SPH News August 2008
August 4, 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
Team "D" in Action
The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune last Thursday ran a story that beautifully illustrates the impact our faculty and students have on public health in this country nearly every day. SPH Professor Mike Osterholm, Director of the U's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) testified before a U.S. House subcommittee about the quality of the nation's food-borne illness detection system. His assessment comes in light of the ongoing outbreak of the Saint Paul strain of salmonella that is sweeping the country. Osterholm noted that the nation's local, state and federal system to detect these kinds of illnesses "...is largely broken." Minnesota, however, is an exception. Osterholm noted that Minnesota's food-borne illness detection system had traced the outbreak (correctly) to some types of peppers in about two weeks while much of the national focus was on tomatoes and other produce, incorrectly it turns out. Why the difference? Team Diarrhea, or "Team D" as it is better known. Team D, directed by the Minnesota State Department of Health includes SPH students who can be rapidly deployed to interview patients and work cases leading to a triangulation of the likely vectors and identification of the agent. Osterholm believes this is a national model that others should emulate and could be done nationwide with Minnesota's leadership. And our students and faculty are front and center in this effort. Let's hope that Congress agrees this is worth the effort and price tag.
-John R. Finnegan, Jr., Ph.D.
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Media News
July 2008 media coverage featured the following SPH faculty:
Jean Abraham
Matthew Albers
Aaron Folsom
Susan G. Gerberich
Lisa Harnack
Wendy Hellerstedt
David Jacobs
Toben Nelson
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
Michael Osterholm
Gurumurthy Ramachandran
Simon Rosser
Lyn Steffen
Traci Toomey
Coverage was featured in local media as well as in the New York Times, USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oregonian, Wisconsin's Herald Times Reporter, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, U.S. News and World Report, United Press International and the Arizona Daily Star. Visit www.sph.umn.edu/news/ to read more about SPH faculty in the news.
Subscribe to Public Health Scene to get regular e-mail updates on SPH in the news.
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Faculty News
Jean Abraham has been selected as one of ten senior staff economists to serve on the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Abraham and her fellow staff economists, as a part of the CEA, will provide the president and other government departments and agencies with the best, current academic thinking on a wide range of subjects. The CEA was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to provide the president with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues.
Lynn Blewett, Michael Davern and Jeannette Kane Ziegenfuss have written an article, "Access to Health Care and Voting Behavior in the United States," for the August issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
Michael Osterholm and Craig Hedberg testified before the House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture on July 30. Osterholm and Hedberg discussed "Foodborne Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Detection and Investigation: Challenges and Opportunities."
Michael Osterholm has accepted an invitation to become a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Pandemics. The council acts as an advisory board to the forum and other interested parties, such as governments and international organizations.
The 2008-2009 edition of faculty guidebooks are available for distribution to students in SPH courses this summer and fall. The guidebooks outline the research expertise of each SPH faculty member. Those interested in getting copies to distribute please contact Heidi Menzel at 4-6708 or at Menze029@umn.edu.
Check out the new SPH education procedures manual for current information on education procedures. The manual also includes the new policy requiring instructors to submit a contract when an incomplete grade is issued (with the exception of field experience, internship, or master's or PhD project/thesis credits). For more information go to http://www.sph.umn.edu/current/policies/home.html
Academic Integrity: a helpful online tool to address plagiarism. The University of Indiana, Bloomington, School of Education has designed an excellent free online tutorial that issues a certificate once the student passes a quiz. Some SPH instructors require that students submit a paper copy of the certificate as a required course assignment. For more information go to http://www.indiana.edu/~istd
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School News
Kudos goes to the SPH students who work on Team Diarrhea at the Minnesota Department of Health. The students in the M.P.H. program were among the researchers who helped discover that jalapenos were the real culprit in the most recent outbreak of Salmonella - dubbed Salmonella Saintpaul. The students are:
Ryan Gierke, Epi
Julie Hoffer, EnHS
Allie Harford, CHE
Carrie Klumb, EnHS
Ruthie Luna, Epi
Joshua Rounds, Epi
Colin Schwenson, Epi
Jena Trask, Epi
Mac Farnham, VPH Resident
The Bio-Medical Library will be installing new computer furniture on the second floor of the library beginning Monday, Aug. 4. During the construction period, Reference Desk services will be provided from room 274, which is right behind the current reference desk. There will not be Reference Desk services available on Saturday, Aug. 9. Students, faculty, and staff will be able to access computers in the lower-level computer area on the second floor during the construction period. Access to the lower-level computer area, room 274 and the group study rooms will be maintained during the project. There will be some noise during the construction project which is expected to be completed by Wednesday, Aug. 13.
SPH students are blogging about their summer field experiences. Read their posts, view their photos, and read comments from friends and family.
- Go to the Field Experience blog
- Go to the U.S. Field Experience blog
Join the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). The University of Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) was formed in 2004 as part of a comprehensive effort to prepare for health emergencies on campus and in the community. MRC members are needed from all disciplines, backgrounds, and skill sets (clinical and non-clinical). If you are not currently registered with the U of M MRC, please consider doing so. Contact MRC Coordinator, Kathy Berlin, at 6-4722 or medicalreserve@umn.edu
- More information/register online
The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) is seeking feedback as it begins its process of developing national accreditation standards for government health agencies. On Aug. 1, the PHAB issued preliminary domains, standards, and measures for its voluntary national accreditation program. The proposed standards will be available to the public health community for review on PHAB's Web site,www.phaboard.org. Applicants for accreditation - including state, territorial, city or county, and tribal health departments - are invited to provide feedback by Oct. 31 via a survey on the Web site, a written questionnaire or discussion groups. The organization will review all responses by December, with the goal of finalizing accreditation standards by January 2009.
- More information online
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SPH Events & Courses
Join the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) student interns as they present the results of their summer pollution prevention projects. The program will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 25 in the Ski-U-Mah Room at the McNamara Alumni Center. To RSVP contact MnTAP at 4-1300 or email speck002@umn.edu.
The Minnesota State Fair is fast approaching. Visit the SPH booth in the Crossroads building on Wednesday, Aug. 27. The booth will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and feature demonstrations on DNA, State Fair food, and other public health topics. Visitors will have an opportunity to express their opinions about public health in an SPH vodcast (video blogging). The video footage from the vodcast will be edited and made available on the SPH website. SPH trinkets will be given away. For questions, contact the Dean's Office at 4-6669 or sphmayo@umn.edu. See you at the fair.
Learn more about addressing issues of copyright and fair use. Dale Mossestad from the Copyright Permissions Center will speak on specific issues and scenarios that are relevant for a University audience. Join us online on Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at http://umconnect.umn.edu/copyright. This event is brought to you by the Digital Learning Group (DLG).
CPHEO Announcements
UPCOMING CPHEO COURSES
8-Hour Emergency Response Refresher
August 12
October 7
December 4
- View course description
8-Hour Site Worker Refresher
September 9
- View course description
24- and 40-Hour Site Worker Training
September 15-19
- View course description
Evacuation Train the Trainer
September 25
- View course description
Occupational Hearing Conservation Recertification
September 25
- View course description
Occupational Hearing Conservation Training
September 29-October 1. For more information see:
- View course description
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Events on the AHC Web Site
Events on the SPH Web Site
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Last modified on Monday Jul 07, 2008