News from the School of Public Health

The American Public Health Association's Public Health Newswire recently featured FMSC PhD student Kecia Ellick in their review of 2016 annual meeting poster presentations. Ellick's poster, “Mothers' Attachment Style and Child Behavioral Outcomes for Teen Parent Families” summarized her study of adolescent mothers over a two-year period.

Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Laurie Garrett, author of several bestselling books and Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, warned about the consequences of a collapsing global public health infrastructure and the continued threat of Zika during her Grand Rounds lecture at the University of Maryland on October 17, 2016.

We all know that we can quickly lose cardiovascular endurance if we stop exercising for a few weeks, but what impact does the cessation of exercise have on our brains? New research led by University of Maryland School of Public Health researchers examined cerebral blood flow in healthy, physically fit older adults (ages 50-80 years) before an after a 10-day period during which they stopped all exercise.

Since the 1980s, Black Americans have been overrepresented among the U.S. homeless population, and this enduring reality (Blacks comprise roughly 40.4 percent of the total U.S. homeless population, but only 12.5 percent of the overall population) has serious implications for population health and health disparities, according to Dr. Marian Moser Jones, associate professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health.

The Catholic Charities-Susan D. Mona Center, under construction in Temple Hills, Md., will provide a broad range of health and wellness services to the people of southern Prince George’s County. Informed by the best and latest scientific evidence about health promotion and disease prevention, the innovative center will serve those most at risk for premature illness and preventable death in a respectful and trusted setting.

During the fall 2014 semester, Diana Wang, Sama El Baz, Megan Keane, and Sarah Younan teamed up in HLTH 371: Communicating Safety and Health to design a health communication campaign for what they thought was just going to be another class project. Based on personal experiences abroad in Thailand, where children living in poverty were required to brush their teeth in school, Ms. El Baz and Ms. Wang suggested they craft their project around oral health.