News

University of Maryland Professor Emeritus Robin Sawyer died on Jan. 21 in Charleston, S.C., following a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. The UMD community will celebrate his life and legacy at a memorial service Friday, Feb. 1 at 1 pm in the Memorial Chapel on the College Park campus.

Dr. Sawyer, who taught tens of thousands of students in his popular human sexuality course over the years, was known for his quick wit and compassion. UMD alumni from several generations recognize him as one of their most important mentors and favorite professors.

The Maryland Center for Health Equity (M-CHE) has been selected as the APHA Public Health Education and Health Promotion (PHEHP) Section’s 2018 Health Equity Award recipient. The award honors individuals or organizations that have worked to eliminate health disparities and improve health equity through advances in health education or communication. Dr. Stephen B. Thomas, professor of Health Services Administration and M-CHE director, will accept the award on behalf of the center at the APHA annual meeting in San Diego during the PHEHP Awards Luncheon.

On a Friday morning, Kristen Arant addressed the 20 public health students gathered around her: “You’re going to have a musical experience today.”

With that, Arant led Dr. Stephen Thomas’ “Fearless Ideas” class in an hour-long drum circle featuring a variety of West African drums, other percussion instruments and the students’ voices.

A team of UMD researchers is developing a new mobile app to help people without regular access to health care cut through the thousands of fitness, nutrition, brain health and other offerings by providing a sort of one-stop wellness shop.

Assistant Professor Devon Payne-Sturges has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) K01 Career Development Award for a project focused on how combined exposure to environmental and social stressors affects child neurological development. The three-year grant from the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences totals more than $400,000.