School of Public Health Professor Don Milton is leading a research study that brings both healthy people and people exposed to or diagnosed with COVID-19 into his research lab in the School of Public Health (SPH) building. The study is aimed at gathering new evidence related to how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, may spread by air. Dr. Milton’s team has carefully designed the study to limit risk to those in and around the SPH building.
The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics will host the first UMD Big Data in Public Health conference on February 28, 2020. The event is free and open to all interested in learning more about collaborations using big data methods to advance public health.
Exercise could be useful in recovery from COVID-19, Sushant M. Ranadive, associate professor of kinesiology, and his fellow researchers theorized in a recent publication.
COVID-19 progression has been suggested to have a metabolic origin given that elevated glucose and lipid levels are risk factors, the authors explain. And, Fenofibrate, a promising medication, has positive effects on inflammation and endothelial function. The authors compare Fenofibrate to exercise and hypothesize that exercise could be a possible therapeutic strategy to bolster resilience against (and help manage recovery from) COVID-19.
In an editorial published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Dr. Dylan Roby writes that the uneven state implementation of Medicaid expansion harms young adults, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Epidemiology and Biostatistics Assistant Research Professor Dr. Rodman Turpin (he/him) found his passion for HIV prevention and health equity fairly early in life. “I have always had a deep investment in the health of my community, the Black gay, bisexual, queer, and same-gender loving community,” Dr. Turpin said. Through his post-undergraduate work in medical laboratory science, he learned that research can be a powerful way to advocate for the health of marginalized populations.
Associate Professor of Family Science Mia Smith-Bynum (she/her) identifies as a scholar-activist, harnessing her personal experience as a Black woman and vast research expertise to dismantle racism and improve African American mental health. As the director of the Black Families Research Group, an affiliate of the Center for Health Equity and an investigator with the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center (UMD-PRC), Dr. Smith-Bynum has quickly emerged as a necessary and leading figure in psychology and family science.
Dr. Jennifer D. Roberts, Assistant Professor in Kinesiology, has dedicated her research to the built environment and its impact on physical activity. In her recent publication in Medium, titled "Central Park: Black Bodies Green Spaces, White Minds," Dr. Roberts provides insight on "the historical and contemporary use of white privilege for the exclusion of black bodies from green spaces in the United States."
Professor Hongjie Liu, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, was appointed by Montgomery County, Maryland to serve on its advisory group of scientists and medical professionals to help with its recovery plans during the pandemic. County Health Officer Travis Gayles wrote that the COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Board would “provide guidance to the Health Officer and Public Health Services response team, particularly related to our reopening metrics.”
At a time when we urgently need multidisciplinary measures to combat COVID-19, there are often miscommunications about the modes of respiratory infection transmission among scientists in different fields.
