UCLA School of Public Health Newsletter - Fall 1997

UCLA

SCHOOL OF

PUBLIC HEALTH

NEWSLETTER

"We've turned good intentions into some deeds, and '-.. it's been mutually beneficial."

-Elliot Schulman (p. 7)

'°' \

"Our association with the school has opened up a lot of avenues."

"I need an accurate, concise picture of who the patients are....

That's an extremely important role for a university."

-Luis Mata (p. 6)

-Sylvia Drew Ivie (p. 7)

AS STATE FACES P.H. CHALLENGES, SCHOOL ENHANCES INVOLVEMENT

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QUICK RUNDOWN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGES FACING THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA BEGS A QUESTION THAT IS ONLY SOMEWHAT FACETIOUS.

Is '11lERE ANYI'HING NOT ON THE UST? CERTAINLY THIS MUCH CAN BE SAID: WHATEVER YOUR PUBLIC HEALTH INTEREST,

CHANCES ARE HIGH YOU'LL FIND FEW BETTER PLACES TO PURSUE IT THAN IN THE GoLDEN STATE. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE. HEALTH EDUCATION FOR CULTURALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS. TOBACCO CONTROL. MANAGED CARE. ACCESS TO CARE. ISSUES CONCERNING CHILDREN. THE ELDERLY.

IN THIS ISSUE ...

2 NEWS Open Letter from the Chancellor...

County PH Review... Disaster Relief Center Established ... School, WHO Join Forces ... Q &A: Chancellor Carnesale

5 FRIENDS Campaign UCLA Update ... California Endowment Grant

8 STUDENTS The Changing Face of Public Health

VIOLENCE AND INJURY PREVENTION. AIDS AND STDs. To BORROW FROM A CERTAIN CROONER, IF YOU CAN MAKE IT IN PUBLIC HEALTH

9 FACULTY A Fortified Nutrition Program

HERE, YOU'LL MAKE IT ANYWHERE.

BUT IN ADDITION TO BEING A MICROCOSM FOR PUBLIC HEALTH THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, CALIFORNIA HAS EARNED A REPUTATION AS A TREND-SETTER, LEADING THE continued on page 6

10 ALUMNI The Origins of UCLA Public Health ...

ESE Alumni Society...Class Notes

DEAN 'S MESSAGE I was recently asked by Chancellor Albert Carnesale to serve a third five-year term as dean of our school. I am honored to have earned the confidence of the school's constituency and the trust of the chancellor, and am happy to accept the challenge.

Chancellor Carnesale has observed that,

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while UCLA is already an excellent univer-

NEWS

sity, he wants people to think of this campus immediately when they are asked to name the world's "great" universities. This is also an VOLUME

17,

3 1997

NUMBER FALL

ALBERT CARNESALE Chancellor

ABDELMONEMA. AFIFI, Ph .D. Dea ii

ED ITORIAL BOARD ABDELMONEMA. AFIFI, Ph.D.

appropriate goal to set for our school.

To reach that status, we must continue to expand on our academic excellence with programs that serve public health needs in our backyard, statewide, and throughout the world.

As this issue's cover story indicates, we are

Dea.n

J UDITHM. SIEGEL, Ph.D.

well on our way.

Associate Dean for Academic Prog rams

LAWRENCE R. ASH, Ph.D. Associat.e Dean for Student. Affairs

V. GALE WINTING Associa.te Dean for A dminis tration

JOHND. MILLER Director of Development

In the past few years we have followed a path taken by all of the public health schools that are recognized as leaders. Rather than rely-

MARJORIE KAGAWA-SINGER, ll.N., P h.D. Assistant. Professor, Communi.ty Health Sciences

ing almost entirely on state funding , we are ac-

CORINNE PEEK-ASA. P h.D. Adj wit Assistant Professo r, Epi<Lem.iology

JOYCE A. PAGE , M.S .P.H. , J .D. Alumni Association /{epresentative

ANNA DORMAN

tively pursuing revenues from foundations, agencies , community groups and private

Presidem , Public Health S tudents Associ.ati.011

WARREN ROBAK

individuals. In addition to putting us on solid

Pltbli.c l nformati.o n R epresenta.t.i-ve

DAN GORDON Editor and lVriter

MARTHA WIDMANN

financial ground, this has enabled our school to cast a wider net in the research and service are-

Art Director

nas while we build on our existing strengths.

Photograph y: ASUCLA (pp. 4); Yvet.t.e Roman (pp. l , 6-9); William Short (p . 3)

School of Public Health Home Page: www.ph.ucla.edu E-mail for Application Requests: app-r equest@admin.ph. ncla .edn UCLA T'ubli.c fl ea/th is pub lis hed b y th e UCLA Sf"hool of Publit· Health fo1· th e alumni, facuhy, stud e nts, staff and friend s of th e sdwol. Co py r ight 1997 by The Rf"ge nts of the University of California. Permission to reprint any portion of UCLA Public Heo lth must be obtainl·<l from the edito r. Cont ae l Editor, UCLA Pubhc fl eo lt.h. Box 951772, Los Angeles , CA 90095-1772. (310) 825-6381.

Given the caliber and commitment of our faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends, I am confident that we will continue to move forward on this path to greatness in the years ahead.

Abdelmonem A. Afifi, Ph.D.

AN OPEN LETTER Following is the text of a n open letter sent in October by UCLA Ch ance llor Albert Carnesale to UCLA Sch ool of Public Health faculty, students, staff, alumni andfriends : Dear Colleagues:

I

am pleased to announce that Abdelmonem Afifi has agreed to serve a third term as dean of the School of Public Health.

Under Afifi's leadership, the school has achieved a high level of success, emerging in a strong position from a period of unprecedented campuswide financial exigencies. The indications of the school's strengths are manifest.

Numerous faculty awards and very high levels of scholarly activity are evidence of the faculty's accomplishments and reputation, while increasing extramural and private support demonstrate that the school is held in high regard by public health researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. Moreover, the school continues to pay careful attention to the quality of education and student services, with many graduates rising to leadership positions locally, nationally and overseas. These achievements should be a source of great pride for each of you.

A number of factors affecting our society converge to make the role of public health increasingly important for the future of our society. The rapid evolution of managed care systems is challenging health care delivery, and society's established structures for organizing and financing health care in both the public and private sector are under great stress. Environmental conditions, infectious diseases, the aging of the baby boomers, violence, and many other factors demand nimble responses to ensure the protection of human health.

With Afifi's continued leadership and your dedicated efforts, UCLA's School of Public Health can rise to a national leadership position in confronting these great challenges. I congratulate you on your success, and I pledge to work closely with you as you strive to achieve your full potential.

With best wishes, Sincerely,

Albert Carnesal.e Chancellor

SCHOOL'S REVIEW OF L.A. COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH CALLS FOR MAJOR CHANGES As reported in the last issue of the UCLA School of Public Health Newsletter, the school was asked by L.A. County Department of Health Services director Mark Finucane to conduct a comprehensive review of the county's public health programs, and to submit recommendations for improvements. That project, which involved the efforts of more than a dozen faculty and students, is now complete.

The review was conducted unde r the auspices of the school's Technical Assistance Group, and was directed by Dr. Lester Breslow, professor emeritus of health services and a former dean of the school.

The final report calls for an overhaul of a "chaotic " and "hamstrung " public health system that has experienced a "substantial decline " in funding and a "severe loss of capacity to perform basic public health functions" in recent years, along with diminished morale.

While praising Finucane for his strong commitment to public health and opposition to further public health budget cuts, the school noted other leadership issues , including the need to appoint and define the role of a permanent health officer who is a "recognized professional leader" and can be a vigorous advocate for public health.

Among the school's other recommendations for the county department: •develop and establish an adequate data-

information-communication system; •initiate community-oriented planning for public health in appropriate geographic areas; • reo rganize OHS Public Health Programs and Services ("yes, yet another time!") in favor of a cohe rent, comm unity-based approach to health problems; •establish an effective training and recruitment program ; and •streamline county procedures and increase the public health budget.

The three-month project involved a review of numerous documents, interviews with scores of people, and examinations of other urban health departments.

3 NEWS

TOGETHER WE CAN ...

T Ors. Linda Bourque and Steven Rottman head the new Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief.

CENTER TO TAKE PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH TO DISASTERS In the first program of its kind at a university, the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief has been established at the Schoo l of Public Health under the leadership of Ors. Steven J. Rottman and Linda Bourque.

With funding from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, the center is currently developing a cu rriculum that will address the interdisciplinary roles of public health professionals in preparing communities prior to a disaster and assisting their recovery following a mass popu lation emergency. The initiative is a collaborative effort with the L.A. County Department of Health Services.

In addition to developing graduate-level courses, the center's objectives include training of professionals in disaster community health , collabo ration with governmental , academic, private and nonprofit organizations in addressing the potential needs of people affected by disasters, and development of a comprehensive research agenda focusing on the public health consequences of disasters.

h e e stablishment of the Center for Public H ea lth a nd Dis aste r R e li ef (see th e ac companying story) provides further e vide nc e not only tha t the School of Public H ealth is thriving, but that it i s a l e ad e r a mon g a ll UCLA programs in forging colla b orations a cro ss traditional discip linary boundaries. Following are the school ' s othe r eight r ese arc h and service cente rs, with a st eri s k s b y those established since 1990:

*Center for Health Policy Research (jointly with the School of Public Policy and Social R esearch)

*Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (jointly with the School of Medicine)

*Center for Health Services Management (jointly with the A nderson Graduate School of Management)

*Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities (jointly with the School of Medicine)

*Center for Human Nutrition (jointly w ith the School of Medicine)

Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (jointly w ith the schools of medicine and nursing)

* Center for Pollution Prevention (jointly with the School of Public Policy a nd Social Research)

Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center (jointly with the other health sciences schools) The sch ool is also home base to the inte rdep artmental Environmental Scie n ce and Engineering program; offe r s articula t ed degree programs including an M.A./M.P.H. with African Area Studies, an M.A./M.P.H . in Latin American Studies, and an M.D./M.P.H. with the Sch ool of Medicine; and offers concu rrent degree programs including an M.B.A./M.P.H. with th e Anderson Gr aduate Sch ool of Management and an M.A./M.P.H. with Islamic Studies.

And , of cou rse, the UCLA schools, d ep a rtments, centers and programs with wh ic h th e Sc h oo l of Public H e alth h as research and teaching c oll a bor a t ions are t oo numerous to mention, but we'll t ry: anthropolo gy, Asi a n American studies, biom athematics, chemist ry, Chicano studies, dentist ry, economics, educatio n , e n gin eering, environmental scien ces, immunol ogy, law, mathem a t ics, medicine, microbiology, Nea r- Eas t ern s t udies , nursing, ob stetrics/gyn ecology, policy studies, psyc h ia t ry, psycho l ogy, social welfare, sociology, u rban planning ...

Q&A: CHANCELLOR ALBERT CARNESALE

SCHOOL, WHO JOIN FORCES TO HELP DEVELOPING NATIONS The UCLA School of Public Health and the NEWS World Health Organization have formed a partnership under which the school will be responsible for putting together educational programs and other projects to address priority health needs in selected nations.

"This partnership will provide a means to significantly improve the health systems in developing countries," says Dean Abdelmonem Afifi. "We will involve not only our own faculty but experts from other universities, government agencies and private groups across the nation."

The countries of Egypt , Indonesia and South Africa will be the first targets of the UCLA-WHO effort . Initial programs are expected to include continuing education for health professionals , particularly through distance-learning technology via the Internet and satellite links. Consultation on issues such as infectious diseases, nutritional programs, health system management and professional career development programs are also expected.

"There is a need to break new ground in order to bring the benefits of health technology and know-how closer to where they are most needed ," explains Y. Kawaguchi , director of WHO's Division of lnteragency Affairs.

Adds Dr. Osman Galal, director of the school 's International Health Program and coordinator of the UCLA-WHO effort: "The primary goal is to improve the technical skills of the health professionals in these developing nations, but there are lessons we can learn in these nations that will help us here in the United States."

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IN PHOTO ABOVE: Y. Kawaguchi (1.), director of WHO's Division of lnteragency Affairs, with Dr. Abdelmonem A. Afifi, dean of the UCLA School of Public Health, took part in a summer meeting to finalize the WHO/UCLA School of Public Health partnership.

On]ulyl,1997 , Albert Carnesale officially became UCLA s chancellor, replacing Charles E. Young. The UCLA School of Public Health Newsletter asked the new chancellor to szimmarize his vision for UCLA and to describe how the School of Public Health fits into that vision. Chancellor Carnesales response:

I

'm still learning about UCLA, so for now I am resisting the temptation to formulate and specify in detail my plans for the future. My aspiration for UCLA, however, is clear.

When informed people consider the question, "Which are the world's great universities?" I want UCLA to be on that list. Four key factors will help us to achieve that goal: 1. Excellence. We need to identify our best academic programs and invest in those that can become the leaders in their fields. UCLA's School of Public

Health is among the nation's finest. Our goal should be to remove the qualifiers.

2. Resources. Human resources are always the most important, and here again UCLA is strong. But we will also need more financial resources, and so I embrace the current UCLA Campaign and trust that the School of Public Health's loyal alumni and friends will continue to demonstrate their support.

3. Public Support. The people of Southern California strongly value and care about this institution. We will need to continue to cultivate their support. Part of earning that support involves serving the local community, a goal that I know is an essential mission of the School of Public Health.

4. Synergies. The major problems that face society do not respect the boundaries of academic disciplines and professions. Increasingly, research must cut across those borders. Already, UCLA is doing more of that than most universities. And the School of Public Health, representing a field that calls on an array of disciplines, is well positioned to continue leading the way.

More than $50,000 was raised to refurbish the Department of Biostatistics Library and Conference Room in honor of Dr. Frank J. Massey, Jr., a founding member of the department who died in November 1995. In August, one year after the memorial fund was established by Massey's family (above: Massey's son Frank, wife Mildred and daughter Laura), colleagues, and friends, the new facilities were dedicated at a ceremony and reception in memory of Massey, who was an esteemed teacher and researcher in the biostatistics field. (Persons interested in making a donation to the Massey Memorial Fund may contact John Miller in the school's development office.)

CAMPAIGN UCLA UPDATE

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iming to raise $1.2 billion by June 30, 2002, Campaign UCLA was launched in May 1997 as the most ambitious private fund-raising effort in the history of public higher education. This comprehensive undertakillg will engage thousands of members of the UCLA family - alumni and friends , eorporations and fom1dations, faculty and staff - in partnerships to support academic programs, students, faculty and facilities across the can1pus.

BOB AND MARION WILSON Campaign UCLA chairman Bob Wilson and his wife, Marion, have made a $300,000 pledge to the UCLA School of Public Health to establish the Community Health Promotion Program at the school.

The Wilsons' gift of $100,000 annually for three years will facilitate development of a program, administered under the direction of the dean, that will sponsor joint activities between the school and local, community-based agencies to address health concerns in Southern Californians, especially the poor and underserved. A primary use of the funds will be to place students in various types of internship experiences in community agencies. The gift is part of a $5 million pledge by the Wilsons prominent Westside residents who are both UCLA graduates and have a long history of philanthropy and volunteerism on behalf of their alma mater- to support avariety of campus endeavors.

"We like the idea of simultaneously benefiting the academic units and the community through gifts that support students, programs and research," explained Bob Wilson.

CAROLBETH G. KORN Carol beth G. Korn (B.S. '59) has made a $100,000 commitment to the UCLA School of Public Health, the largest unrestricted gift in the school's history.

In recognition of her gift, a ceremony was held October 7 to rename the Dean's Meeting Room the Carol beth Korn Meeting Room.

"It is my pleasure to support the school in its mission to train professionals to better inform individuals about how to procure the best health care for themselves and their families, not only in this community but across the country and around the world," said Korn, who is afounding member of the school's Dean's Advisory Board and received the 1990 Neil H. Jacoby Award from the UCLA International Student Center.

"We are thankful to Carol beth Korn for her long-time support of the school and for her generous gift that helps us kick off our efforts during Campaign UCLA," said Dean Abdelmonem A. Afifi.

DR . ABDELMONEM AND MARIANNE AFIFI Dr. Abdelmonem A. Afifi, dean of the school, and his wife, Marianne, have made a $25,000 pledge in support of Campaign UCLA, providing unrestricted support for the School of Public Health, as well as for the Graduate School of Education and Information Science's Department of Library and Information Science - from which Marianne Afifi received a master's degree - and student support.

"Campaign UCLA provides a timely opportunity for UCLA's faculty, alumni, and friends to invest in the future," the Afifis said. "We make this pledge in the hope of a healthy tomorrow, and to encourage others to join in this important campaign."

"Dr. Afifi's contributions through his scholarship and administrative leadership are nationally known," said UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

"It is not surprising that, as the first dean on the UCLA campus to make a pledge to Campaign UCLA, Dr. Afifi and his wife would take the lead in philanthropy as well."

5 FRIENDS

MAJOR GRANT TO SUPPORT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

T

he UCLA Center for Health P olicy Research h as received a $750,000, three-year grant from the California Endowment to conduct health policy information worksh ops and provide other technical assistance to community-based organizations.

F ree medical clinics and health advocacy groups are among those that will have regular access to th e latest information about the health needs of California resid ents - su ch as the large number who lack health insurance - in order to h elp the groups tailor their policies to best meet their communities' needs.

T he grant is a m on g the largest ever awarded by The California Endowment, one of the philanthropic groups endowed

by B l ue Cross of Cal ifornia when it switched from nonprofit to for-profit status. The principal investigator is Dr. E. Richard Brown, professor of community health sciences and health services at the UCLA School of P ublic Health and director of the UCLA Center for H ealth Policy Research.

continued from page 1 LEADERSHIP IN CALIFORNIA

6 COVER STORY LUIS MATA, Executive Director MULTICULTURAL AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTER I've found that there are a lot of health professionals in community-based organizations who don't necessarily have public health backgrounds; they're individuals who have completed academic endeavors in other areas . I asked the school to see if we could work on developing a certificated program that would provide some public health education to these professionals, who then might choose to continue in the M.P.H. program.

They're also helping us to set up an evaluation component to our center, to help us see where we can expand our services to have the greatest impact in the community.

Our association with the school has opened up a lot of avenues. It gives us th~ .opportuni!Y to get feedback on ideas for add1t1onal pu~llc health interventions and how we can implement them. We have had an ongoi.ng, fl~id type of relationship with the school in which we can communicate on a regular, informal basis. It's an open-door policy- as opposed to what you would expect from a relationship with a university- and I think that's made it a lot more productive.

The Multicultural Area Health Education Center is a community-based, nonprofit organization that develops disease prevention and health promotion programs and services targeting the /ow-income communities in Los Angeles County, with a primary focus on Spanish-speaking populations.

way on issues ranging from the state's tough stance on tobacco and the environment to its early adoption of managed care and, of course, its long-time embrace of diet and exercise as health promoters.

In a state that is at once forwardthinking on public health matters and confronting difficult strategic decisions with new problems arising, old ones remaining and budgets shrinking, public health practitioners are increasingly finding an ally in the UCLA School of Public Health.

T

he involvement of the school's faculty in major public health issues isn't new. A look at the history of tobacco control efforts in California, for example, reveals the central role of faculty such

as Drs. Lester Breslow, Jonathan Fielding, Ruth Roemer and Paul Torrens in helping to shape policy. On other issues - reforming the health care system, forging a community coalition against violence, developing pollution prevention strategies and the like - the story has been similar.

What's different is the institutionalization of such efforts at the school. In 1995 UCLA was instrumental in establishing the California Schools of Public Health (CSPH), a loose association of the state's four public health schools.

Since then, the CSPH has assumed an active role in working with the California Conference of Local Health Officers (CCLHO). Among other things, half of

the local health officers' semi-annual meetings are now at a school of public health, encouraging an exchange of dialogue between public health practitioners and academics.

Part of the discussion has centered on ways to enhance the training of public health professionals. Toward that end, as well as to serve the broader public health community, the school in 1995 established the M.P.H. for Health Professionals Program, offering public health practitioners the opportunity to gain an academic grounding in an intensive two-year, weekend program at the school.

Also through the CSPH, the school has become an active player in the Public Health Improvement Project, a statewide effort involving the California Department of Health Services, the CCLHO, the Health Officers Association of California, the County Health Executive Association of California, and the CSPH. "The idea is to come up with a systematic plan for revamping the public health system in California to bring it into the 21st century," says Dr. Emil Berkanovic, professor of community health sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health and the CSPH representative on the project.

Berkanovic notes that in recent years, an increasing portion of public health funding has been devoted to meeting the personal health care needs of the indigent, limiting the resources available for a population-based approach. Meanwhile, public health issues such as violence and substance abuse are moving to the forefront at the same time that traditional concerns show no signs of going away.

"Most of these problems require a coordinated effort across a number of different entities, both governmental and nongovernmental," Berkanovic observes. "Right now, public health funding tends to be categorical. Part of the goal of the Public Health Improvement Project will be to look at ways to build more flexibility into the system, and to improve the relationship between governmental and nongovernmental groups."

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s a conduit to strengthen the school's relationship with the public health practice community - and, at the same time, to bolster the school's funding base in an

7 COVER STORY

SYLVIA DREW IVIE, Executive Director T.H.E. CLINIC We applied for agrant to research our own data, to see what we could learn about our programs and practices. The UCLA School of Public Health students and faculty helped us to evaluate all of the data that we had been carefully keeping for six years but that nobody had analyzed. For example, we decided first to look at the issue of stress in African American prenatal patients. We already knew that our outcomes in the prenatal program were good, but the school was able to document with our data the number of babies who were born with low birthweight and compare that with county and national statistics. They led focus groups, which bore out that our patients experience as much stress in their everyday lives as anyone else, but that they're benefiting from the individual attention and a nurturing, family-like environment. This is invaluable information, because it really reenergizes the activities on the part of the prenatal team and gives us something to go on in terms of replicating the success of that project in other health domains.

In planning for the clinic, I need an accurate, concise picture of who the patients are, what's working and what's not working for them. We don't have anybody on staff with the training to do that kind of analysis, and even if we did, we don't have the time to do it. That's an extremely important role for auniversity to play.

T.H.E. Clinic is a primary care, communitybased clinic serving southwest and South-Central Los Angeles.

era of reduced state support - Dean Abdelmonem A. Afifi established the Technical Assistance Group (TAG) at the school in 1995. TAG offers faculty services for the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health programs. "We've cast a wide net, working with both government and community-based organizations, and at both the statewide and local levels," says Berkanovic, TAG's director.

Through TAG , the school recently contracted with the L.A. County Department of Health S e rvices to conduct a zero -based r e view of the county's public health programs (see page 3).

Among other TAG activities: a community-based project designed to promote immunizations; evaluations of programs in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties; and development of a certificate program for public h ealth workers (see the accompanying sidebars).

While public health professionals gain from the school's expertise, Afifi is quick to point out that the benefits are mutual.

"By involving our faculty and students in the practice of public health in our backyard, we h elp to ensure that our curriculum remains grounded in the realities and n eeds of the community," h e says. "There is no b etter way to serve our constituen cy than to work togeth er as partners."

ELLIOT SCHULMAN, Health Officer SANTA BARBARA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES As one of the principals in the Public Health Improvement Project and the California Conference of Local Health Officers, I've been happy to see UCLA taking an active ro le in working with public health professionals. In Santa Barbara County, the school is evaluating some of our AIDS outreach and educational programs. We're looking at new technologies.

We've also had some educational opportunities at UCLA - we've already had two people, myself included, go through the M.P.H. for Health Professionals Program, and I'm sure there will be others.

It's exciting. We've turned good intentions into some deeds, and I think it's been mutually beneficial. We will certainly look to the school in future grants for the evaluation piece or for the research piece. Research and evaluation are what schools of public health do best, so it helps us greatly; at the same time, the school's faculty and students get some good community-based experience and the school receives some revenue. I can't imagine that this relationship couldn't be replicated in other counties as well.

THE CHANGING FACE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

I

n a bygone era, to choose a career in public health was to opt for a fairly welldefined futnre path-most likely a government or university position in the field of, say, environmental health, biostatistics or infectious disease surveillance and control.

No longer. For today's students, the opportunities in public health have become almost infinite, to the point that many are blazing new trails , often by marrying seemingly 8 disparate interests. InSTUDENTS deed, the current students and recent graduates featured in this story are emblematic of the changing face of public health.

There 's LINDA LEE (M.P.H. '97), who plans to pursue a career in marketingspecifically in planning for fund-raising events. So why enroll in a school of public health? "I felt it would allow me to combine analytical and writing skills with people skills," she explains. While Lee intends to remain in the health field, she likes the fact that the education she's receiving is broad enough to enable her to move into other industries if she chooses to do so in the future.

LORDELYN DEL ROSARIO (M.P.H. '97) is interested in a radio or television position as an on-air health correspondent. For starters, she has parlayed h er public h ealth/communications education and work experience into a public affairs job at UC San Francisco in which she disseminates campus research and clinical programs to the news media, the public and the campus community.

DISASTER SERVICES

Dr.P.H student Loe Nguyen (M.P.H. '95) is assuming an important role as a disaster practitioner trained in public health.

ANN SAPHIR (M.P.H. '98), too, plans a media career, but as a health journalist. After completing her undergraduate education, Saphir spent six years in Japan, where she worked as an editor and reporter for several English-language magazines. "I had been writing more and more about healthrelated issues, but I didn't have a science background and it was totally exhausting beginning each article unversed in the issues," she explains. "I thought that going to public health school would give me a basic grounding in health, from a perspective that I felt was sorely lacking in many health-related articles I read."

An increasing number of students are finding themselves in uncharted territory.

While he was a doctoral student at the school, ERIC HURWITZ (D.C., M.S. '91, PH.D. '96) helped write a successful grant application for an important clinical trial comparing approaches to treating low back pain. " Medical doctors treat it, physical therapists treat it, chiropractors treat it, and we really don't know which approach works the best," Hurwitz says. Recently, he received funding for similarly pioneering research comparing conservative treatments for neck pain. "There have been previous studies looking at spinal manipulation, but they've had limitations," explains Hurwitz, who is now an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology at the school.

"We're trying to address this activity from a more rigorous epidemiologic perspective."

LOC NGUYEN (M.P.H. '95), a third-year Dr. P.H. student and the program coordinator for the school's new Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief, similarly laments the dearth of public health research on disaster preparedness and response. For example, he notes, no studies have looked at whether having a first aid kit can reduce injury or death after a disaster. Beyond research, there are many roles for public health practitioners to play in ensuring the health and safety of populations following disasters. Yet, " There are very few frontline disaster practitioners who have public health backgrounds," says Nguyen.

Ph.D. student LINDA SCHWEITZER (M.S. '93) is on her way to becoming the school's first graduate in ecotoxicology, the integration of toxicology and ecology. " Ecotoxicology starts with an understanding of the toxic effects of chemicals on individual organisms

~-¡'

Ph.D. student Linda Schweitzer (M.S. '93) is scheduled to become the school's first graduate in the emerging field of ecotoxicology. and ultimately seeks to determine whether these chemicals would have an effect on the population of a species, or cause a ripple effect, impacting other species within the ecosystem," Schweitzer explains. For her field training, Schweitzer has collaborated with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) on work to determine the impact of pollutants on the coastal marine environment.

FELICIA SZE (M.P.H. '98) is one of several students who are following career paths that extend bridges from public health to other fields. After receiving her M.P.H. , Sze plans to apply for law school with the ultimate goal of practicing health rights law or doing health policy work. "With an M.P.H. and a J .D., I hope I can integrate my legal background with my community health sciences knowledge so that I can work for healthier populations," she says.

Similarly, CINDY LEVEY (M.P.H. '97) is interested in a public health/urban planning combination. Mindful of the crucial impact of socioeconomic status on people's health, she decided to pursue community economic development as a means of improving the health of populations.

Having immersed herself in both public health and urban planning, Levey noticed that for two fields with such similar overall goals, "they weren't using the same languages or working together as much as they could." Echoing the sentiments of many of today's generation of public health students, she sees the beginnings of change and with it, opportunity.

FORTIFIED NUTRITION PROGRAM CONTINUES SCHOOL'S RICH TRADITION

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ts impact transcends ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic boundaries. Nutrition has always been an integral part of public health. And in recent years, a UCLA School of Public Health program with a rich tradition has gained considerable momentum, becoming a focal point in domestic and international efforts to make a difference.

"Diet plays a major role in so many of the principal causes of illness and death," asserts Dr. Gail Harrison, professor and chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences, where the bulk of the school's nutrition program is housed. "It's an area in which real public health impacts can be realized by optimizing the food supply, people's access to it, and the choices they make."

The 1992 recruitment of Harrison, whose work focuses on diet, hunger and food insecurity in various populations, was one of a number of developments that have returned the school's nutrition program to prominence following the retirement and subsequent death of Dr. Derrick B. Jelliffe, a giant in the international nutrition arena who left an enduring mark with his efforts (working alongside his wife, Patrice) on behalf of breastfeeding in developing countries.

The school's legacy in nutrition work predates the Jelliffes, going back to the early '60s, when a nutritional sciences program that had been part of UCLA's

Department of Home Economics was brought into the school. That program, much of which was laboratory based, included many distinguished researchers , including Gladys Emerson, co-discoverer of the essential nutrient value of vitamin E. Several distinguished emeritus faculty from that program are still active in the field.

The difference between the strength of the school's nutrition program today and its strength in the past, says Dr. Charlotte Neumann, professor of community health sciences and a long-time member of the school's faculty, is that, while there is still some basic science focus, much of the emphasis has shifted to the community.

"We 're doing more applied community nutrition, expanding on what our department did when Dr. Jelliffe was alive," says Neumann, whose own focus is on the effects - both physiological and psychological - of malnutrition. "Also, while we were mostly internationally focused before, there's now a significant domestic component as well."

In the last several years, a number of developments have added strength to the nutrition program, including: • the arrival in 1991 of Dr. Osman Galal, professor of community health sciences and director of the school's International Health Program, whose primary interest is in nutritional policy, and who was recently elected secretary

general of the Interna tional Union of Nutritional Sciences; • the addition of two adjunct fac ulty members , Drs. Joann e L es li e and Marion Taylor Baer, doctorally prepar ed nutritionists who have been active in the school's teaching program; • strengthening of a joint program with the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center in which dietetic interns at the VA concurrently enroll in the school's M.P.H. 9 program; FACULTY • a training grant in public health nutrition , one of five in the nation funded by the Maternal and Child H e alth Bureau of the U.S. D e partme nt of Health and Human Services . A cancer education training grant directed by Dr .

Virginia Li at the school also includes a significant nutrition emphasis; • an increasing emphasis on examining the link between nutrition and cancer within the Divison of Cancer Prevention and Control in UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. An example is a community-based study of diet and exercise focused on cancer prevention among continued on page 12

Key faculty in the school 's nutrition program i.nclude (I. tor.): Ors. Osman Galal , Gail Harrison, Joanne Leslie, Charlotte Neumann , David Heber, and Vay Liang W. (Bill) Go.

UCLA PUBLIC HEALTH PIONEERS R E CALL THE PROGRAM'S ORIGINS

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n

but also public health education ... there was even a doctor from England who taught a course on the national health system there. We went down to San Pedro where they took the tuna out of the sea, to the dairy farms, to Santa Monica to watch the control of rats, block by block. It really stimulated an interest in all of public health, gave everybody a start. Everything I've learned has stayed in me for much of my life, and I suspect that the others in my class would say the same thing.

1996-97, the UCLA S chool of

Public Health celebrated its 35-year anniversary as an independent

school. But, as do zens of the school's a lumni ca n attest , 1961-62 was not the beginning ofpublic health education at UCLA.

10 ALUMNI

In1947, asmallhandJul ofaspiring sanitar-

ians entered a bachelor 's prog ram at UCLA that for the next 14 years would remain part ofthe UC Systemwide School of Public Health. The UCLA School of P ublic Health Newsletter asked three of

the earliest UCLA public health students to describe their experiences at a time w hen both public health education at UCLA and modern public health concepts themselves were in their infancy.

MYTINGER: I think we were all in the same boat-poor GI-bill students trying to get a start in life. I entered UCLA right after I was discharged from the navy in '46. I was hellbent to go to medical school, and so I enrolled as a pre-med bacteriology major. Then I got married, decided medical school would be too expensive, was looking around for jobs in bacteriology, and found that the best-paying position available was something like $200 a month. Meanwhile, this new public health program opened at UCLA under the leadership of Harry Bliss . I talked with him and he told me sanitarians could start at $250, sometimes $300. That made economic sense to me.

MEIS: At the time, the field of public health was really about sanitation and controlling the spread of disease. There were some problems in the profession.

There weren't a lot of well-trained sanitarians, so it was a matter of upgrading the standards for the field, which took a longtime.

MEIS: There were three of us in that first class, all studying to be sanitarians. We were in the same temporary building as the medical school. .. today you'd call it a trailer house. The coursework included a little biostatistics, lots of basic engineering, general sanitation, food technology, epidemiology....

MYTINGER: We'd have an instructor and four or five of us in the classroom, that was it. Faculty were largely drawn from practitioners at the county health department, with an occasional visiting lecturer. We were taught by the pioneers in the field, and we were kind of awestruck by these early epidemiologists and sanitarians. All we wanted was to be as good as they were. We were really turned on. It was, to all of us, a new field, one we had never heard about before.

SOKOLOFF: We took a well-rounded curriculum including not only sanitation,

MYTINGER: We were back in the dark ages, I guess, where our focus was not on equity and access to health care and what has become the mode today. We were just concerned with keeping people and bugs apart. The biggest challenge we had was that in those days, the typical sanitarian wasn't a college graduate and had no particular technical preparation. It was the sanitary engineers who were the cream of the crop. And so here we were, these new baccalaureate sanitarians, put in an arena where we had to overcome the image of our profession. Sanitarians used to carry badges and wear uniforms. We viewed ourselves as the new professionals.

ESE ALUMNI SOCIETY ESTABLISHED SOKOLOFF: To be a sanitarian in those days, at least where I worked , was probably 80 percent restaurant inspector and a smaller portion involving going out to septic tanks, public swimming pools and the like.

MYTINGER: Because there were so few students and faculty, we merged as a very cohesive social group. Harry Bliss and his wife occasionally would have us for dinner at their place. We all had a lot in common. We had just been discharged from the military - including Bliss and we were all reentering civil life.

MEIS: We had a lot of fun when we socialized. You couldn't tell who were faculty and who were students.

SOKOLOFF: I constantly find myself drawing on what I learned in the UCLA public health program. Though a lot of our curriculum was concentrated on sanitation, the general public health background I got has stayed with me in everything I went on to do , whether it was in designing prevention programs or understanding industrial medicine and potential effects of toxic chemicals. UCLA really gave me a grounding to understand these things that I would later encounter.

And of course, when I go into restaurants, I still think of myself as an inspector.

MEIS: Now I don't even recognize the school when I come back to visit, but I still feel a connection. I always believed that people should give back something that they got. My education was free of charge, being that I had a very rich uncle - Uncle Sam. The school was good to me, and I've tried to do the same.

UCLA's Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE) Program, based in the School of Public Health, has established the ESE Alumni Society with interim officers, a steering committee, and subcommittees.

On an interim basis, Steve Kahane was named president and Lynn Creelman vice president, with Bart Sokolow serving as treasurer and Marijke Bekken as secretary.

Subcommittee chairs are Xavier Swamikannu and Mark Saperstein, Internships; Mark Sudol and David Chou, Mentoring; Michael St. Denis, Bekken and Jack Witz, Professional Networking; Creelman, Lisette Bauersachs and Paul Smokier, Fund-Raising; and Ken Green, Newsletter and Web Site.

11

CLASS NOTES

ALUMNI

BURTON SOKOLOFF, B.S. '52, M.D., has retired from the active practice of pediatrics and is currently writing a chapter in the American Academy of Pediatrics' new manual on adoption. He is celebrating 45 years of marriage with his wife, four children and four grandchildren.

JULES A. WEINGART, M.P.H. '66, M.S.W. , is currently employed by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health-Countywide Children's Case Management/Children and Family Services Bureau . Previously, he was the clinical administrative coordinator for the Department of Psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

GARY M. GORLICK, M.D., M.P.H. '67, F.A.A.P. , was appointed as a peer reviewer for two medical journals: The Journal of Family Practice and Pediatrics.

PAUL ZUKIN, M.D., M.P.H. '67, is a clinical professor in the Department of Health Research & Policy at Stanford University School of Medicine. Previously, he served as president of Health Management Group in Piedmont, Calif., and as vice president and medical director of Kaiser Foundation International in Oakland.

ANNAJ. KRAUS, R.N., M.S., M.P.H. '72, is a retired medical record director and a part-time medical record consultant in long-term care facilities . She cherishes her years at the school and is thankful that her instructors provided her with the knowledge and skills to carry out her life's work.

SOKOLOFF: I don't think any of us had

SHARON WINER, M.D., M.P.H. '72, is a practicing gynecologist with a subspecialty in reproduction and menopause. She was recently elected as trustee of the California Medical Association and is an elected member of the L.A. County Medical Association Council. She is a clinical professor of OB/Gyn at USC.

any sense of what the school would become. We were one of the few public health programs in the country; it was really a new degree. Today there are very few remnants of that time, but one of the thingsthathasn'tchangedisthatthe students at the school have always come out especially inspired and endowed to go forward. That's always been the case.

GORLICK

ZUKIN

KRAUS

ALAN HENDERSON, M.S.P.H. '73, DR.P.H. '76, began a one-year term as president of the California Division of the American Cancer Society in September.

HELEN JOYCE PERRIN, M.D., M.P.H. '75, is currently enjoying retirement, where, at the age of 82, she has found time for considerable travels aboard ships and in foreign count ries, and to meet with doctors in public health at sea and abroad.

ULRIKE EHRLICH, M.P.H. '90, has started a consultancy firm, GSP Health Systems Consultants, in Heidelberg , Germany, with a Web site address of <www.gsp_health.com>.

JOAN MELROD WEISS, M.P.H. '90, spoke on the link between animal cruelty and other forms of violence at the 3rd International Violence Prevention Conference in Los Angeles last June. She married screenplay writer Jim Weiss on March 29, 1997.

MICHAEL A. ARANDA, M.P.H . '91 , is attending the University of Osteopath ic Medicine and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa. Upon completion of his doctor of osteopathy program, he plans to practice pediatrics in a public health setting. He has been married for five years to his wife Julie and has two daughters, ages 4 and 2.

SUZANNE C. MONTOYA, M.P.H. '92, graduated from the UC Davis School of Med icine in June with an M.D., and is beginning a family practice residency at Kaiser Permanente in Riverside, Calif.

AFROOZAFGHANI, M.P.H. '94, is currently studying exercise epidemiology as a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Biokinesiology at USC. JESSICA SCHULMAN, M.P.H. '95, R.D. , has moved to Gainesville, Fla., to start a doctoral program in health science education with her fiancee, who is also a UCLA alumnus and will be aprofessor.

MONTOYA

AFGHANI

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UCLAIp{JBLIC HEALTH

continued from p age 9

FORTIFIED NUTRITION PROGRAM

African-American women in Los Angeles, directed by Dr. Antr onette Yancey. The division is headed by Dr. Patricia Ganz, a professor in the schools of public health and medicine; Harrison serves as the division's associate director for healthy and at-risk populations; â&#x20AC;˘ the establishment in 1996 of the Center for Human Nutrition, based jointly in the schools of public health and medicine, under the direction of Dr. David Heber, who has a faculty appointment in both schools. "This new center provides an important interdisciplinary resource for UCLA's researchers in human nutrition," says Harrison, who serves as the center's associate director for public health programs.

The nutrition researchers have no shortage of issues to tackle. As evidence continues to mount on the role of diet in chronic illnesses from cancer and diabetes to hypertension and cardiovascular disease, policy-makers in developing nations are beginning to face the double burden of endemic malnutrition among children and reproductive-age women at the same time that chronic, obesity-related diseases are rapidly increasing.

Meanwhile, recent epidemiologic data suggest that early undernutrition might make individuals more vulnerable to chronic diseases as adults. "It may turn out that the best way to prevent adult chronic diseases is to improve nutrition in ute ro and early infancy," notes Harrison. While that r emains a hypothesis, the wisdom of a public health approach to nutrition is now indisputable.

NEWSLETTER

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Fall1997

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid UCLA

UCLA School of Public Health Box951772 Los Angeles, California 90095-1772 www.ph.ucla.edu Address Correction Requested