A person’s background exposures provide the context for the development of his/her disease. Understanding the underlying biological mechanisms important for the development or progression of disease depends on this context. Traditional epidemiologic approaches have relied on stratification or adjustment using regression models, however, this as major limitations when we are dealing with big datasets. This is especially true given the relatively small sample sizes in genomic studies combined with the extraordinarily large number of potential risk factors limits our ability…
Find out more »Carl J. Martinson, MD Lectureship in Preventive Medicine Presented by Margaret Chesney, Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine, UC San Francisco This lecture will define integrative medicine and whole person health and describe its recent growth. The evidence base and research challenges for integrative health will be highlighted, particularly the current needs for nonpharmacological approaches to pain, given the opioid crisis. The relevance of integrative medicine or whole health perspectives to preventive medicine will be discussed as a frontier that…
Find out more »The past decade has seen a steady and dramatic increase in legislative attacks on abortion access in the United States, often under the perilous guise of “protecting women’s health.” A robust body of evidence has, however, demonstrated that access to abortion is vital to the health and well-being of pregnant people and their families and that restrictions on abortion access threaten public health. With the recent repeal of Roe v Wade, people in more than half of the country will…
Find out more »Presented by: Gonzalo E. Torres, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Loyola University Chicago School of Medicine Dr. Torres serves as the Director of the Mentoring Institute for Neuroscience Diversity Scholars (MINDS) and the Director of the Center for Underrepresented research in Addiction (CURA) which are national programs funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), respectively. The MINDS and CURA programs are funded through…
Find out more »Presented by: Deshira Wallace, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., (she/her), Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is changing the burden of illness across Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly in rural communities, where research on living with T2D remains sparse. Since 2015 Dr. Wallace and collaborators have conducted a longitudinal, qualitative study to explore the lived experience of living with T2D…
Find out more »What is a liberation-first approach to public health? How does accountability and positionality fit into our work, and are those concepts essential components? How do we lean into the tension of equity that for too many, is purely the lived experience of survival? Presented by: Hadija Steen Mills (they/she), Founder of the Healthcare Reparations Cooperative This presentation will discuss the work of the Healthcare Reparations Cooperative, including the history of the organization, its aims, and opportunities for engagement. The presentation…
Find out more »The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has been characterized by striking racial and ethnic inequity since it began. How has that inequity evolved? Using new research on COVID-19 mortality in the United States and in Minnesota, we will consider two popular narratives about how COVID mortality is patterned at this point in the pandemic, and critically evaluate what they illuminate--and disguise. Presented by: Elizabeth Wrigley-Field (she/her), Ph.D., M.S., M.A. Assistant Professor Sociology and Minnesota Population Center University of Minnesota…
Find out more »The Driven to Discover (D2D) research facility at the Minnesota State Fair leverages the annual gathering of approximately two million fairgoers to engage Minnesota residents in research in a unique way to support rapid participant recruitment and data collection for investigators. The presentation describes how the D2D team has experienced sometimes hilarious ups and downs in building this innovative research infrastructure partnership between the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Fair. Current work to expand the D2D model in…
Find out more »Across the country, undergraduate public health education has grown exponentially over the last decade. The School of Public Health (SPH) and the Division of Epidemiology & Community Health have decades-long history of offering undergraduate public health courses. A dozen years ago the SPH co-created the undergraduate public health minor, which has grown to be the second largest at the University of Minnesota. This Fall, the SPH will embark on its first bachelor of arts degree in public health. This seminar…
Find out more »MDH has embarked on a data vision initiative to create a holistic framework and roadmap toward the broader goal of becoming a trusted partner for gathering, using, managing, and sharing data in ways that advance health equity. This initiative is a response to what MDH has heard from staff, partners, and communities about the need for a more responsive, collaborative, and equitable approach to collecting, using and sharing data. Over the past six months we have convened an Advisory Committee…
Find out more »Presented by: Sonya S. Brady, (she/her), Ph.D., L.P., Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota In this seminar, Dr. Brady will provide an example of how involvement in transdisciplinary science can open doors to new programs of research. Dr. Brady is Co-Investigator of the Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Dr. Brady became involved in the consortium because of her…
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