SPH News Jan. 7, 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
Heartening news
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on the front page Sunday morning that Minnesota has one of the lowest death rates from heart disease in the nation. Since the mid-1990s we have led the nation in the rate of decline, some 45 percent. Those of us in public health and medicine have known about this success story for some time. As recently as December an American Heart Association national report confirmed it. The story went on to interview our own Dr. Russell Luepker about the heartening news as well as former faculty member Dr. Tom Kottke, a cardiologist at Regions Hospital, and Dr. Stan Shanedling of the Minnesota Department of Health. All agreed that Minnesota's success is due to many factors including a positive Minnesota attitude toward prevention, a low uninsured rate, and access to excellent health care. I want to add one more factor without which this success would not likely have occurred in the first place: the University of Minnesota itself.
The heart disease success story highlights for me the importance of public research universities like Minnesota. Even before we were a state, the pioneers of 1851 recognized the critical need of a public research university in creating a better future for everyone in a state that did not yet exist. Because University scientists in public health, medicine, and other sciences pioneered the science of cardiovascular disease prevention, treatment, and management, you and I get to live in a world that is a better place in this important aspect. If our predecessors had not invested in this work, put money into it for the common good and the long-term, and assured the ability of the University of Minnesota to carry it out, I imagine that I would be writing a different column today.
Each public health and medical success story contains its own inverted lessons on how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Here they are: 1) Rest on your laurels, cease being vigilant, and fail to create the next generation of prevention and treatment research; 2) Cut public support of health sciences at the University; 3) Increase the number of uninsured persons; and 4) Make it more difficult to access the best prevention and care available. I hope that we fail miserably to act on these inverted lessons. Otherwise, my successor might be writing a very different column 30 years from now.
By the way, if you really want a better understanding of the science that made this difference in Minnesota, the nation and the world, check out this amazing interactive historic archive: http://www.epi.umn.edu/cvdepi/index.html The brainchild of Henry Blackburn, Mayo Professor Emeritus, and with the support of dozens of staff and colleagues around the world, it will give you as comprehensive an understanding of CVD science and epidemiology as you can find in one place. Long live the Web!
--John R. Finnegan, Jr., Ph.D.
Media News
December 2007 media coverage featured the following SPH faculty and staff:
John Adgate
Roger Feldman
Shira Feldman
John Finnegan
Andrew Flood
David Jacobs
Barbara Laporte
Jeff Mandel
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
Michael Osterholm
William Riley
B.R. Simon Rosser
Matthew Schwei
Patricia van den Berg
Beth Virnig
Elizabeth Wattenberg
Brian Zamboni
Coverage was featured in local media as well as in The New York Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Newsweek, Associated Press, CNNMoney.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, ABC News, Reuters Health and NBC Nightly News. Visit www.sph.umn.edu/news/ to read more about SPH faculty in the news and find links to the complete stories.
Faculty News
James Neaton appeared fifth in a ranking of top NIH grant recipients for 2007. He is the principal investigator of the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT). INSIGHT conducts some of the world’s largest clinical trials in HIV/AIDS. The University of Minnesota ranked 17th in a list of top NIH-funded institutes.
• View the
full lists and grant amounts
The Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment and the Life Sciences announced a funding opportunity for faculty. This initiative aims to encourage work on the broad societal implications of problems in health, environment, or the life sciences. Request for Proposals (RFP) for the summer 2008 or academic year 2008-09 are due Tuesday, Feb. 5.
• Read the RFP. Questions?
Contact Audrey Boyle at boyle032@umn.edu or 6-5624.
School News
Want to update your photo for the faculty guidebook? Or do you need a new photo for your professional use? Then stop by A-301 Mayo on Wednesday, Jan. 16, between 10 a.m. and noon, to get your picture taken. No appointment necessary.
Enter the ASPH Friday Letter Photo-of-the-Month Contest! Each month Friday Letter staff will choose a photo that depicts a public health experience of students, faculty, and staff of ASPH-member schools or affiliates of ASPH-partner organizations. Photo submissions should capture a public health experience such as school/community event or service project, faculty or student research experience, a fellowship/internship experience or a new public health initiative. Submissions should be sent via e-mail as a high-resolution JPEG attachment to submissions@asph.org. Entries should include the photographer’s full name, school or organization affiliation, and a brief description (250 words or less) of the photograph. The winning entry for each month will appear in the first issue of the Friday Letter that month. Those who enter certify that the photograph is his/her own original work, that he/she alone owns the copyright to the photograph and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in the photograph. Entrants grant ASPH the right to publish the photograph in the Friday Letter and on the ASPH Web sites. Questions can be directed to Ms. Kate Howe at khowe@asph.org or (202) 296-1099.
SPH Events & Courses
"Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: The Science and Policy Divide," will be presented Monday, Jan. 7, noon, by CIDRAP’s Michael Osterholm. The seminar, sponsored by the Institute for Molecular Virology, will be held in 1-450 Moos Tower. Refreshments will be provided. Contact Jane Franklin with questions at fran0324@umn.edu.
The Academic Health Center Office of Clinical Research Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series lecture will be held on Thursday, Jan. 10 from 12:05 to 1:05 p.m. in 2-690 Moos Tower. Bruce Psaty, professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Washington Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, will discuss, "U.S. drug safety system and the F.D.A. Amendments Act." Lunch will be provided. Parking validation is available for those attending the conference at the Oak Street Ramp, Washington Avenue Ramp or the East River Road Garage; we suggest parking in the East River Road Garage.
• Learn more online
Planning is underway at the School to celebrate National Public Health Week (NPHW), April 7-11, in a grand way. Please mark your calendars for two inaugural events. The SPH will host its first research day event on Friday, April 11, which will include posters from students. The first all-school Alumni Reunion will take place Thursday, April 10. Keynoting this evening event will be Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General. Proceeds from ticket and raffle sales will go directly to funding student scholarships through the SPH alumni scholarship fund.
Save the date for the National Public Health Week Film Festival. This marks the fourth year of this popular series scheduled to be held April 7-11. During that week the NPHW PSA contest, "It's Global," will also be featured for a second year. Stay tuned for details.
CPHEO Announcements
Upcoming CPHEO Courses
The workshop "Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews" will be held on March 17-18 and 19-20. For more information and registration visit http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/events/focusgroup/.
"Breathe Easier: Advances in Indoor Air Quality and Mold Recognition, Identification and Remediation" will be held on March 18-20. The topics are presented in a two-part series. You have the option of attending a one-day session on indoor air quality issues, a two-day session focusing specifically on mold identification and remediation, or both sessions over three days. To register, click http://ustar.ahc.umn.edu/register_event.cfm.
A farm to table study tour in the Netherlands will be held Feb. 6-9. The Global Food Safety Systems Leadership Initiative is sponsored by an international consortium of universities fostering public-private partnerships committed to a safe supply of affordable food everywhere. Please contact Meghan Taylor at 6-8434 or tayl0427@umn.edu for program itineraries, financial support applications and program registration forms.
Engaging Intergovernmental Organizations for Food Safety, Animal Health and Public Health will be held in Paris-Geneva-Rome Feb. 10-15. The Global Food Safety Systems Leadership Initiative is sponsored by an international consortium of universities fostering public-private partnerships committed to a safe supply of affordable food everywhere. Please contact Meghan Taylor at 6-8434 or tayl0427@umn.edu for program itineraries, financial support applications and program registration forms.
- Evacuation Coordination Train the Trainer will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17.
- 8-Hour Site Worker Refresher will be held on Thursday, Feb. 7.
- 24/40-Hour Site Worker Training will be held Feb. 11-15.
- Incident Management Systems Awareness will be held on Thursday, Feb. 21
• View a detailed course listing
• Register online
Other Events
Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota (EJAM) celebrates the 5th Annual Founder’s Day on Saturday, Jan. 12 with day-long event titled "Environmental Justice from the Bottom Up." Registration begins at 10 a.m. and the event goes from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Minneapolis Urban League, Glover-Sudduth Center, 2100 Plymouth Ave., N. The keynote speaker is Cecil Corbon-Mark, Director of WE ACT. WE ACT is a non-profit organization based in Northern Manhattan. They are working to improve environmental quality and to secure environmental justice in predominately African-American and Latino communities. Other speakers include Congressman Keith Ellison and Leslie Fields, Environmental Justice Director of the Sierra Club. The event includes workshops, town hall forum, vendor tables, morning and afternoon entertainment. Lunch and snacks provided. For more information call 612-436-5402.
A research symposium on Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology will be held Friday, Jan. 18, at the University of Minnesota's Rochester campus. The purpose is to facilitate further collaborations in: (1) Data mining methods for clinical and laboratory data (2) Computational methods for rational drug design. This symposium will bring together teams of scientists and administrators from the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses, the Hormel Institute, the Mayo Clinic, and IBM.
• Register online. Deadline is Jan. 9, 2008.
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