DPHS Newsletter 10/08/2019

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Department of Public Health Sciences

Tuesday, October 08, 2019

DEPARTMENT NEWS

UM Public Health Experts Weigh in on Hurricane Dorian's Impact on The Bahamas After Hurricane Dorian – the strongest hurricane to make landfall in The Bahamas in early September - public health leaders, students, faculty and staff from the Miller School's Department of Public Health Sciences held a brainstorming session to discuss the deteriorating situation, potential relief efforts, and gather ideas on the various impacts of the storm. Medical needs, displacement, environmental concerns, mass migration, and mental health were topics of discussion.

Dr. Mariano Kanamori to Develop a HIV Protection, Diagnoses and Treatment Pharmacy and Parks Network for Latinos The University of Miami Developmental HIV/AIDS Mental Health Research Center, an AIDS Research Center program that is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, recently received supplemental awards from the National Institutes of Health to support various projects. Mariano Kanamori, Ph.D., professor of public health at the Department of Public Health Sciences, will serve as project investigator for one of those projects, which will use a pharmacy and parks network to increase awareness and utilization of HIV protection, diagnosis, and treatment services by three distinct Latino subgroups in Miami-Dade County.

Dr. Taghrid Asfar Awarded for Best Poster at the 19th Annual Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Europe Conference The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Europe Conference held the 19th annual meeting in Oslo, Norway this year. Taghrid Asfar, M.D., MSPH, assistant professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences, presented findings on five research projects at the annual meeting, including one that was distinguished as one of the best posters.

The mysterious vaping illness News@TheU: Epidemiologist Denise C. Vidot, an assistant professor at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies and M.D./M.P.H. research methods co-director at the Miller School, provided insight on the mysterious lung disease connected to vaping – the use of electronic tobacco and/or cannabis smoking devices. Currently, she is also working toward examining the health impacts of electronic cannabis and tobacco devices.

RESEARCH AND INITIATIVES Study Finds Association Between Creactive Protein and Radiotherapy-Related Pain in Breast Cancer Patients Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) has significantly reduced recurrences of breast cancer, but it does have adverse responses that negatively affect the quality of life of patients. To help guide decisions regarding RT, as well as with the development of targeted interventions to improve quality of life, a pilot study published in Breast Cancer Research examined the C-reactive protein and its association with pain before and after RT.

Public Health Researchers to Launch a Trauma-Informed and Responsive Care Initiative Roderick King, M.D., MPH, and Joseph West, Sc.D., two researchers from the Department of Public Health Sciences, were recently awarded a two-year grant from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to address gaps in health equity, responsive care needs related to trauma, and adaptive lifestyle behaviors in young men.

Researchers Find Low Colorectal Cancer Survival in Nevada People that are diagnosed with colorectal cancer – the third greatest cancer burden in the United States – have the lowest survival rates in Nevada when compared to those diagnosed in other Western states, according to a study published in PLOS One, a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal.

FACULTY AND STAFF SPOTLIGHTS Public Health’s Dr. Adam Carrico to begin a National Institute on Drug AbuseFunded Project on a mHealth Intervention The project will determine the efficacy of Supporting Treatment Adherence for Resilience and Thriving (START), a six-month mHealth intervention for men who have sex with men who are HIV positive and use stimulants. START will integrate two theoretically grounded, evidence-based interventions to optimize the effectiveness of treatment as prevention.

Dr. J. Sunil Rao to Begin a National Science Foundation Project on Subjectlevel Prediction and Application The goal of the project is to make methodological advances to the classified mixed model prediction method (CMMP). CMMP is the first to lay out the framework to determine predictions using precision medicine. For example, the method can look for matches in an electronic health record that might provide clues about potential drugs for patients who have not responded to standard therapies.

Public Health Researchers to Study Neighborhood Greenness and Cancer Risk Scott Brown, Ph.D., and Jose Szapocznik, Ph.D., public health researchers at the Miller School, will investigate the relationship of block-level greenness to cancer diagnoses, including for breast, colorectal, endometrial, lung, and prostate cancers. They have previously found associations between neighborhood greenness and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and depression.

STUDENT AND ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS

The Shop Docs: Bringing Preventative Care to the Community

Annie Liu Conducts a Project on Smoking Cessation in Delhi, India

PUBLIC HEALTH NEWS National Institutes of Health: NIH funds $945 million in research to tackle the national opioid crisis through NIH HEAL Initiative InventUM: Utter Devastation: University of Miami Delegation Visits the Bahamas The New York Times: The World’s Oceans Are in Danger, Major Climate Change Report Warns Miami Herald Op-Ed: Mental-health specialists in Dorian-battered Bahamas must respect Haitians' values

“We as UM can coordinate to help in The Bahamas in the best way that we can. The U is one U.” — VIVIANA HORIGIAN, M.D., M.H.A.

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Public health graduate students visited the Sylvester's Game Changer Vehicle to meet the team and learn more about its community outreach, programs, and events.

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