William Shaw, one of our occupational and environmental medicine researchers, is working to identify opioid prescription management strategies for payers and organizations administering workers’ compensation benefits.

Read more about his study, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor and public policy firm Mathematica.

Mold and Moisture CME Course – Guidance For Clinicians

Patients present to primary care services with symptoms and health concerns that require consideration of environmental factors. In some cases, patients’ exposure to mold and moisture in their homes, offices, schools, and workplaces may be having a significant effect. This course includes guidance designed to help the healthcare provider address patients with illnesses related to mold in the indoor environment by providing a background understanding of how mold may be affecting patients. With an appreciation of the time pressures in the clinical medical setting today, the course describes “tools” to help the provider evaluate the patient and help the practitioner explore environmental relationships to illness.

The course can be found here: Mold and Moisture CME Course

Part 1: Health Effects Related to Mold and Moisture in Indoor Environments

Part 2:Resources for Health Providers: Preventing Respiratory Disease in Patients who are Exposed to Damp Moldy Environments

On February 3, 2018, William Shaw, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Örebro University, Sweden. This special award was granted for his influential research on the links between psychosocial factors and work disability due to musculoskeletal pain. The Conferment was part of a formal graduation ceremony for new M.D.s and new Ph.D.s at Örebro University in the fields of medicine, law, arts, and sciences. While Honorary Doctorates in the U.S. are typically awarded to celebrities, politicians, or philanthropists, this recognition in European and Scandinavian universities is reserved for fellow peer scientists from other countries who have collaborated with local faculty. Over the past 12 years, Dr. Shaw has worked with Professor Steven Linton and other faculty at the Örebro University School of Law, Psychology, and Social Work on research topics pertaining to work disability. Örebro University is one of the ten major Swedish universities, with 15,000 students, including 400 doctoral students. As part of the graduation weekend, Dr. Shaw made a public presentation of his research on work-related low back pain, he addressed new graduates as part of the commencement dinner, and he was even crowned with a real laurel wreath during the formal white-tie Conferment ceremony. Congratulations, Dr. Shaw, for this unusual recognition from abroad!

Insoo Kim, Ph.D., received a BioScience Pipeline award to accelerate the development of more sensitive electronic hearing protection devices. Visit Eight Connecticut Teams Awarded BioScience Pipeline Grants to Advance Human Health for more information.

Michael Erdil MD, FACOEM, gave the following presentations:

• UMass Lowell, UConn Health. Sturbridge Winter Symposium. Arthroscopic Surgery for Patients with Degenerative Meniscal Tears of the Knee: Practice Gaps, Opportunities and Research Considerations. January 10, 2018.
• Human Resource Association of Central Connecticut. Opioids in the Workplace: What HR Needs to Know! Rocky Hill, CT. January 23, 2018.

 

Public Health doctoral student Lisa Rusch, MS, CEP, was awarded a Pilot Grant from The Center for the Promotion of Health in The New England Workplace (CPH-NEW) for her research entitled: Associations Among Workplace Factors, Perceived Work Ability, Length of Sick Leave, and Leisure Time Physical Activity in Working Breast Cancer Survivors. Lisa is working with co-investigators Drs. Jennifer Cavallari and Alicia Dugan.