Past News

2020

  • Advocacy Training for Health Equity will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2020, from 8:30am-4pm. This free event is open to anyone interested in becoming an advocate for public health. Info
  • The 2nd Annual Conference on Racial Disparities in Maternal Morbidity and Mortality will be held on January 30th 8am – 4pm at UConn Health in Farmington.  Registration is free, but required to ensure there are adequate quantities of participant materials.  Donations are gratefully accepted. Details

2019

  • Spring 2020 MPH Course Offerings announced.
  • Dr. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award Nominee: Scott L. Wetstone, M.D., Associate Professor, Public Health Sciences was among 6 worthy finalists who were celebrated for their exemplary contributions to UConn Health
    Wetstone Appreciation Nominee
  • 2019 Program in Applied Public Health Sciences 12th Week Activities – Join students, faculty, staff and friends as we step away from our regular schedule of classes to come together to learn about significant public health concerns and expand our interactive networks. There will be a speaker on climate effects on health, another on social justice and health and one highlighting the work of Dr. Richard Stevens, plus competing student teams developing proposals on health equity, advisement session time, and an introduction to the new program, Portfolium. Details
    Update: Dr. Barry Levy’s talk was postponed due to the forecast calling for sleet and ice. We are working to reschedule his visit. Other 12th week activities for Wednesday and Thursday were not affected.
  • APHA 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo in Philly Nov 2 – 6. Many of our UConn students, faculty and alumni have posters or presentations at the APHA annual meeting. The Department of Public Health Sciences and the Program in Applied Public Health Sciences will have a booth in the Expo.  Come visit us at table 164.  Also stop by our reception Monday, Nov. 4th from 7 to 9 pm at the Marriott Hotel in Meeting Room 404 to socialize, connect with old friends, get info about our new faculty openings or just have some great food. List of posters and publications
  • Join our faculty and students at the annual Connecticut Public Health Association Conference: Innovative Solutions to Public Health Challenges: Research, Programs, and Policy on Oct. 21 at Aqua Turf.
  • Volunteer to help with our End Hunger night on Oct 23. Flyer
  • A recent article  details the story of Carolina Vicens-Cardona, an M.D./MPH candidate, who is the 2019 recipient of a Global Health Education Scholarship.
  • Networking event for faculty interested in community based research in central Connecticut on Oct 30. Please join the Community Research Alliance, a group of research-informed community service, training, research and advocacy organizations with interests ranging from HIV to oral health to learn about existing community-university collaborations and forge new relationships for the development of new studies.  Flyer
  • UConn’s Alcohol Research Center (ARC) Continues Unprecedented Run into its Fifth Decade with NIH Funding.  Over its 41 years, the Alcohol Research Center has earned an elite reputation in the worldwide addiction science community. It has broken ground in the areas of neuroscience, medication therapies, behavioral interventions in the treatment of alcohol use disorders, the genetics of addiction, as well as gender, ethnic, and environmental influences on the development of addictive disorders. Our Professors Thomas Babor and Howard Tennen have been involved since the early years. Read more.
  • Is Traffic-Related Air Pollution Killing Us?  interviews Professor Doug Brugge, whose research has focused on increasing scientific knowledge about the health risks associated with traffic-related air pollution, especially adjacent to highways.
  • Fall 2019 MPH Course Offerings announced.
  • Congratulations to Assistant Professor Toan Ha on receiving an R21 award from NIMH titled “HIV Risk Among Young Women Workers in the Industrial Zone in Vietnam”.
  • View the commencement video to watch the full ceremony or to hear Woodlyn Joachim’s speech (go to the link to the remarks section at minute 31) . In addition, there is an interview with our Commencement Speaker.
    Commencement Speaker
  • Professor Audrey Chapman received the Joan Segal Outstanding Faculty Award at the Annual MPH Graduation Dinner. Congratulations!
  • Dr. Kerins, a gerontologist, will be presenting Health Care and Medical Management for Aging Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities on Wednesday, 5/29 from 1230-330 at the UCEDD. for info and registration
  • Our MPH and PhD in Public Health students will graduate May 13th at the Jorgenson Center at Storrs.
  • The 2019 UConn Public Health Celebration for graduates and their families will be held Thursday May 9th at 6 pm in the Rotunda.  Join alumni, faculty and leadership highlighting contributions and honorees for dinner. for info and registration
  • The hazards of living on the right side of a time zone border, a recent article by Professor Richard Stevens.
  • Congratulations to Kelly Ferreira, Ph.D. on her appointment to Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. Dr. Ferreira received her Ph.D. in Psychology with a concentration in Human Development from Catholic University of America. She was most recently a Research Associate at the UConn A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and part of the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program.
  • Setting Limits to Stop the Gambling Epidemic: Interview with Professor Babor, co-author of the new international book, Setting Limits: Gambling, Science and Public Policy, sharing scientific, evidence-based recommendations to help policymakers stop the world’s growing gambling epidemic, including the rise in online gambling.
  • On Friday, April 26, 2019, the UConn School of Law’s Center for Energy and Environmental Law is hosting an exciting conference on agriculture and climate change. It is free for students and the general public and $50 for attorneys seeking CLE credit. Continental breakfast, lunch, and ice cream will be provided. For info and registration
    • Announcing the Annual UConn Public Health Poster Session on Thursday, April 18 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm in the Academic Lobby. Come view our students work!  flyer
    • Department welcomes new chair: Professor Doug Brugge from Tufts University has been named as the next chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences.
      Read more
      Professor Brugge
    • Message from Public Health Student Org to start off Public Health Week with Silent Auction and Art Event by Artists Against Overdose Mar 30. Flyer
    • Announcing a new assistant professor faculty member. Dr. Greg Rhee holds a Ph.D. in Social and Administrative Pharmacy from The University of Minnesota and an MSW from the University of Chicago.  His health sciences research area interests are in geriatric pharmacotherapy, geriatric social psychiatry and pharmacoepidemiology.  Dr. Rhee comes to us from a post-doctoral fellow position in Geriatrics at Yale University School of Medicine. Welcome!
    • Public Health is a Public Good: In February, Barbara Case and Vonnie Pawlukiewicz delivered 123 emergency sleeping bags to HPD Officer Jimmy Barrett of the City of Hartford for use by the homeless on behalf of the Department of Public Health Sciences and the Public Health Student Organization. Along with the sleeping bags, much-needed blankets and hoodies were delivered. Clothes and toys also were delivered by Barbara Case and Robin Odell to the Open Door Soup Kitchen in Winsted, CT. Thanks to all the donations and the great collaboration by students, staff and faculty!
Blankets for homeless 2019 Open Door 2019
      • Come support our Public Health Student Org Bake Sale wed Feb 13. Proceeds go to Charities of Hope. Flyer

2018

      • Toy Drive – The Public Health Student Organization and Department of Public Health Sciences collected toys for Burgdorf Clinic.
        Toy Drive
      • Professor Judy Lewis was recognized at this year’s APHA Annual Meeting as the recipient of The Carl Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award in International Health for her visionary leadership in shaping the direction of International Health within APHA. Her nomination for the award acknowledged her lifetime dedication to advancing global maternal and child health “through respectful, long-term interdisciplinary partnerships that address local (and locally identified) community health issues and priorities.” We are inspired by Professor Lewis’ many accomplishments. In Haiti, alone, she has worked with more than 50 students on projects to improve health care delivery and health outcomes. She was founder and current Chair of the Women, Children and Adolescent Workgroup of the World Federation of Public Health Associations and helped create The Network: Toward Unity for Health; Women and Health Together for the Future (WHTF). Congratulations!
      • On October 17, our public health students and department staff joined with University Health Professionals (UHP) as partners with End Hunger NE to package meals for distribution to many local programs.
MPH students package meals End Hunger
      • To better reflect for prospective students and colleagues the scope of our academic initiatives, we are adopting a more descriptive and inclusive identity. Henceforth, we will be known as The Program in Applied Public Health Sciences. Our new identity does not change curriculum or requirements of the MPH, PhD or Certificate options.
      • Hurricane Maria – 365 days and Counting: A Community Forum. Join us on September 20 at 2 p.m. in the Keller Auditorium, UConn Health when we will examine one aspect of this disaster – the challenges of meeting the immediate and ongoing needs of some 3,000 adults and children who have sought refuge here in Connecticut. Flyer
        The forum proved to be informative and inspirational. Panelists representing the Family Life Education Center, El Instituto, UCONN, the State Office of Emergency Services, the Capitol Region Education Council and several regional NGOs (Catholic Charities, Junta for Progressive Action, Salvation Army and Hispanic Health Council) joined with several Merelys Torres Garcia, Ashlyn Gonzalez and Dalianys Mercado Vargas to discuss the challenges of persons displaced around Connecticut in the hurricane’s aftermath. Evidence of coordinated effort to address the immediate needs of these persons and strategies for improving responses to future environmental challenges were presented. We thank everyone for their generous contributions of time, talent and emotion to the program.
      • As a follow-up to the forum, our program faculty, students and community partners are undertaking a qualitative pilot study of the impact of resettlement on the physical, mental, social and economic well-being of individuals and households. Under leadership of Candida Flores, Executive Director of the Family Life Education Center, a cohort of community members will work with MPH students to design and implement qualitative assessment tools to explore the impact of resettlement on employment, healthcare, housing, social support, food security, public safety and domestic violence, substance use, child development, transportation, culture and community cohesion.
      • Congratulations to Tara Lutz PhD, MPH, CHES on her appointment to Assistant Professor.  Dr. Lutz received her PhD in Public Health and MPH from UConn.  She was most recently a postdoctoral fellow at the UConn A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities focused on public health and disability initiatives.
      • State Senator Doug McCrory, Democratic Deputy President Pro Tempore was keynote speaker at the New Student Convocation for MPH and PhD in Public Health students on August 22nd. He addressed “The Disparities in Mental Health Treatment for Minorities” and “The Importance of Data Collection in Healthcare”.  Convocation announcement  Info on Speakers at Convocation 2018
      • Congratulations to Jennifer Cavallari, Sc.D. on her promotion to Associate Professor. In May, Dr. Cavallari received the Irving J. Seilkoff-Matthew Shafner Professional Excellence Award from the Connecticut Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. This award recognizes individuals for professional excellence, dedication and integrity for improving worker health. Also in 2018, she was appointed as Chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Human Subject Review Board.
      • Congratulations to Toan H. Ha, M.D., Dr.P.H.  on his appointment to Assistant Professor. Dr. Ha received a Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.) from the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston; a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Tay Nguyen University, Vietnam; and a Master of International Health (MIH) from Copenhagen University, Denmark. He brings extensive experience in international health, public health practice and research to the department. He has been working in the area of sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS for the past 15 years as a researcher, program manager, and policy advocate in the U.S. and Vietnam.
      • A recent presentation addressed Twenty Years After Columbine: Private Guns vs. Public Health. View the agenda and video.
      • Sticking to the Beat: How Breaking Your Circadian Rhythm Can Affect Your Health, an interview with Professor Richard Stevens while at the University of Washington Department of Epidemiology.

2017

      • Richard G. Stevens, Ph.D., professor, Public Health Sciences at UConn Health, joins Ray Dunaway to discuss the upcoming time change (fall back). It’s all about what time a person must be to work or school, and what time one must get up to be there on time: after sunrise, or before. Dr. Stevens also recently wrote about why breast cancer risk is HIGHER in western parts of each time zone. (Aired Nov. 2, 2017, on WTIC Newstalk 1080)
      • A forum was held on Oct. 11, 2017 with the CT Dept of Public Health Commissioner Raul Pino, MD, MPH (our 2009 MPH graduate) to exchange ideas on population health and structural changes that may be needed in CT to achieve and obtain better health outcomes.
      • At the forum, Barbara Case received the CT DPH Commissioner’s Award in recognition of her outstanding dedication to workforce development through the UConn M.P.H. Program.
      • On Sept. 6, 2017, the MPH Program welcomed John Scott for a workshop on Community Health Mapping (CHM). Mr. Scott came to us from the National Library of Medicine Center for Public Service Communications. There were nearly 50 registrants for his workshop.
        GISWorkshop
      • Gambling on a Third Casino
        As Connecticut considers a third casino, UConn Health addiction expert Professor Thomas Babor discusses the growing gambling epidemic and its potentially negative impact on our society and our health.
      • “Gambling with the Public’s Health: A Global Evaluation of the Modern Gambling Epidemic” – the slides and broadcast of the Public Health grand rounds featuring Professor Pekka Sulkunen, a sociologist from Finland.
        Watch video
      • Joe Camel in a Bottle
        An op-ed piece expressing that the alcohol industry still makes ads appealing to youth.
      • Substance Abuse: The Case for Early Intervention
        A new compilation of research reports edited by two UConn Health researchers finds that a brief, early intervention may keep someone who’s at moderate risk of abusing drugs or alcohol off that dangerous path.
      • Department Head, Thomas Babor, is the President of International Confederation of Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drug (ATOD) Research Associations (ICARA)

2016