News from the School of Public Health

For many at the University of Maryland, Gymkana is not just a gymnastics troupe that showcases high-flying acrobatics and healthy, drug-free lifestyles, it is a second home. Tom Cockley, MA ’80, a former Gymkana assistant coach, helped make it so. Tom passed away on June 14, 2020, at age 69.  

A new publication in PLoS Pathogens by an international team of investigators shows that flu virus might spread via air rather than through contact and large droplet spray, as commonly thought. A large part of the evidence about how respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 are transmitted comes from research on influenza. These new data provide more support for the recommendation by scientists that we include precautions against airborne spread of Covid-19 to have an impact on slowing infection rates.

Climate change affects the timing of spring and is leading to an increase in asthma hospitalizations , according to a new study led by Amir Sapkota of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), is the first to provide quantitative data on the connection between climate change, changes in plant phenology and asthma hospitalizations.

Plant phenology is the study of periodic plant cycles and how seasonal and yearly variations in climate influence them.

Community Health Workers or CHWs help people with their everyday health questions and concerns, and last fall, five students at UMD’s iSchool (College of Information Studies) Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction program learned how CHWs hope to use technology to help their clients with health literacy and other health barriers. They interviewed CHWs in southern Maryland and found that CHWs encounter multiple workflow problems.

After Push by UMD Researcher, WHO Changes Course/New Recommendations Acknowledge Possibility of Airborne Transmission

A high-profile campaign led in part by a University of Maryland infectious disease expert moved the World Health Organization (WHO) to acknowledge the novel coronavirus may remain airborne indoors and infect people through breathing.

On July 6, CBS News' chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook spoke with Dr.