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Dean's Day 2012
The Center for Public Health Practice is pleased to announce the following awards:
Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice
Megan Swanson recently received the Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice. The CPHP Translation Award honors the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) Dean's Day project best demonstrating a contribution to policy making and/or applications for improving practice. Ms. Swanson, a student in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, received the award for her project, "Influenza Antibody Testing in Allegheny County."
Catherine Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award: Public Health in Service to the Underserved
The Catherine Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award was established by the Center for Public Health Practice to honor the memory of Catherine Cartier Ulrich for her work improving the health of underserved populations. Tragically, Catherine and her husband were killed in a car accident on July 3, 2000. The Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award honors one Master's level and one Doctoral level student each year and is open to all Dean's Day projects that show a commitment to public health service to the underserved. In 2012, Ms. Aishwarya Arjunan, Department of Human Genetics, was recognized for her Master's level work, "A Systematic Evaluation of a Newborn Screening Program for Sickle Cell Disease in Gujarat, India" and Doctoral candidate, Mr. Darren Morton, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, was recognized for his work "Increasing the Number of African American Men Who Have Sex with Men Who Participate in Research."
Can the GSPH have greater impact on Public Health Policy & Practice?
The mission of the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) is to provide leadership in health promotion, disease prevention, policy development and elimination of health disparities in populations through research that generates new knowledge to drive effec tive education, practice, and policy. In significant ways, GSPH has and continues to succeed in this by influencing public health policy regionally, nationally and internationally in many different areas of interest.
CPHP Partners with the Pennsylvania Department of Health on WalkWorks to Increase Physical Activity in Western PA
The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) Center for Public Health Practice and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have created WalkWorks, an effort to increase physical activity among people of all ages and abilities in Western Pennsylvania by developing community-based walking programs.
The initiative will establish local walking routes and enhance social support for people who would like to increase their level of physical activity. Areas slated for immediate implementation of the WalkWorks program include Cambria, Crawford, Greene, McKean, Venango and Washington counties, which have been identified as among those with the greatest burden of chronic disease in Pennsylvania.
"Ultimately, the goal is to promote change in local policies to encourage more people to walk," said WalkWorks advisor George Huber, J.D., associate dean for public policy, GSPH. "We are building momentum and looking at policies at the local level that can be modified to support pedestrian transportation."
WalkWorks aims to reduce barriers to and increase participation in physical activity for individuals of all ages and abilities. "We have assembled a team of health educators, public health practitioners and researchers at GSPH to help local communities in our region identify and mark safe walking routes, promote the walking routes to community members and establish guided community-based walking groups," said WalkWorks director Linda Duchak, Ed.M., C.H.E.S.
In their physical activity guidelines, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults aged 18 to 64 get at least 2.5 hours of moderate intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, per week.
"This program can improve the health and quality of life of everyone in our communities. At the same time, it can help to lower our rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure," said William J. McMahon, M.D., a retired physician in Washington County, Pennsylvania, a member of the Washington County WalkWorks coalition and a WalkWorks walking group leader.
Local sponsors of the WalkWorks program include the Center for Rural Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford; Crawford Health Improvement Coalition; Greene County Human Services; Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center; Oil City Area YMCA; and Washington County Health Partners, Inc.
This publication was supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (3U58DP001987-01S2). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the CDC.
2011 Bernard D. Goldstein Student Award in Environmental Health Disparities and in Public Health Practice
Luis Duran, MPH, MPIA
Established in 2005 by Dr. Goldstein, then dean of GSPH and a professor in Environmental and Occupational Health, and his wife, Russellyn Carruth, an adjunct professor in Pitt's School of Law, the Goldstein Award was established to alternately support a student from the Center for Minority Health who is exploring the environmental causes of health disparities and a student working or studying with the Center for Public Health Practice (CPHP) in an area related to the practice of public health.
CPHP has awarded Luis Duran, MPH, MPIA, a Doctor of Public Health student in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, the 2011 Goldstein Award for his work with the Public Health Systems Indicators Project of the Public Health Adaptive Systems Studies. Using the dataset of the NACCHO Profile Survey of 2008 to create a geospatial platform for characterizing local public health capacities at the county level, Mr. Duran has helped to illustrate the heterogeneities among counties, both within states and across the nation.
Dean's Day 2011
Tina-Marie Assi, Mary Hawk, Maggie Potter, and
Kimberly Rak, Dean's Day 2011
The Center for Public Health Practice is pleased to announce the following awards:
Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice
Tina-Marie Assi, Ph.D. recently received the Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice. The CPHP Translation Award honors the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) Dean's Day project best demonstrating a contribution to policy making and/or applications for improving practice. Dr. Assi, a recent graduated from the Department of Epidemiology, received the award for her project, "Impacts of Introducing the Influenza Vaccine through the Trang Province, Thailand, Routine Vaccine Supply Chain."
Catherine Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award: Public Health in Service to the Underserved
The Catherine Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award was established by the Center for Public Health Practice to honor the memory of Catherine Cartier Ulrich for her work improving the health of underserved populations. Tragically, Catherine and her husband were killed in a car accident on July 3, 2000. The Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award honors one Master's level and one Doctoral level student each year and is open to all Dean's Day projects that show a commitment to public health service to the underserved. In 2011, Ms. Kimberly Rak, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences (BCHS), was recognized for her Master's level work, "Sexual Health and Positive Relationships: Perceptions of Urban Youth and Parents," and Doctoral candidate, Ms. Mary Hawk, also of BCHS, was recognized for her work "The Effects of a Harm Reduction Housing Program on the Viral Loads of Homeless Individuals Living with HIV/AIDS."
