DPHS July 2020 Newsletter

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Department of Public Health Sciences

July 31, 2020

PUBLIC HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Launch

Vice President Pence Visits UM to Highlight Launch of Phase 3 COVID-19 Clinical Trial Vice President Mike Pence visited the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday to thank the University for its leadership in launching the first Phase 3 clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 Prevention Trial Networks

UM to Launch COVID-19 Vaccine Testing Site for the COVID-19 Prevention Trials Network Led by infectious diseases expert Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, M.D., M.S.P.H., associate professor of clinical medicine and alumna of the Master of Science in Public Health Program in the Department of Public Health Sciences, the initiative at the Miller School of Medicine is part of a large-scale study established by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Climate-Driven Atlantic Hurricanes and COVID-19 Transmission: Mitigating between the Concurrent Threats In a paper published in the July issue of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, a multi-disciplinary group of experts have provided critical information on the intersection of climate-driven Atlantic hurricanes and COVID-19 transmission – highlighting the complexities and potential solutions to addressing these two threats.

Environment and Public Health

UM Entomologist Shares Insight on South Florida’s West Nile Virus and Dengue Fever Cases In Miami-Dade County, there have been nearly two dozen locally transmitted West Nile virus cases so far this year, including eight reported in July. Monroe County has reported 22 cases of dengue. The West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquitoborne disease in the United States. Dengue fever, an important mosquito-borne disease worldwide, is also transmitted by infected mosquitoes.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Miller School Panel Discusses Diversity and the Need to Confront Racism M.D./M.P.H. Class of 2024 Begins Its Journey in First-Ever Virtual Orientation Quality of Indoor Air Plummeted in Some Homes During COVID-19 Shutdown The Meet Group Appoints Health Experts to its New Safer Dating Advisory Board

NEW GRANTS AND AWARDS

Prevention Science and Community Health

$4.9 Million NIDA-Funded Study to Examine a Behavioral Intervention to Optimize PrEP Adherence in Sexual Minority Men Who Use Stimulants The National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded Adam Carrico, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and director of the Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, a $4.9 million grant to conduct a multi-site randomized controlled trial in South Florida and San Francisco.

Environment and Public Health

UM Researchers Receive $2.27 Million Grant to Study Neighborhood Greenness and Cardiometabolic Health among Hispanics The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has awarded Department of Public Health Sciences' Scott C. Brown, Ph.D., research associate professor, and JosĂŠ Szapocznik, Ph.D., professor and chair emeritus, a $2.27 million grant that will support a three-year, multi-disciplinary study on neighborhood greenness and metabolic syndrome among Hispanics.

Prevention Science and Community Health

Dr. Adam Carrico Awarded NIH Grant to Study Risk for COVID amid Methamphetamine Use and HIV Adam Carrico, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, has been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how methamphetamine use and HIV could create an increased risk for infection with the novel coronavirus in sexual minority men.

Health Services Research and Policy

CHERISH, a NIDA-Funded Center of Excellence, Renewed to Conduct Studies and Provide Guidance on Health Economic Research Kathryn McCollister, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, has been awarded a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant under a five-year renewal, where she and an interdisciplinary group of experts will continue to conduct innovative research and provide consultation and training services from the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV.

Epidemiology and Populations Health Sciences

Dr. Paulo Pinheiro Awarded Florida DOH Grant to Study the Epidemiology of Lung and Liver Cancers The Florida Department of Health has awarded Paulo S. Pinheiro, M.D., Ph.D., a research associate professor, with the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center—part of the Miller School of Medicine—a $264,356 grant to study the risk, etiology, and mortality of lung and liver cancers.

STUDENT AND ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS Ph.D. in Epidemiology Alumna

Is Pot Heart Healthy? NIH Funds Novel Study The UM School of Nursing and Health Studies is proud to announce a new four-year, $2.9 million NIH grant for principal investigator Dr. Denise C. Vidot, assistant professor, to study the impact of various types of cannabis use on heart disease, the No. 1 cause of mortality in the U.S. Dr. Vidot, a secondary faculty in the Department of Public Health Sciences, obtained her

Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the department's Graduate Programs in 2015.

Master of Public Health Alumna

Student with Healthcare and Law Focus Interns Remotely at Center for Disease Control and Prevention Emely Sanchez, a rising third-year UM law student who received her Master’s in Public Health in the Department of Public Health Sciences in 2018, is spending her summer interning at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with their Public Health Law Program and their Center for Global Health’s Health System and Human Resources team.

Connect With Us

SEEN VIRTUALLY IN DPHS

From July 20 to 24, public health students participated in Health Policy – a course delivered online by Dr. David J. Lee, professor and acting chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences (pictured in the second slot on the first row). This course focused on the development of public policy at the federal, state, and local levels in the U.S., with special attention to national health policy. Students were provided with an opportunity to understand both the organization of the health care system and the public health policy process.

Department of Public Health Sciences 1120 NW 14th Street CRB 919 Miami, FL 33136 305-243-8331

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For media inquiries regarding the Department of Public Health Sciences, please contact Margie Jimenez, MA, CRA, at mjimenez5@miami.edu and Amanda Torres at axt785@miami.edu

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