News from the School of Public Health

For many people, seeking mental health treatment can be a challenging process; for LGBTQ+ individuals, many of these struggles are exacerbated by experiences of oppression and/or insensitivity by people they encounter in the health care system. Dr. Richard Shin (he/him), an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, is focused specifically on these issues, with a commitment to advocating for social justice within psychology and other mental health professions.

Travis Hyams, PhD '20 in Behavioral and Community Health, has been selected as Presidential Management Fellow with the All of Us Research Program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Hyams will help the program reach an ambitious goal, to recruit more than one million people nationwide to be a part of one of the most diverse medical databases in history.

The School of Public Health would like to recognize and welcome the following faculty and staff to our community. Some are already part of our community and are being recognized for new roles/titles, while others are joining us this academic year. Welcome and congratulations to all!

Despite recent progress in U.S. COVID-19 vaccination, some populations, including the LGBTQ+ community, are lagging in vaccination rates. Vaccine confidence and access, often decreased in these communities because of systemic marginalization, are both important to protecting health equity. As Dr.

Students, faculty and staff in the School of Public Health and across UMD successfully advocated to ensure that one’s Zoom display name is retained and pronouns can be added (instead of having to re-enter one’s name and pronouns each login). You can add your pronouns and update your display name at http://umd.zoom.us/.

The University of Maryland Prevention Research Center (UMD-PRC) endorses the May 19th statement of support for transgender and nonbinary Terps from UMD leadership, including UMD President Darryll J. Pines, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Georgina Dodge, Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Perillo, and Director of Athletics Damon Evans.