News from the School of Public Health

As a kid, Joanne Pérodin ('05 BS, ’09 MPH) loved to take things apart and put them back together again, like her bicycle or keyboard, and thought she might become an engineer. By the time she began her studies in kinesiology in 2001 at UMD’s School of Public Health, she had already lived through the tumult of political violence in her home city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, along with the increasingly disastrous effects of extreme weather events on Haiti’s environment and population. 

On Thursday, student organizations, academic programs and other School of Public Health involvement groups gathered for the school’s annual SPH Involvement Fair, held in the School on its ground floor Concourse.

Twenty-two-year-old A hated that they’d had to start wearing a bra earlier than classmates and desperately wanted to be flat-chested. As a teen, while watching a show on weight loss, they saw a man wrap himself in plastic wrap to sweat off a few pounds—and thought, “What if I shrink-wrapped my chest?” The flaw in this plan quickly became apparent: They couldn’t breathe.

Twenty-two-year-old A hated that they’d had to start wearing a bra earlier than classmates and desperately wanted to be flat-chested. As a teen, while watching a show on weight loss, they saw a man wrap himself in plastic wrap to sweat off a few pounds—and thought, “What if I shrink-wrapped my chest?” The flaw in this plan quickly became apparent: They couldn’t breathe.

Blending AI with an experienced bestie, Rosie the Chatbot is a text platform designed for pregnant and new moms of color that offers crucial resources during those 3 a.m. feedings or spiking temperatures.

Welcome back Public Health Terps! To gather the SPH community together in marking the new semester, the school will be hosting its third annual Welcome Week filled with fun activities, experiences and opportunities to connect with the SPH family.