have

privilege of serving with Sailors

been my lifelong passions. I

and Marines with various skill

did my summer internship with

sets. These skill sets often

the Navy Preventive Medicine

expose them to a multitude

Unit in San Diego, working

of hazards, all of which are

closely with the Industrial

identified and mitigated for

Hygiene division in conducting

by naval industrial hygienists.

baseline and periodic industrial

My goal is to protect those

hygiene surveys; exposure

who protect us — our Sailors

monitoring; sound-level

and Marines. Through this

measurements; ventilation

internship, I was able to take my

and air-quality assessments;

first steps toward ensuring that

respirator fit testing; mold,

these protections are in place.

lead and asbestos sampling;

I was able to not only see, but

and occupational safety and

also participate in the various

health program training. I

programs geared toward

also researched whole-body

securing their safety. Partaking

vibration exposure and back

in this internship reinforced

pain in the helicopter aircrew.

my desire to become a naval

Throughout my 19-year

industrial hygienist.

My goal for after graduation

clinical trials. The development

CRYSTAL SHAW PhD Student Department of Biostatistics

Summer Training: Pfizer, Inc., La Jolla, California

BIOSTATISTICS LIVES AT THE

compounds and the design of

INTERSECTION of my love for

studies involving patients. My

quantitative, analytical thinking

role consisted of building and

and my passion for making a

analyzing gene networks (visual

difference. I chose this field

displays of the relationships

for my PhD studies so that

between genes), with the

I could dedicate my career

primary goal of identifying new

to solving interesting, high-

drug targets. I streamlined the

impact problems. Last summer,

process of turning raw data

I was offered an internship in

into gene networks, improved

the Computational Biology/

metrics used in creating the

was always to obtain a position in

of life-saving drugs starts with

Oncology group at Pfizer, Inc. in

networks, and built a software

the pharmaceutical industry, but

a diverse group of scientists

La Jolla, California. The group

tool for this data pipeline that is

this summer experience taught

finding patterns in big data, and

conducts pre-clinical research,

currently being used within the

me that the application of my

I believe that biostatisticians are

which means that its work

group for research in various

biostatistical training extends far

well equipped to impact this field

precedes the formulation of drug

cancer settings.

beyond designing and analyzing

in a powerful way.

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13

SUMMER TR AINING

CHASE ISRAEL MPH Student Department of Epidemiology

Summer Training: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

IN MY ROLE AS A RESEARCH

are keeping parents from

INTERN for the Pediatric Injury

implementing them.

Prevention Scholars program

Along the way I was also

within the trauma department

able to contribute to a few

at Children’s Hospital Los

grants, my favorite of which

Angeles (CHLA), I worked on

was for an initiative to tailor

research aiming to keep kids

active-shooter trauma training

out of the emergency room. My

to high school students. I

main goal was to develop an

loved that we were trying to

original study for that purpose,

tackle an issue that makes

and in the process I found

many people uncomfortable,

there is a gap in the literature

because those are the issues

on smartphone applications

that tend to need the most

aiming to reduce distractions

attention. I found the team I

among teen drivers. Motor

worked with at CHLA inspiring;

vehicle crashes are the biggest

as a result, I am staying with

killer of U.S. teens. My survey

the trauma department through

study focuses on parental

the academic year, and am

perceptions regarding those

considering pursuing injury

apps and the barriers that

prevention as a career.

LAMAR HAYES

MPH Student (pictured far left) Department of Environmental Health Sciences Summer Training: Sonke Gender Justice, Cape Town, South Africa campaign training curriculums.

This opportunity to help

will be invaluable for my future work in the field. Acquiring

advance global health outcomes

knowledge about community

was a great educational

trainings and events in a foreign

experience in building

country gave me a firsthand

culture-specific content. My

view of some of the differences

internship enabled me to

in how public health initiatives

better understand some global

unfold in other countries.

health successes, as well as the

The experience enhanced my

challenges of implementing

interest in global health and

initiatives while being

increased my awareness of

I INTERNED LAST SUMMER

master’s student in public health

conscious of social stigmas

global health issues. It solidified

at Sonke Gender Justice, a

at the University of Cape Town,

and atmospheres in different

my desire to work abroad with

nonprofit organization in Cape

my work aimed to improve

countries. Learning about the

underrepresented populations

Town, South Africa that works

maternal and infant/child health

culture and experiences of the

in an effort to improve maternal

across Africa to promote gender

outcomes by creating an online

population was something I

and infant/child health

equality. In conjunction with a

program for Sonke’s fatherhood

thoroughly appreciated, and it

outcomes.

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U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

RYAN ASSAF MPH Student Department of Epidemiology

Summer Training: Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru I HAD THE PLEASURE OF completing my summer internship in the epidemiology program at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, under the direction of Dr. Kelika Konda [adjunct assistant professor in FSPH’s Department of Epidemiology and in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA]. My work with Dr. Konda on HIV prevention efforts entailed setting up and providing training to clinical staff at 10 sites for the distribution of PrEP, a medication that can prevent HIV. This was part of a study that was also being conducted in Brazil and Mexico. My main role was to investigate and develop a research question from data collected in a preliminary survey. I performed literature reviews, coding and statistical analyses, which led to the submission of two abstracts to a conference as first author and second author.

A major driver for my working in Peru was to learn Spanish and obtain a strong understanding of the culture, which I can continue to draw on in Los Angeles. The experience I gained helped to reinforce what I learned in my first year as an MPH student, confirmed my desire to go into research involving prevention of infectious diseases, and opened the door to my participation in global

ESTHER GAO

MPH Student Department of Community Health Sciences Summer Training: Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles

work. I plan to continue to a PhD, with the hope of returning to Peru to pursue further research.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education funding through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, I worked with Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA) to create and implement a pilot project that encouraged small-farm business owners to promote healthy foods and relay nutrition messages about their produce to customers. Market visitors were encouraged to try samples highlighting market produce and received recipe cards with fact sheets that summarized the recipe’s nutritional benefits.

Given my interest in chronic disease prevention and my love of nutrition, it was an ideal experience.

I was drawn to SEE-LA’s mission of supporting not only members of the community, but also small-farm business owners.

The internship showed me the time and dedication public health professionals devote to the field. Their passion was inspiring, and it sparked my interest in improving access to resources such as healthy foods for disadvantaged communities. Every week I looked forward to having conversations about food with interested patrons and watching their surprised faces when they tried a new vegetable for the first time. The experience solidified my desire to work in the community and pursue a career in which I am directly interacting with the community members I serve. ph.ucla.edu

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15

SUMMER TR AINING

MARK ALSAY

MPH Student (pictured standing) Department of Health Policy and Management Summer Training: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Los Angeles

AS A PROCESS IMPROVEMENT intern

margin, no mission.” It highlights the

at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation

critical role capital and money play in the

(AHF) in Los Angeles last summer, my

organization’s ability to fulfill its mission,

job was essentially to analyze data on

which is to provide high-quality care

HIV/STD testing processes to establish

regardless of ability to pay.

benchmarks that would improve the

Working at a large nonprofit like

organization’s ability to bring people

AHF has affected the way I think about

who are HIV/STD-positive into care.

solving issues of health and social justice.

I took this opportunity because I

Seeing how the organization utilizes its

wanted to broaden my experiences by

resources to provide testing, outreach,

working in a nonprofit setting. Over the

medical care, advocacy and now housing

10-week period I learned a great deal

to the communities it serves has inspired

about the organization, its culture and

me to work to build more dynamic

its people. One of the major lessons

programs that can address the same

can be summed up in the mantra, “No

issues in other communities.

MARUFA KHANDAKER MPH Student Department of Community Health Sciences

Summer Training: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh

MY INTERNSHIP AT the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, a global health research institute based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to return to my roots and work in my parents’ home country. I have always wanted to learn more about the country my parents emigrated from, particularly its inadequate and fragmented health care system — which had frequently served as a barrier to quality health care for some of my family members. What’s more, this was a chance to participate in the efforts of an organization my paternal grandfather had worked in as it was being created, to walk in his footsteps and see Bangladesh through a local lens.

Through my projects, which focused on health-service planning and the development of effective referral systems, I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge — about the current health care system, the disease burden of slum communities, and the health-seeking behaviors and preferred providers of the people in these communities. Living like a local during student-led protests also broadened my understanding of the corrupt political climate of Bangladesh. Overall, the experience showed me the importance of research and medicine, especially as a voice to address the needs of the unheard, and fueled my passion for global health work.

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U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

H I R E

E D U C A T I O N

The FSPH Career Services office empowers students with information about employment trends and possible career pathways, practical resources, and a community of support to confidently make a lifetime of career decisions.

STUDENTS HENAR ABDELMONEM (LEFT) AND TAYLER WARD AT FSPH CAREER SERVICES’ “UNLEASH YOUR STRENGTHS” ORIENTATION.

BARELY MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER GRADUATING from the Fielding School, Gelliza Gervacio (MPH ’17) holds her dream position, working as a biostatistician at a clinical research organization in Carlsbad, California. For that, she says, she owes a debt of gratitude to both her biostatistics education and the training she received from the FSPH Career Services office.

“Getting your degree doesn’t guarantee that you’ll end up with the job you’re looking for,” Gervacio says. “In addition to subject-specific expertise, you need professional skills — including knowing how to make your résumé stand out, how to establish relationships with people in your industry and how to present yourself in ways that will make people want to hire you.”

The FSPH Career Services office trains students in these skills through one-on-one counseling, as well as activities ranging from peer-to-peer workshops to hands-on learning experiences. Students learn about employment trends, obtain feedback on their résumés, conduct mock interviews and salary negotiations, and are counseled on how to make the most of their internship experiences. They are connected as part of the training with potential employers, including alumni and other community partners.

“We want to equip students with the confidence, skills, tools and community to move successfully through every phase of their internship, their job search and beyond,” says Kristy Sherrer, FSPH’s career services director. “By prioritizing this type of training, we’re making sure students have the pieces they need to maximize their impact on the public health workforce.”

The training starts with a self-assessment. Unleash Your Strengths, a new initiative based on Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment, is administered to all incoming students. Once they are made aware of their strengths, Sherrer explains, students can better identify areas within public health where they can make the biggest impact and achieve the most fulfillment.

Sherrer notes that the Fielding School has surveyed employers about the skills they particularly value in new hires, and has asked FSPH alumni what skills they found most valuable as they moved into the job market. Among both groups, the most frequent responses were strong verbal and written communication, along with problem-solving skills.

“Building confidence around professional communication is a major focus,” Sherrer says.

The professional development training provided by the FSPH Career Services office continues to be in high demand, Sherrer notes. As part of an assessment of the level of participation and effectiveness of the programs, she found that students’ self-reported confidence levels in professionalism topics soared from 47 percent before the training to 95 percent after.

Gelliza Gervacio was among those who moved into the high-confidence category as she took advantage of the training through the duration of her time in the MPH program.

“Career advisers I saw before I got to the Fielding School tended to offer more generic tips, but Kristy Sherrer understood the statistics industry,” she says. “Because of that, the advice I received was geared to exactly what I wanted to be doing after graduation.” ph.ucla.edu

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17

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE

Workplace Wellness UCLA’s Industrial Hygiene Program, based in the Fielding School, teaches students how to ensure that jobs are safe.

DR. SHANE QUE HEE (CENTER), FSPH PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES AND DIRECTOR OF THE UCLA INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE PROGRAM, EXPLAINS THE TESTING AND MANIPULATION OF COMMERCIAL VENTILATION SYSTEMS TO THE PROGRAM'S STUDENTS, INCLUDING JACK AROUCHIAN (LEFT) AND XINGMEI LIU (RIGHT).

18

ASK DR. SHANE QUE HEE, FSPH professor of environmental health sciences, about the impact of the UCLA Industrial Hygiene Program and his answer is emphatic: “It saves lives.”

So why don’t industrial hygienists — the scientists and professionals who help to protect the health and safety of workers — make regular headlines? Probably because, like many public health practitioners, their work is focused on preventing people from getting sick or injured in the first place.

Que Hee, who directs the FSPH-based training program, explains that industrial hygienists traditionally worked in factories, where they assessed whether workers were exposed to unsafe levels of toxic chemicals and other hazards, and trained them to follow procedures and wear protective equipment. The field has evolved to include oversight of non-factory settings, where industrial hygienists might be responsible for verifying that air filtration and ventilation systems are properly functioning and

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

not exposing workers to polluted air, or that desks, spaces, chairs and work environments are not ergonomic stressors. Industrial hygienists work for large companies, governments, insurance carriers, unions, universities and consulting companies. They often collaborate with epidemiologists, physicians, nurses, safety specialists and toxicologists.

They anticipate, identify, evaluate, control and prevent factors that affect worker health, including physical factors (noise, heat, cold, radiation); airborne particles and chemicals; biological exposures such as airborne microorganisms; mechanical stressors such as those causing carpal tunnel syndrome; and factors affecting psychosocial health, including job stress and workplace violence.

“Being an industrial hygienist means you have to be able to measure stressors to show that you have a safe and healthy environment,” Que Hee says. “You need to know how to do a risk assessment to confirm that whatever guidelines or regulations are applicable are obeyed.”

The UCLA Industrial Hygiene Program’s curriculum includes hands-on training using monitoring and safety equipment, field trips, and courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, general environmental health and other scientific fields. Students are taught, for example, not only how to take air samples and submit them to a lab, but also the methods the lab will use to analyze the samples.

The program, based in FSPH’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences, was established in 1983 and is part of the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. It is supported by the Southern California NIOSH Education and Research Center, one of 18 multidisciplinary occupational health centers of excellence in the U.S., which provides students with some financial support for tuition and living expenses. Students receive MPH, MS and doctoral degrees; currently the program includes 10 students, four of whom are doctoral students.

Nadia Ho entered the program while pursuing dual degrees with FSPH’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. After Ho’s first year at FSPH, she did a summer internship within the environmental health and safety department of defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

“With heavy manufacturing you get exposed to all the aspects of industrial hygiene,” Ho says. “This site [where I interned] makes propulsion and power generation systems and launch platforms for U.S. Navy submarines and aircraft carriers. The process included welding of stainless steel, as well as painting and sandblasting. We had a facilities team that did construction, painting and sandblasting.

I was there, absorbing everything. I realized this was really what I wanted to do. It involved worker safety and environmental programs and touched upon everything EHS students learn at UCLA.” Dr. Niklas Krause, director of the Southern California NIOSH Education and Research Center and FSPH professor of environmental health sciences and epidemiology, says industrial hygienists are in great demand.

“Being an industrial hygienist means you have to be able to measure stressors to show that you have a safe and healthy environment.”

— Dr. Shane Que Hee

“All organizations have safety and health concerns, so they need to have a supply of well-trained industrial hygienists,” he says.

Second-year MPH student Jack Arouchian is familiar with the many forms of practice that industrial hygiene can take. Before enrolling at FSPH, he worked with a consulting company where he assessed safety at foundries, bakeries, factories, airports and many other settings.

He currently works as an industrial hygienist with the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, where he helps to ensure the safety of lineworkers, individuals who construct and maintain electric power lines.

Arouchian recently was asked to investigate a volt explosion, determined that it occurred due to methane gas leaking, and asked the workers to clear the site.

“What I’ve learned [at UCLA] has helped me train an average of 20-30 lineworkers weekly,” he says. “I teach them how to eliminate or minimize exposure to hazardous agents such as asbestos, lead, respirable crystalline silica, noise and heat stress, and what the health effects of contaminants are.”

One of the courses offered by the program explores the health effects posed by physical agents, sources of energy such as noise, vibration and electromagnetic radiation that may cause injury or disease. That course inspired second-year MS student Cynthia Blackman to focus her research thesis on the effects of whole body vibrations experienced by U.S. Navy aircrew and how they relate to back pain. “A lot of the literature says that after a certain amount of time, helicopter pilots experience chronic back pain, but most of those papers were written in the ’80s and ’90s, and they were focused on pilots,” Blackman notes. “I haven’t found a lot of literature focused on aircrew.”

Blackman enrolled in the UCLA Industrial Hygiene Program while serving as a surface warfare officer with the U.S. Navy.

Upon graduation, she plans to return to military service, but as an industrial hygienist.

“On one ship, two doors down from where I was working, there was a door that was taped off,” Blackman recalls of her time as a surface warfare officer. “It turned out there was potential lead exposure and we needed to have our industrial hygienist come in and evaluate the space. It made me think, these are the people who are protecting the United States. Who’s protecting them? I want to be the one protecting them.” ph.ucla.edu

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19

POSTDOCTOR AL SCHOL AR PROFILE

Finding Justice

Hearing about the refugee journeys of her parents and their friends left Negar Omidakhsh determined to improve social conditions through research.

Negar Omidakhsh (PhD ’17)

Postdoctoral Scholars train-

Development Goals established

hadn’t yet turned 2 when her

ing program, based in FSPH’s

by the United Nations General

parents brought her and her

WORLD Policy Analysis Center.

Assembly in 2015. Omidakhsh’s

older brother to Canada as

“Growing up with a mother who was such an inspiring role model gave me an appreciation for the importance of equality and how that shapes all female generations.”

—Negar Omidakhsh

While pursuing her under-

postdoctoral research has

refugees. They had fled Iran in

graduate and master’s educa-

focused on policies and norms

the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic

tion at the University of British

related to gender equality. Her

Revolution — losing almost all of

Columbia in Vancouver, Omida-

first project looked at child

their money to smugglers in the

khsh devoted significant time to

marriage policies — an issue

process — so that Omidakhsh’s

advocating for refugee rights.

of personal interest to Omida-

father could receive a university

She co-coordinated a well-

khsh, whose grandmother and

education. Growing up, Omida-

attended series of talks at the

mother married at ages 12 and

khsh watched with admiration

Vancouver Public Library, where

15, respectively. She found that

as her parents worked tirelessly

refugees could share their sto-

in countries that implemented

to learn a new language and

ries, then spent two years volun-

policies prohibiting child mar-

obtain college degrees. She

teering at a high-profile refugee

riage, attitudes about domestic

heard stories of the refugee

law firm, preparing background

violence improved among both

journeys of her parents’ friends,

research for families seeking

men and women. In June 2018,

each characterized by hardship,

to avoid deportation. Omida-

Omidakhsh co-led a workshop

pain and the courage required

khsh then came to the Fielding

at the Girls Not Brides Global

to leave homes behind in the

School for her PhD in epide-

Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malay-

hope of a better future.

miology, with her dissertation

sia, designed to assist advocates

focusing on maternal occupa-

from around the globe in trans-

exposures proved pivotal when it

tional exposures and childhood

lating the findings into impact.

came time for Omidakhsh to con-

cancer risk.

These formative childhood

sider what she wanted to do with

In the Hilton program,

Omidakhsh says she has received invaluable training

her own life. “That understand-

Omidakhsh is learning state-of-

from the Hilton program in

ing of adversity early on is what

the-art approaches to deter-

how to conduct independent

inspired me to pursue research

mining the most effective and

research. She has also ben-

aiming to alleviate the struggles

efficient ways to improve social

efited from the opportunity

faced by some of the world’s

conditions for poor and margin-

to supervise FSPH graduate

most marginalized populations,”

alized populations at a global

students in a systematic review

says Omidakhsh, who is currently

scale — specifically, how best

of the relationship between

in her second year of the Hilton

to implement the Sustainable

global policy and women’s work outcomes. In all of her work, Omidakhsh is driven by a desire to improve the lives of women around the world. “I care about women’s health, their autonomy, the norms that shape who they become and the rights of their children, particularly if they are girls, to an education and a safe and thriving environment,” she says. “Growing up with a mother who was such an inspiring role model gave me an appreciation

NEGAR OMIDAKHSH WAS 2 WHEN HER FAMILY MOVED TO CANADA AS

for the importance of equality

REFUGEES FROM IRAN FOLLOWING

and how that shapes all female

THE 1979 ISLAMIC REVOLUTION.

generations.”

20

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

ALUMNI PROFILE

Speaking from Experience Having thrived during her training at the Fielding School, Kate Crespi is using her faculty position to ensure that her students reap the same rewards.

KATE CRESPI (MS ’91, PHD ’04) believes the most important quality for any academic in mentoring students is empathy.

And as someone who trained in the Fielding School’s Department of Biostatistics before joining the department’s faculty, where she is now professor in residence, Crespi can easily identify with her students’ experiences.

Crespi completed her MS in FSPH’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences,

DR. KATE CRESPI WITH JUSTIN WILLIAMS (MS ’16), A PHD CANDIDATE IN THE FIELDING SCHOOL’S DEPARTMENT OF BIOSTATISTICS.

then spent five years working

“Biostatistics is a highly collaborative discipline, so it’s particularly beneficial to train at a research powerhouse like UCLA.” —Dr. Kate Crespi

at the South Coast Air Quality

ment of Biostatistics, considers

in the FSPH-based Center for

Management District. While

Crespi one of his department’s

Cancer Prevention and Control

there, she developed quanti-

most valued trainers. “As an

Research, where she is now the

tative health-risk assessments

active researcher on many

lead biostatistician.

associated with air pollution

high-profile projects in FSPH

exposures, using both com-

and the David Geffen School of

than 100 peer-reviewed publica-

puter simulations and statistical

Medicine at UCLA, she is instru-

tions and has served as principal

methods. Fascinated by the

mental in bringing graduate stu-

investigator or co-investigator

work, Crespi decided to return

dents onto scientific projects,”

on more than 40 funded studies

to the Fielding School for a PhD

Banerjee explains. “Working

covering major public health

in biostatistics.

with Dr. Crespi has considerably

issues such as cancer, obesity

“Ever since I was a kid, math

enhanced the research experi-

and infectious diseases. But

was my favorite subject, but not

ence of many of our students.”

nothing takes a back seat to

for its own sake; I was interested

During her own train-

Crespi has amassed more

her work with FSPH students.

in using statistics to advance

ing, Crespi says, she grew to

“I know how stressful graduate

public health,” Crespi explains.

appreciate both the quality of

school can be,” she says. “I try

As she progressed through her

the program’s faculty and the

to be supportive, maintain a

training — including a postdoc-

wide-ranging research opportu-

positive outlook, and allow stu-

toral fellowship supported by

nities within and outside of the

dents to feel a sense of owner-

the biostatistics department’s

Fielding School. “Biostatistics is

ship of their work, while making

HIV/AIDS training grant — Cre-

a highly collaborative discipline,

sure they understand that

spi concluded that she didn’t

so it’s particularly beneficial

science has to be conducted

want to leave academia. “I have

to train at a research power-

with a high level of integrity

experience working for the

house like UCLA,” she says.

and attention to detail. It’s also

government and in the private

Many of the connections Crespi

easy for doctoral students to

sector, but what I love most is

forged during her training have

get caught up in the minutiae

doing research and mentoring

endured through her faculty

of their dissertation. I want to

students,” she says.

tenure. Most notably, as a post-

make sure my students don’t

doctoral scholar Crespi began

lose sight of the big-picture

collaborating with researchers

impact of their work.”

Dr. Sudipto Banerjee, chair of the Fielding School’s Depart-

ph.ucla.edu

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21

WORKFORCE EDUCATION

E X T R A C R E D I T FSPH’s Executive Programs in Health Policy & Management allow working health professionals to gain new skills.

NIKI MILLER, MPH ’16 (LEFT), AND HER COLLEAGUE, KARINA ROMERO, BOTH OF WHOM COMPLETED THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE THROUGH THE FSPHBASED EXECUTIVE PROGRAMS IN HEALTH POLICY & MANAGEMENT, WORK TOGETHER IN SUPPORT OF THE UCLA FACULTY PRACTICE GROUP.

CARLOS CHAVEZ (MPH ’18) already had an established career at health insurance provider Anthem Inc. when he decided to enroll in FSPH’s Executive Master of Public Health (EMPH) to fill in gaps in his health policy and management knowledge. The program made it possible for Chavez to take classes toward his degree on weekends while continuing in his fulltime job. But right before he was about to graduate, Chavez realized he wanted to tack on another skill that seemed to be in heavy demand.

“I was getting involved in a lot of projects at work as a contributor, but not as a manager,” Chavez says. “As

I started to look for a new position, I noticed many hiring managers wanted people with project management skills or certification.”

Chavez learned that in addition to offering a degree program for working professionals, UCLA’s Executive Programs in Health Policy & Management, based in the Fielding School, include a project management workshop. Over the course of two weekends, Chavez learned how to manage all phases of a health care-focused project and how to use project management software.

Chavez, now a business change manager at Anthem, is currently working with information technology and

“People arrive in management positions through many different paths.”

— Dr. Leah Vriesman

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business colleagues to create a new payment system for some providers in Anthem’s care network.

Like Chavez, most people who sign up for FSPH’s professional development workshops are looking to get a boost in their careers, says Dr. Leah Vriesman, director of Executive Programs in Health Policy & Management and adjunct associate professor at the Fielding School.

“People arrive in management positions through many different paths,” Vriesman says. “They may have a health care background, such as a radiology technician or licensed vocational nurse, and have an aptitude for managing people. They may then find themselves managing the organization’s process improvement processes and they start to realize they don’t have project management skills or quality metrictracking skills they need.”

FSPH offers several courses for health administration professionals, which can be taken alone or as part of a series. Topics include: * Health Care Transformation & Performance Excellence. Attendees in these courses are encouraged to think through how they would improve everyday processes at work to make them more efficient. Participants learn about gathering data and applying basic statistical analyses to their data sets, and then create visual representations of their data that others can understand. * Health Care Project Management. These courses, offered over two weekends, can be used to satisfy the required 35 hours of education for certification from the Project Management Institute as a Project Management Professional. Niki Miller (MPH ’16), a graduate of FSPH’s EMPH program who is now director of business operations for UCLA Health, used the knowledge she learned from this series to implement standards in projects that she manages, such as one involving credentialing software.

“After obtaining my MPH, I read books about project management, but this course helped me learn a structured approach and hands-on problem-solving techniques,” Miller says.

A Foot in the Hospital Door: Early Workforce Development “Instead of giving up their passion for health care, [students] can see through this program that there are options in health care management.”

— Kyle Sullivan

ph.ucla.edu

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UNDERGR ADUATE ENGAGEMENT

The UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program engages some of the nation’s most promising college students in an eight-week summer introduction to the possibilities of a public health career.

ELAINE OWUSU WILL NEVER FORGET the summer between her junior and senior years at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Owusu spent eight weeks in residence on the UCLA campus, where she and more than three dozen peers received an intensive introduction to the field of public health as part of the first cohort of the UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program.

The program combined education and hands-on training — in Owusu’s case, an internship assisting the director of quality improvement at St. John’s Well Child & Family Center, which provides 24

free and low-cost care to nearly 100,000 low-income patients in Los Angeles.

“The most enjoyable part was learning what it means to be a public health professional,” says Owusu, who plans to pursue master’s degrees in public health and business administration. “The opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas with my amazing cohort, as well as with professionals from the greater Los Angeles area, left me inspired and ready to change the world.”

Owusu was among 40 undergraduate and recently graduated college students from across the nation who spent last summer learning about pub-

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

lic health and the potential for careers within the field. The eight-week program — including two days a week of seminars, workshops, mentorship and professional development, along with three days a week working as interns at community-based public health organizations — is funded by the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Fielding School was one of five Undergraduate Public Health Scholars programs funded, with a five-year, $2.7 million grant supporting the summer scholars with stipends, housing and other

expenses, including a trip to the CDC in Atlanta.

In the U.S., a minimum of 250,000 new public health workers will be needed by 2020 to fill gaps created by retirement and other turnover, according to the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health. Equally concerning to the CDC is the lack of diversity within the public health workforce, which threatens to compromise the ability of public health professionals to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse society.

The Public Health Scholars Training Program is part of an effort to address both the pipeline and diversity issues by introducing bright and dedicated young students to the possibilities within the public health profession.

The first 40 of the 200 students who will participate in the FSPH program over the five-year period were selected out of a highly competitive process that produced nearly 1,200 applicants, with the funding support for the scholars helping to ensure that students from low-income backgrounds could afford to participate.

“These are young students who are in the ‘sweet spot’ for the population we want to reach — still undecided about what they want to do and unsure about what a career in public health looks like, but deeply committed to improving the conditions around them and excited to learn about the opportunities,” says Dr. Michael Prelip, professor and chair of FSPH’s Department of Community Health Sciences and director of the program. “The passion they brought to our school was contagious.”

To help the program’s first cohort learn about all facets of public health, the program recruited faculty from all five FSPH academic departments for skills training, lectures and professional development activities. Weekly themes were built off of the interests expressed by the scholars, with health equity and social justice serving as the underlying component. Community professionals were brought in to discuss their organizations and how their careers developed, and policy and advocacy discussions were held on the week’s theme.

UCLA PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOLARS TRAINING PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS ASHYA SMITH (LEFT) AND AYANNA SMITH, UNDERGRADUATES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, AND XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA, RESPECTIVELY, BOND DURING A HEAL THE BAY CLEANUP EVENT IN REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA.

A key part of the training program involves the internships. Students are placed, based on their interests, in community-based organizations, health systems and government agencies throughout Los Angeles, with the internship supervisors serving as the students’ professional mentors.

Kelly Reyna, a student at Emory University in Atlanta majoring in human health and sociology, did her internship at The Wall Las Memorias Project, a community health organization in Los Angeles that provides health services to Latinx, LGBTQ+, low-income, and other populations. Working closely with the organization’s executive director and HIV program manager fueled Reyna’s interest in pursuing health equity through advocacy, community

engagement and other public health approaches; after her senior year at Emory, she plans to spend a year working for a public health organization while applying to MPH programs.

Francisco Ortiz, a political science major at UC Merced, saw the FSPH training program as an opportunity to better understand how advocacy and programming efforts could improve the overall health and education of college students. Learning about public health and participating in the day-today operations and research efforts at Latino Equality Alliance — including the publication of the UndocuQueer Health Resource Guide for Los Angeles and UndocuQueer Night, which centered on storytelling, advocacy and action — left Ortiz determined to

“Participating made me feel like I’m really working toward something that can make a positive difference in the world.”

— Bryan Okelo ph.ucla.edu

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UNDERGR ADUATE ENGAGEMENT

SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY’S BLANCA MORALES HELPS TO IMPROVE LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS’ ACCESS TO FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

empower marginalized communities in ways that improve health outcomes. He is currently applying to PhD programs in public health and social psychology.

For Vivian Duong, a fourth-year UCLA student majoring in psychology

something she intends to explore in the future, particularly as a way to open up dialogues about mental health. Duong came away from the experience with the realization that there are many potential routes she can pursue in public health. “One can do much with it, from creating impact in the local community to disease prevention within a state, nation or globally, to advocating for better health policies, to even the use of art to enhance health within the public space,” she says.

Among the most valuable aspects of the program for many of the scholars was the opportunity to meet and establish enduring bonds with peers who are equally passionate about public health. “Participating in this program made me feel like I’m really working toward something that can make a positive difference in the world, and I’m not the only one trying to do so,” says Bryan Okelo, now in his senior year at Washington University in St. Louis. For his internship with Community Health Councils, an organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of underserved populations, Okelo educated residents of Los Angeles’ Baldwin

“These young students are unsure about what a career in public health looks like, but deeply committed to improving the conditions around them and excited to learn about the opportunities.” — Dr. Michael Prelip

with a double minor in Asian American studies and education, the program offered the chance to learn about the intersection of mental health and public health, particularly in Asian American communities. During her internship at Valley Family Center, a nonprofit organization providing counseling and educational services, Duong discovered her passion for using art to facilitate growth and healing — 26

Hills neighborhood on pollution-related health risks faced by their community and ways to make their concerns heard. Upon graduation, he plans to spend a year working in public health before returning to school for a doctoral program focusing on the intersection of community health sciences and health policy and management.

The bonding among the scholars was no accident. “We wanted to create

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that sense of community among the cohort — to help them understand that the relationships they developed here would continue to serve as support systems for the rest of their careers,” says Lindsay Rice, program manager for the UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program. “By the end, the students felt like they were part of something bigger than themselves.”

The first cohort of scholars will remain in touch through quarterly conference calls, Rice notes, and were encouraged to use their mentors as sounding boards as they consider their next steps.

Prelip and Rice point out that the enthusiastic participation of FSPH faculty, students, staff, alumni and community partners in the program was one of the most heartening outcomes of the program’s first year. “This program is exactly what I needed when I was at their stage,” says Lisa V. Smith (MPH '94, DrPH '00), an adjunct associate professor in FSPH’s Department of Epidemiology who was active in both the design and teaching portions of the program, and who now has one of the scholars interning on her unit at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where Smith is a supervising epidemiologist in charge of rapid assessment training and evaluation. “I didn’t know public health was an option when I was in college, and so it took me 10 years to find my niche. It’s important to show these talented young people the career possibilities in public health.”

In addition to faculty such as Smith, nearly two-dozen Fielding School doctoral and master’s degree students volunteered their time as mentors and teachers. “Working with such an amazing, passionate group of young people helped to reenergize my own research,” says Sarah Roth, a PhD student in FSPH’s Department of Community Health Sciences who assisted in the design and administration of the program, as well as leading workshops and mentoring students. “After working with the scholars this summer, I truly believe that this group and their peers across the country have the vision, passion, and drive to reimagine what public health can and should be.”

SCHOOL WORK Ron Brookmeyer Named Interim Dean DR. RON BROOKMEYER, Fielding School of Public Health professor of biostatistics, began his service as interim dean of FSPH on November 1.

Brookmeyer, who joined UCLA in 2010 as a professor of biostatistics, uses the tools of the statistical, informational and mathematical sciences to address global public health problems. Over a span of more than three decades, he has developed statistical methods that sound the alarm to help address major global health challenges. Among Brookmeyer’s many accomplishments, he earned worldwide recognition for predicting the magnitude of the impending HIV/AIDS epidemic with work beginning in the mid1980s, and, through widely cited studies, he called attention to the looming Alzheimer’s epidemic.

Brookmeyer’s numerous honors include being an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Mortimer Spiegelman Gold Medal in health statistics, and holder of the American Statistical Association’s Nathan Mantel Lifetime Achievement Award and the Karl E. Peace Award for outstanding statistical contributions for the betterment of society. He has served on numerous editorial boards and scientific panels and is currently a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for the journal Science.

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FSPH SIGNS MOU WITH SHANDONG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN CHINA REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH and the Shandong University School of Public Health in China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a ceremony hosted by FSPH on October 8. The MOU is a symbolic agreement between the two schools to facilitate joint scientific research and training opportunities in global health. The Fielding School has 19 active MOUs with institutions throughout the world. ph.ucla.edu

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JONATHAN AND KARIN FIELDING ESTABLISH 5 STUDENT FELLOWSHIPS LONGTIME PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCATES Dr. Jonathan Fielding and Karin Fielding and their sons have established five fellowships for outstanding, newly admitted UCLA Fielding School of Public Health students.

Called the Fielding Fellowships, the awards will provide up to $40,000 per year for tuition and living expenses beginning with the 2019-20 academic year. All students pursuing a master’s in public health degree at the Fielding School are eligible if their interests align with one or more of the Fellowships.

The Fielding Fellowships cover public health issues that each member of the Fielding family cares deeply about and include: » » » » »

The Andrew B. Fielding Fellowship in Mental Health The Preston J. Fielding Fellowship in Environmental Health The Jonathan E. Fielding Fellowship in Health Policy The Karin B. Fielding Fellowship in Maternal and Child Health The Jonathan E. and Karin B. Fielding Family Fellowship in Nutrition

LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENTS

STAY CONNECTED WITH UCLA FSPH

DR. YIFANG ZHU, professor of environmental health sciences, was appointed associate dean for academic programs at the Fielding School, effective July 1. Zhu, an alum of the Fielding School, was appointed to the California Air Resource Board’s Research Screening Committee in January 2014 and is collaborating with Chinese researchers to address critical air pollution faced by Chinese cities and to advocate for measures to improve air quality in China. Zhu served as acting dean of FSPH from September 1 through October 31 of this year.

DR. ALINA DORIAN, adjunct assistant professor of community health sciences, was named associate dean for public health practice, effective July 1. Much of Dorian’s public health practice experience has focused on the role of domestic and international public health systems in planning for and responding to public health emergencies, and the development of tools and policies to decrease the impact of disasters.

DR. ANNE RIMOIN, associate professor of epidemiology, was appointed director of the Fielding School’s Center for Global and Immigrant Health in September. Rimoin has conducted research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the past 16 years and her work has yielded important

Visit us online: ph.ucla.edu 28

findings, including the emergence of monkeypox since the cessation of smallpox vaccination and the identification of new pathogens in animals and humans.

FSPH Receives $2 Million to Support Students with Financial Need

W E L C O M I N G N E W FA C U LT Y ROCH A. NIANOGO (MPH ’13, PhD ’17), assistant professor of epidemiology Nianogo’s combined public health and medicine expertise inform his research, which focuses on preventing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity, both globally and in the U.S. HILARY ARALIS (PhD ’16), adjunct assistant professor of biostatistics Aralis applies sophisticated methodological approaches to studying a wide variety of public health issues, including psychological and behavioral health, HIV/AIDS, aging and Alzheimer’s disease, military health, family- and community-based interventions, and environmental effects on maternal and child health.

ILAN MEYER, adjunct professor of community health sciences Meyer studies public health issues related to sexual and gender minorities.

He is the principal investigator of two large population health studies, including the TransPop Study, which aims to describe health and stressors of transgender people in the U.S. using a national probability sample.

ELIZABETH YZQUIERDO, adjunct assistant professor of community health sciences Yzquierdo has served as the Fielding School’s assistant dean for student affairs since 2016, and has worked for more than 16 years to identify, support, recruit and retain promising individuals from diverse educational and socioeconomic backgrounds who are interested in health careers.

A $2 MILLION GIFT from Jean Balgrosky and Parker Hin-

A LU M N I -S T U D E N T M E N TO R S H I P P R O G R A M

shaw will make it possible for more aspiring public health students to pursue their academic goals at UCLA. Beginning with the 2019-20 academic year, the Jean Balgrosky and Parker Hinshaw Fellowship will provide assistance with tuition and living expenses for incoming students with financial need at the FSPH. The gift to establish the fellowship will be matched by an additional $1 million from the UCLA Chancellor’s Centennial Scholars Match.

Balgrosky, who earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from UCLA, was the first recipient of the Fielding School’s Raymond D. Goodman Scholarship, in 1981. The award propelled her journey to becoming a chief information officer for large health systems, including Scripps Health, Holy Cross Health (now Trinity Health) and, currently, MD Revolution and MintHealth. She continues to be active in the Fielding School community,

THE FIELDING SCHOOL’S MENTORSHIP PROGRAM has matched more

serving on the school’s advisory board and teaching a course

than 200 students with alumni to form pairings that will last throughout

on health information technology in the Department of

the academic year. The FSPH alumni mentors represent a cross-section

Health Policy and Management. Hinshaw also has a suc-

of public health specialties and work for leading companies and organi-

cessful career in health. He is the founder of several health

zations, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

information technology consulting firms and has developed

Environmental Protection Agency, Cedars-Sinai, the United Nations and

technology systems for Eli Lilly and Co. and Community Hos-

PricewaterhouseCoopers. For more information about the program,

pitals of Indianapolis.

please email FSPHalumni@support.ucla.edu. ph.ucla.edu

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GRANTS & CONTRACTS

This section includes new grants and contracts awarded in 2017-18. Due to space limitations, only funds of $50,000 or more are listed, by principal investigator.

JANET FRANK Older Adult Mental Health Services: Future Recommendation for Workforce Education & Training Archstone Foundation, $55,000 for two years PATRICIA GANZ A Model Clinical/Translational Research Program for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Focus on Cognitive Function After Breast Cancer Treatment The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, $250,000 Adjuvant Therapy Discussions: A Focus on Long Term and Late Effects of Treatment Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, $340,000 for one-and-a-half years

RICHARD AMBROSE

CINDY CAIN

NRG-S1418/BR006 - A Randomized, Phase III Trial

Assessing the Effects of Sediment Augmentation

Building Neighborhood Social Capital: Trust,

to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of MK-3475

on the Marsh Plain and Tidal Creeks at the Seal

Safety, and Helpfulness

Merck and Company, INC & National Surgical

Beach Wetland

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $50,000

Adjuvant Breast & Bowel Project Foundation,

Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife

California End of Life Option Act at One Year:

$463,856 for eight years

Service & Southwest Wetlands Interpretive

Convening Key Stakeholders

Association, $151,678 for two years

California Healthcare Foundation & University of

DEBORAH GLIK

California, San Francisco, $94,205 for one-and-

C'este la Vie +

a-half years

The African Network for Health Education,

SUSAN BABEY California Health Interview Survey 2015-2016

$300,000 for three years

Policy Research Studies

EMMELINE CHUANG

The California Endowment, $527,000 for two years

Qualitative Research, Project Management and

PAMINA GORBACH AND STEVEN SHOPTAW

Statistical Analysis - Task Order

Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) and

Department of Veterans Affairs, $1,317,555

Substances Cohort at UCLA Linking Infections

ROSHAN BASTANI Precision Health Approaches to Liver Cancer

Noting Effects (MASCULINE)

Control

JASON CLAGUE AND THOMAS BELIN

National Institute on Drug Abuse, $9,458,924 for

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center/Clinical

Developing Statistical Methods for Spatial

five years

and Translational Institute/David Geffen School

Relationships and Missing Teeth in Oral-Health

of Medicine, $200,000 for two years

Research

JULIA HECK

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial

Ambient Air Toxics and Breast Cancer Risk

Research, $55,013 for one-and-a-half years

UC California Breast Cancer Research Program,

ROSHAN BASTANI & BETH GLENN Comparative Effectiveness of System

$867,768 for three years

Interventions to Increase Human Papillomavirus

BURTON COWGILL

(HPV) Vaccine Receipts in Federally Qualified

Project Towards No Nicotine: Afterschool

JODY HEYMANN

Health Centers (FQHC)

Tobacco Use Prevention Program

Lancet Series on Gender

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute,

UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program,

United Arab Emirates & Stanford University,

$6,476,899 for six years

$397,095 for two years

$440,000

HIRAM BELTRAN-SANCHEZ

CATHERINE CRESPI

Education and Work for Youth with Disabilities

Demographic Models and Hypotheses Testing of

Investing in the HIV Care Continuum: Model-

Ford Foundation, $750,000 for two years

Delayed Effects on Adult Mortality

Based Methods to Translate Adolescent Medicine

National Institute on Aging & University of

Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions

MICHAEL JERRETT

Wisconsin, $166,349 for three years

(ATN) Findings into Policy Recommendations

Effects of Brake and Tire Wear on Particulate

Mexican Health and Aging Study III

National Institute of Child Health and Human

Matter Composition, Reactive Oxygen Species,

National Institute on Aging & University of

Development & University of North Carolina,

Placental Development and Birth Outcomes in

Texas, Galveston, $278,027 for five years

$155,161 for four years

Los Angeles

BARBARA BERMAN

REBEKAH ISRAEL CROSS AND

Resources Board, $458,813 for two years

E-cigarette and Tobacco Use Prevention for Deaf

CHANDRA FORD

Building GIS into the Tobacco Control Policy

and Hard-of-Hearing Youth

Health Policy Research Scholars

Research of Southeast Asia

UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program,

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $120,000

Fogarty International Center & Loma Linda

$299,816 for two years

for four years

University, $176,806 for four years

Advancing the Realization of the Right to

California Environmental Protection Agency Air

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LEEKA KHEIFETS

NINEZ PONCE

THOMAS RICE

Exploring Distance and Magnetic Fields

California Health Interview Survey

Los Angeles Area Health Services Research

Association in California Power Line Study

Archstone Foundation, $510,000 for four years;

Training Program

Electric Power Research Institute, $272,917 for

Kaiser Foundation Research Institute [National],

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,

two-and-a-half years

$300,000 for two years; Kaiser Foundation

$2,564,835 for five years

Exploring Pesticide Use in Plant Nurseries Under

Research Institute [Northern California],

Power Line Rights of Way

$1,350,000 for two years; Kaiser Foundation

BEATE RITZ

Electric Power Research Institute, $307,213 for

Research Institute [Southern California],

Environmental and Genetic Predictors of

two years

$1,350,000 for two years; California Health

Parkinson’s Progression

Handbook of Biological Effects

Benefit Exchange, $1,352,628; California Children

National Institute of Environmental Health

Electric Power Research Institute, $75,696 for

and Families Commission (First 5 California),

Sciences, $150,856

one-and-a-half years

$1,700,000 for two years; The California Endowment, $2,999,240 for two years; California

PETER SINSHEIMER

GERALD KOMINSKI

Department of Public Health, California Tobacco

Pilot Camless Engine Demonstration Project

California Health Policy Research Program

Control Program, $1,500,000 for four years

Southern California Edison, $250,000

2018-2020

Monitoring Access and Coverage: The California

for two years

The California Endowment and University of

Health Interview Survey 2017-2018

California, Berkeley, $137,000 for two years

California Healthcare Foundation, $716,000 for

ANNETTE STANTON

California Simulation of Insurance Markets

three years

Understanding and Improving the Experience of

California Healthcare Foundation & University of

Philippines Commission on Higher Education

Breast Cancer

California, Berkeley, $56,049

Philippines Office of the President Commission on

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, $250,000

Demographic Analysis and Microsimulation

Higher Education & University of the Philippines

Model Comparisons

Manila, $424,929 for two years

California Health Benefit Exchange, $737,460

MAY SUDHINARASET Patient Centered Process Quality for Maternal

NADEREH POURAT

and Child Health & Family Planning

NIKLAS KRAUSE

Children’s Oral Health Needs Assessment

Gates Foundation & University of California, San

Southern California Education and Research

County of Los Angeles Department of Public

Francisco, $301,747 for three years.

Center (NIOSH)

Health, $939,207

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Chronic Disease Prevention Strategy in Los

ONDINE VON EHRENSTEIN

$8,087,602 for five years

Angeles (CDPS): Community-Clinical Linkages

Pesticide Exposure and Birth Outcomes

(CCL) Evaluation Services

National Institute of Environmental Health

RANDALL KUHN

County of Los Angeles Department of Public

Sciences, $155,958 for two years

The Matlab Linked Database: A 40-Year Archive

Health, $183,736

of Health, Population and Development Data in

Evaluating the Whole Person Care Pilot Program

STEVE WALLACE

Rural Bangladesh

California Department of Health Care Services,

Linking State Policies to Latino and Asian

National Institute of Child Health and Human

$4,000,000 for four years

American Immigrant Health Care Access

Development, $169,173 for two years

Housing for Health (HFH) Evaluation Services

National Institute on Minority Health and Health

County of Los Angeles Department of Public

Disparities, $2,792,624 for five years

ELIZABETH ROSE MAYEDA

Health, $96,600

Racial Disparities in Alzheimer's Disease and

Smokefree Multi-Unit Housing Evaluation Services

YIFANG ZHU

Related Dementia: The Role of Blood Pressure

County of Los Angeles Department of Public

Impacts of Electronic Cigarette Emissions on

Throughout Adulthood

Health, $1,135,157 for two years

Indoor Air Quality

National Institute on Aging, $772,168 for

Stockton Needs Assessment

UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program,

three years

Abbott Fund, $303,819

$353,096 for two years

JACK NEEDLEMAN

MICHAEL PRELIP

FRED ZIMMERMAN

Utilization of Genetic Testing and Its Downstream

UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program

Identifying Early Childhood Interventions in San

Effects Using Longitudinal Claims Analysis

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Diego County, California, and Quantifying Their

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $149,930

$2,739,111 for five years

Impact on Health Equity

Health Net GoNoodle Evaluation

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $200,000 for

Health Net, Inc., $209,520 for five years

two years

KIMBERLY PAUL & BEATE RITZ Environmental Predictors of the Overlap of Neurodegenerative Disorders and Metabolic Dysfunction National Institute of Environmental Health

Stay Connected with UCLA FSPH

Sciences, $120,132 for two years ph.ucla.edu

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TRANSFORMATIVE INVESTMENTS

P R O M O T I N G H E A LT H F O R A L L Lead funding from The California Endowment makes grassroots advocacy and community organizing an integral part of student training at FSPH.

AS A SECOND-YEAR STUDENT in UCLA’s Public Health Training Program on Population Health Advocacy in 2017, Saul Garcia, MPH ’18 (above, far left), fought to ensure that South Los Angeles residents had opportunities to lead healthy, productive lives. Today, Garcia is a coalition organizer for the Urban Peace Institute, where he advances community health by supporting efforts to improve access to quality schools, parks and public spaces in historically marginalized neighborhoods.

Thanks to The California Endowment’s support of student training initiatives at the Fielding School, it’s an outcome that’s largely by design. By providing training to effect change and financial resources to support students’ work, the Fielding School’s program allows students to gain the experience with advocacy and community work that they want and need. This ultimately prepares alumni like Garcia to join the public health workforce and drive systemic changes that will help foster healthy and safe communities. With seed funding from The California Endowment to establish the program in 2015, Garcia and a growing cadre of fellows have contributed more than 25,000 hours to public health advocacy, in collaboration with nearly 30 community-based organizations across Los Angeles.

The field training program embeds public health students in organizations serving under-resourced communities to gain experience and develop skills in design, implementation and evaluation of population health advocacy. For community partners, the project provides experienced, motivated and highly committed students to help advance organizational and community agendas. The Endowment recognized the need to 32

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

create opportunities for students to gain tangible experience with evidence-based policies and programs and learn how they can be implemented in the community setting, in collaboration with the partner organizations. “Policy advocacy is an important skill set for public health practitioners to possess,” says Marion Standish, senior vice president at The Endowment.

“Our experience has shown that policy and systems change is an essential component in community change and promoting health equity across the state.”

The program’s ultimate aim is to create significant and sustainable change in students, organizations and communities through a pipeline of leaders who intimately know the challenges and opportunities within their communities and will devote themselves to this work. In addition to lead funding from The Endowment, the program has received support from Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and The Max Factor Family Foundation. But maintaining this substantial undertaking and providing policy and advocacy training for students well into the future requires further support. To help the Population Health Advocacy Program train public health students to become advocates for change, please visit giving.ucla.edu/advocacy.

As the largest source of funding from foundations to the Fielding School, The California Endowment’s support has widespread impact on the school’s mission of training, research and service. In addition to supporting the advocacy program, The Endowment regularly funds the California Health Interview Survey, housed within the FSPH-based Center for Health Policy Research, as well as faculty research initiatives focused on advancing community health.

Join the UCLA Fielding School’s Bequest Challenge

REALIZE YOUR VISION OF A HEALTHY, EQUITABLE FUTURE TODAY. Phone: (310) 794-2213 Email: devonb@support.ucla.edu Visit: legacy.ucla.edu

Leave a lasting legacy and support public health for generations to come by including the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in your estate plans. With your support, the Fielding School can continue to create healthy futures for all and advance public health through discovery, service and education.

You can help train the next generation of public health students through fellowships, or endow a faculty position or chair to attract and retain leading public health professors. You can also dedicate your support to a particular issue, department, or toward the greatest needs of the school.

Please contact Devon Brown, director of gift planning, for more information about the many flexible ways you can include a philanthropic gift in your estate plans.

LET THE DISCOVERIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FIELDING SCHOOL’S NEXT CENTURY BE PART OF YOUR LEGACY. ph.ucla.edu

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“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

— Socrates