News from the School of Public Health

The Gamma Zeta chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health is pleased to announce its 2022 inductees. At the virtual induction ceremony and poster awards reception on May 6, 2022, Dean Boris Lushniak, Principal Associate Dean Dushanka Kleinman, inducted 17 students, four faculty members, two alumni and one honorary member, Dr. Dianna Abney.

Three students in the BS-MPH program—which allows students to count undergraduate credits towards their master of public health degree— are preparing to embark on an exciting summer of research.

Mobile health apps are increasingly popular, but how well do they work to provide people with the tailored information they seek? A research group in the School of Public Health recently completed the first phase of a four-year project to design and field test a mobile health (mHealth) app that will provide personalized health information for African Americans and Spanish-speaking Hispanic users.

Jordan Aquino (he/him), a first-year PhD student in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health and graduate assistant for the UMD-PRC, focuses on understanding factors that impact mental and sexual health among LGBTQ+ individuals. In particular, Jordan is interested in the design and implementation of interventions that aim to reduce stigma, suicide, substance use and HIV prevalence among LGBTQ+ people.  

Kerry Tripp and Samuel (Woodie) Kessel, faculty members in the Department of Family Science, were recently inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Sigm

The tobacco industry has a long and disgraceful history of marketing to specific groups identified as susceptible to addiction, including LGBTQ people. A new research initiative funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maryland Department of Health’s Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control and led by the UMD Prevention Research Center aims to reduce tobacco related health disparities among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning communities in Maryland.