News from the School of Public Health

At 79, Ed Vilade has a jammed social calendar. Between his choir practice (he’s in two), voice lessons, community theater and overseeing the writer’s guild at his Silver Spring, Md., retirement community, Vilade’s brain was getting a regular workout, critical, he thought, to staying sharp as he aged.

But what wasn’t in shape was his body. So, three years ago, Vilade joined a clinical trial at the University of Maryland’s Exercise for Brain Lab, which used MRI and other diagnostic tools to study how physical exertion affects the neural networks that control memory and cognition.

Even on the roof of the world, climate change is melting the snow. The loss of a third of the ice of Himalayan mountains in the past 30 years has translated into water and food shortages and variable water quality in the villages below.

A University of Maryland team traveled there this month to see how communities there are tackling these insecurities and to apply its expertise in water sampling and analysis to inform solutions to citizens in Namobuddha Municipality.

Most people haven’t experienced deeply caring for an animal for weeks or months at a time, bringing them into their home to heal and get strong, knowing they will eventually be moving on to someone else's home. For the Montfort family, this kind of generosity has become a way of life. Led by SPH alumna Reka Montfort and her husband Josh Montfort, Head Coach and Director of Gymkana, this family has not only embraced the noble cause of fostering rescue dogs but is also gearing up to make an even more significant impact by training service dogs.