SPH News March 3, 2008
SPH News is a school-wide electronic newsletter distributed to SPH faculty and staff every other week during the school year. Please send news items to SPHNews@umn.edu.
From the Dean
It's federal budget "mark-up" time, and that means that just about everyone in the country is in Washington DC to speak with their Congressional delegation about important issues on the national agenda. Many of the deans of the 40 accredited schools of public health were there including yours truly. There were several major issues on our collective agenda, but chief among them is public health workforce development. A study by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) released last week shows that the nation faces a shortfall of public health workers that will worsen by 2020 unless the nation takes action to close the gap.
In Minnesota, this means a shortfall of some 7,000 workers. Thus public health joins all the other health professions in projected workforce shortages in the coming decade. What's are the causes and what's to be done? The causes are many, but I believe chief factors include an aging public health workforce (23 percent will be eligible to retire by 2012); the continued lack of US investment in public health (about 1 percent nationally of what we invest in health care overall); and the rising cost of health professional training.
On the cost factor, the ASPH supports the approach of a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Hagel (R-Nebraska) and Durbin (D-Illinois). It would establish scholarship and loan payback programs worth more than $200 million per year to help students defray the cost of public health training if they agree to serve for a certain period of time in the field. Special bonuses would be available for those who agree to work in under-served areas like Greater Minnesota and 80 percent of the funds would go toward state and local public health workforce needs. Many that I spoke to in the Minnesota delegation are supporters of the approach. Now is the time to let your Congresspersons know what you think.
By the way, I'll be joining local public health representatives on Minnesota Public Radio (91.1 FM) this morning from 9-10 a.m. to discuss the issues of public health and other health professional work force shortages. For more information about the public health agenda, go to the ASPH Web site at: www.asph.org/
--John R. Finnegan, Jr., Ph.D.
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Media News
February 2008 media coverage featured the following SPH faculty and staff:
Matthew Albers
Paul Bernhardt
Kathleen Call
Jon Christianson
Richard Crow
John Finnegan
Simone French
Bernard Harlow
Lisa Harnack
Alan Hirsch
David Jacobs
Robert Jeffery
Pam Lutsey
Jeffrey McCullough
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
Michael Osterholm
David Parker
Keryn Pasch
Bill Riley
Nancy Sherwood
Lyn Steffen
Deborah Swackhamer
Traci Toomey
Bill Toscano
Baolin Wu
Coverage was featured in local media as well as in the Boston Globe, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Scripps News Service, Associated Press, South Asian Post, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Belleview News Democrat, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsday.com, and Reuters UK. Visit www.sph.umn.edu/news/ to read more about SPH faculty in the news and find links to the complete stories.
Research News
Primary Investigator |
Project Title |
Award Amount |
Funding Agency |
John Adgate |
How Much is Too Much to Wheeze: Asthma Clinical Assessment and Standardized Allergen Sampling |
$13,325 |
Boston Medical Center
|
Leslie Grant |
Technical Assistance: Focus Groups and Survey Development
|
$3,000 |
Augustana Care Corp |
Robert Kane |
Determining Characteristics of Arkansas' Nursing Home Population
|
$95,360
|
Area Agency on Aging of NW Arkansas |
Hong-Ngoc Ba Nguyen |
A Feasibility Study of Diabetes in the Etiology of PPD |
$8,043 |
Office of the Dean-The Graduate School
|
Faculty News
Dean John Finnegan will discuss the public health workforce shortage with Kerri Miller during the first hour of Minnesota Public Radio's "Mid-Morning" program on Monday, March 3. The show begins at 9 a.m.
Ruby Nguyen has been awarded the President's Faculty Multicultural Research Award funding from the University of Minnesota. Her proposal is "An Integrated Approach to Addressing Inflammation and Poor Pregnancy Outcome among Women of Color in North Minneapolis."
Lynn Blewett and Elizabeth Lukanen of SHADAC facilitated a proposal advisory group meeting for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) held in Washington D.C. last month. The group met to review 62 proposals that were submitted to the SPH's State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) program. SHARE will fund approximately $5.5 million to research evaluations to build an evidence-based resource to inform future state and federal health reform efforts. Recommendations will be forwarded to RWJF for final funding decisions that will be made in late March.
Hubert "Skip" Humphrey has been appointed to the board of directors for the AARP. The nonprofit group claims over 38 million members, making it one of the largest membership organizations for people age 50 and over in the United States.
The NIH Public Access Policy goes into effect April 7. The policy requires authors to submit any articles that arise from NIH funding to NIH's PubMed Central, where the articles will be permanently accessible to all, free of charge. Before that, however, authors need to make sure they don't sign away necessary rights in the journal's author agreement. U Libraries and Sponsored Projects Administration can guide authors through the submission process; e-mail questions.
The daylong "Write Winnings Grants" seminar will take place Tuesday, March 25. The seminar targets AHC faculty and staff involved in clinical and translational research. Practical and conceptual aspects important to the proposal-writing process are discussed in detail. Space is limited to 100 participants.
Register online
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School News
Beware of Job Fraud. Two cases of fraud were identified by SPH students last week. In the first instance, an e-mail was circulated from an organization posing as the World Health Organization (WHO). The e-mail invited students to submit personal information to the e-mail address hr@hrp-who.site.tc in an attempt to commit identify theft. While the posting appears to be authentic, there are misspellings and no phone or other WHO contact information. If you have applied to or received a WHO job posting that you suspect may be a hoax, you can contact the WHO at internet@who.int.
More on WHO e-mail scams
More on WHO job postings
In the second case, a student received an unsolicited telephone call from someone representing a New Brighton company wanting her to come in for an interview. As it turns out the company doesn't exist.
The deadline for nominations for the 2008 SPH P&A Excellence Award is Friday, April 11. The award was established to recognize members of the Academic Professional and Administrative (P&A) staff who have made distinguished contributions to the missions of the University of Minnesota and the School of Public Health. For questions contact Stefannie Anderson at stef@umn.edu or 6-1428. Send nominations to: Recognition, Awards and Honors Committee c/o Stefannie Anderson SPH Dean's Office, MMC 197, A302 Mayo Bldg.
The SPH is hosting a preview day for prospective students on Thursday, March 13 in Mayo 3-100. Faculty, students, and staff are invited to stop by from 10:40 to 10:55 a.m. to meet and greet this group of future public health colleagues. Feel free to stay for faculty, student and alumni panels immediately following the meet and greet. Contact Nome at xaph0001@umn.edu for further information.
Online registration for prospective students
Save the date. Senior Vice President for Health Sciences Frank Cerra will engage in a dialogue with each of the AHC schools and colleges this spring. All SPH faculty and staff are invited to join in the conversation from 8:30 to 10:30 on Friday, April 18, in the Mayo Auditorium. For questions call Jen at 5-4110.
A new video highlighting the mission of SHAPE is available for viewing. SHAPE is a survey of the health of people living in Hennepin county, conducted by the Human Services and Public Health Department in partnership with the SPH.
Watch the video
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SPH Events & Courses
It's Harambee time. It's a time of unity, celebration, and sharing the unique cultural attributes that empower everyone's personalities. Make plans to attend a Harambee gathering on Monday, March 10, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Performances begin at 6 p.m. in Coffman Union. Questions? Write to chip@umn.edu or or Thuy Doan at doanx034@umn.edu.
CPHEO Announcements
Minnesota Disaster Response: Lessons Learned in 2007 (Emergency Readiness Rounds) will be held on Wednesday, March 5.
Learn more online
Global Public Health Institute—Reykjavik, Iceland March 31-April 3.
Learn more online
Upcoming CPHEO Courses
Homeland Security will be discussed on March 5-6.
Learn more/register online
8-Hour Emergency Response Refresher will be held on Thursday, March 13.
Learn more/register online
The workshop "Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews" will be held on March 17-18 and 19-20.
Learn more/register
"Breathe Easier: Advances in Indoor Air Quality and Mold Recognition, Identification and Remediation" will be held March 18-20.
Register online
8-Hour Hospital Decontamination will be held on Thursday, March 27.
Learn more/register online
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Other Events
Minnesota's Commissioner of Health, Dr. Sanne Magnan will present her vision and priorities for the Minnesota Department of Health and the state from 5:45 to 7 p.m., March 4
Directions to location
March 12 from 8 to 9:30 a.m.
Partners for Asthma Action presents "Controlling Asthma," St. Paul
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Events on the AHC Web Site
Events on the SPH Web Site
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Last modified on Sunday Mar 02, 2008