SPH News Aug. 6, 2007
SPH News is a school-wide electronic newsletter distributed to SPH faculty and staff every month during the summer. Please send news items to SPHNews@umn.edu. SPH News will resume bi-weekly distribution with the back-to-school edition on Sept. 4.
From the Dean
My spouse and I walked around the entire restricted periphery of the 35W bridge collapse site last evening, about five miles in all from the Washington Avenue Bridge to the Stone Arch Bridge, up University Avenue and back to the Mayo Building across campus. We, like those we passed on the way, had a need to connect with this terrible tragedy, with those still lost, and to try to understand it. You catch snippets of conversation along the way - a prayer, a "there-but-for-the- grace-of-God" story, lots of barely audible conversations like being in a place of worship, and comments like "...This shouldn't have happened..." and a shake of the head. The public pulse along the way was sadness, disbelief, the need for meaning and understanding, the need to know what has gone wrong. Something has gone wrong.
Lt. Governor and Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau angrily ripped into a reporter at a Friday press conference on the disaster for asking whether she believed her department was less able to do its job because of the Governor's "no new taxes" policy. She took offense and immediately personalized a very legitimate question as an attack on the integrity of good people in the Transportation Department. She was way off the mark in my opinion, but likely sleep-deprived and not thinking clearly. Whatever has gone wrong is not apparently about bad people doing bad things. It is about an entire system that doesn't give good people the tools they need to do the best job possible for prevention. My guess is that the shower of national media attention on Minneapolis during this tragedy suggests the rest of the country is coming to this conclusion, too.
--John R. Finnegan, Jr., Ph.D.
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Media News
July 2007 media coverage featured the following SPH faculty and staff:
Paul Bernhardt
Lynn Blewett
John Finnegan
David Jacobs
Robert Kane
Rosalie Kane
Ruth Lynfield
Nitika Malik
Jeffrey Mandel
James Neaton
Michael Osterholm
Keryn Pasch
Birgitta Rice
Tatyana Shamliyan
Matt Simcik
Coverage was featured in local media as well as in the Associated Press, Nigerian Tribune, MedPage Today, Scientific American, and Yahoo! Health. Visit www.sph.umn.edu/news to read more about SPH faculty in the news and find links to the complete stories.
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Research News
Primary Investigator |
Project Title |
Award Amount |
Funding Agency |
Kathleen Thiede Call |
Evaluation of the Community Care Network Project |
$14,978 |
NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTHCARE NETWORK |
Aaron Folsom |
MESA Home Study-Japan Ancillary Study |
$90,000 |
TAKESHI TANIGAWA |
John Himes |
A Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of ALTU-135 Treatment in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis-Related Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency |
$209,490 |
ALTUS PHARM INC |
John Himes |
An Open-Label Clinical Study Evaluating the Long-Term Safety of ALTU-135 for the Treatment of Patients with Cystic Fibrosis-Related Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency |
$277,828 |
ALTUS PHARM INC |
John Himes |
An Open-Label Clinical Study Evaluating the Long-Term Safety of ALTU-135 for the Treatment of Patients with Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency due to Chronic Pancreatitis or Pancreatectomy |
$277,828 |
ALTUS PHARM INC |
Karen Kuntz |
Disparities in Cancer Prevention and Control |
$215,266 |
DHHS AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RES AND QUALITY |
Karen Kuntz |
Using Mathematical Models to Project the U.S. Childhood Obesity Epidemic and the Interventions Needed to Reverse It |
$37,343 |
HARVARD UNIVERSITY |
William Toscano |
Load Reduction to Minnesota POTWs Using Pollution Prevention |
$24,697 |
MN POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCY |
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Faculty News
Lynn Blewett testified July 11 before the Minnesota Legislative Commission on Health Care Access, providing an overview of state health reform initiatives taking place across the nation. She was invited back on July 25 to make a presentation on to the Cost Containment Workgroup of the commission on financing Maine’s Dirigo Health Plan.
Michael Davern, Lynn Blewett, and Kathleen Call hosted a meeting July 17 at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. The meeting focused on SHADAC’s project examining the Medicaid Undercount in the Current Population Survey. Through this project, SHADAC has brought together several states and a number of federal agencies including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and the U.S. Census Bureau and demonstrates SHADAC’s unique role in serving as a bridge between federal agencies and the states.
R.K. Anderson is founder and chair of the board for Animal Behavior Resources Institute, Inc, which has recently released ABRIonline.org, a new free resource for companion animal professionals, featuring videos, podcast interviews and articles from leading behaviorists, veterinarians, and trainers. To create the site, more than 100 world-renowned professionals in animal behavior and training volunteered to share their expertise and experience with the larger community of companion animal professionals.
• Learn more online
Which community members have you worked with this past academic year, who helped enrich the SPH student experience? Whether you collaborated on a project or brought someone in as a guest lecturer, please invite your community partners to SPH's annual Community Partner event taking place on Thursday, Sept. 20. Forward the names (and any contact information you have) for your community partners to Michelle Lian-Anderson at liana001@umn.edu. Deadline: Aug. 10.
Copyright permission requests for Fall Semester 2007 course packets should
be submitted to the Copyright Permissions Center as soon as possible.
Reading lists, including full citations, may be submitted to the Copyright
Permissions Center for processing via fax, campus mail, email, or over the
web. Please contact Dale Mossestad (6-9416) for additional information or see www.copyright.umn.edu.
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Student News
SPH students are blogging about their international field experiences. To read entries posted from around the world, go to: blog.lib.umn.edu/sphpod/notes07/.
SPH Orientation and Warm-Up sessions are just around the corner. For questions about orientation and warm-up session, contact Carol Kampa at kampa003@umn.edu.
• View
the week’s schedule of events
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School News
As some of you already know, long-time dean's office co-worker, Judy Peterson, is on medical leave for a very serious illness. She is at the Crystal Care Center 3245 Vera Cruz Ave. N., Crystal, MN, 55422-2708. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Seeking Lead SPH Volunteer for Community Fund Drive. In Judy Peterson’s absence, the school is looking for a faculty or staff member to serve as the lead SPH volunteer for the University’s Community Fund Drive. The lead volunteer will manage the Community Fund Drive? campaign within the SPH. Specific duties include: distributing information to faculty and staff; finding and working with grassroots volunteers; planning Community Fund Drive events for the school; attending orientation on Aug. 21, 8:30-9:30 a.m; and attending two information sessions held Sept. 27 and Oct. 24 8-9:30 a.m. in McNamara Center. If you would like to share the duties with another SPH employee, you can serve as co-leaders for the school. If you are interested in the volunteer position, please contact Barb Cook at barbcook@umn.edu.
UNICEF has released a training manual for media workshops on avian influenza in which it recommends the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) as a news source for avian influenza. CIDRAP, directed by SPH professor Michael Osterholm, is the only academic center listed in the manual.
• Download the manual (PDF)
Public Health Moments from July include SPH faculty talking about topics such as universal health care, limits on fish consumption, and hypertension.
• Listen to Public Heatlh Moment
Postpartum health and returning to work is the subject of the July issue of Research Brief from professor Pat McGovern.
• Read the brief
The Division of Health Policy and Management is offering a special short-term math preparation course August 13-16, 9 a.m. to noon. PubH 3810, Math Review for Public Health (1 credit). Prerequisites: Linear algebra, basic calculus. This course is a review of basic calculus and linear algebra. It is presumed that the student has had exposure to these topics through previous coursework. The topics covered include differentials, integral calculus, exponentials and logarithms, matrix algebra, and introduction to mathematical models. The course includes lecture, and working mathematical problems as class exercises.
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SPH Events & Courses
Functional Exercises will be held August 7-8 at the Ramada Minneapolis Northwest in Brooklyn Park. Step-by-Step Functional Exercises Design from Concept to After Action Report/Improvement Plan. Whether you are working with a consultant or designing your own exercise, you need to be aware of how a functional exercise is developed, constructed, and evaluated using Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program guidelines. The course is free of charge, however early registration is recommended due to limited space.
• Learn more online
SPH faculty, staff and students are invited to the SPH International and Multicultural Breakfast on Thursday, Aug. 23, 8-9:15 a.m. at the Whole Music Club in Coffman Union. The event is sponsored by SPH Multicultural Student Affairs. For more information, contact Thuy Doan at doanx034@umn.edu.
• Register online
Join SPH at the State Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 28. Stop by the SPH booth in the University of Minnesota building. There will be hands-on activities about public health and a chance to for to be included in a SPH vodcast. For a schedule of SPH activities that day, email Anne Marie Kruse at kruse109@umn.edu.
UPCOMING CPHEO COURSES
8 Hour Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Refresher
Aug. 9
For more information and registration visit http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/niehs
Occupational Hearing Conservation Refresher Training
Sept. 12
For more information and registration visit http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/mcohs
8-Hour Hazardous Waste Site Worker Refresher
Sept. 13
For more information and registration visit http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/niehs
24- and 40- Hour Hazardous Waste Site Worker Training
Sept. 17-21
For more information and registration visit http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/niehs
Evacuation Coordination: Train the Trainer
Sept. 27
For more information and registration visit http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/niehs
Maternal Nutrition Intensive Course (Video Streaming)
Aug. 15-Oct. 15
The National Maternal Nutrition Intensive Course offers online video streaming over the Internet to allow distance learners an opportunity to view sessions of the course. The streaming video sessions will be 8-9 hours and will include:
- Improving How We Teach Nutrition Using Stages of Change and Critical Thinking Skills
- Prenatal Nutrition and Health Issues: A Multiethnic and Multiracial Perspective
- The New WHO Growth Standards: How We Got Them and Should We Care?
- Effects of Prenatal Methamphetamine on the Developing Child
- Weight and Pregnancy: New Findings from an IOM Workshop
- Management of Preexisting Diabetes during Pregnancy
- Immigrant Experiences with Food Assistance Programs
- Nutrition, Weight and Birth Defects
• Learn more online
Care of Mothers and Neonates During Disasters in Low-Resource Settings Outside of Hospital
Aug. 13: South Central College
Aug. 15: Anoka Ramsey Community College
These informative and interactive workshops teach administrators, educators, and providers to identify and address the universal issues for these two at-risk populations during prolonged hazardous emergent conditions.
• Learn more online
Other Events
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is sponsoring an educational event in Minneapolis' Loring Park from Sept. 27-Sept. 30. The event, "A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City" is an outdoor, interactive educational exhibit made up of the actual structures and materials you would find in a real refugee camp. The exhibit asks visitors to imagine experiencing what it is like to be one of the world's 33 million refugees or internally displaced persons forced to leave their homes because of war or conflict. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
• Learn more online
Minnesota Public Health Association's Centennial Celebration Gala -
Join the MPHA as it celebrates 100 years as a contributor to the health of
Minnesotans. Will Steger, polar explorer, will be the keynote speaker.
October 25, 5:30 - 9:00 p.m. at McNamara Alumni Center. More information and registration information will be posted to www.mpha.net in September.
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• Events on the AHC Web Site
• Events on the SPH Web Site
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Last modified on Monday Aug 06, 2007