The opinion piece was written by Sandra C. Quinn, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Family Science and published in Maryland Matters on February 12, 2020.

Laura Koo, a University of Maryland School of Public Health PhD candidate in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health, has been selected as a Rima E. Rudd Fellow. The fellowship will provide up to $30,000 to support Koo’s dissertation research in health literacy. 

Anna Posbergh, kinesiology PhD candidate at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, received a grant to explore the “science” of fair play and medicalized ideas of fairness in sports policy, particularly relating to transgender eligibility and gender-verification processes from the Olympics Studies Centre. 

The grant will fund a month-long stay in Lausanne, Switzerland, during which Posbergh will pursue archival research at the Olympic Studies Centre. 

Deborah (Deb) A. Rudy's parents were big on college.

Especially her father, Arthur Rudy '40.

Having lost his own father when he was just a year old, Arthur and his three young siblings were raised by a mother who had limited opportunities but highly valued education. And when he reached college age, Arthur had to delay going for several years due to a lack of resources.

When he finally got to Maryland, he got by with the help of scholarships and several jobs.

When Maureen “Mo” Bryant ’01, founder of Spontaneity, LLC, went back to school to earn her Bachelor’s in Science degree in Family Studies at 40, her mission was to help as many children as she could.

Now, Bryant is looking to give others the same second chance by establishing the Irene Scholarship with a $25,000 gift.

Named after Bryant’s late mother, Irene Gleason Wallace Baxter, the scholarship will provide financial and academic support to School of Public Health undergraduate students returning to school after a break of two years or more.

In nearly every state around the country, data show that Blacks and Latinos are more than three times as likely to get infected with COVID-19 and are more than twice as likely to die than their white neighbors. Communities of color experience discrimination, higher rates of chronic disease, and less access to health care in general. On top of this, they are more likely to be exposed to the virus through essential jobs and crowded living conditions.

A new multinational consortium of scientists, led by Professor Amir Sapkota, in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, is developing innovative solutions to reduce the burden of diarrheal disease caused by extreme weather events in Taiwan, India, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Don Milton, professor of environmental health, along with lead author and post doctoral fellow Jake Bueno de Mesquita, published an article on how airborne transmission contributes to influenza epidemics. 

Using data from the largest human influenza challenge-transmission trial, researchers applied the data to university dormitory environments. Drs. Milton and Bueno de Mesquita predicted transmission risk given measurements of the source strength of virus shed into exhaled breath and indoor air characteristics. 

A new report, “Improving America’s Oral Health Literacy,” published by the Delta Dental Institute and co-authored by Alice Horowitz, a research associate professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, calls on the need for health literacy to address oral health in the United States.  

The racism and discrimination that Black people regularly experience gained wider recognition after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer shook the world in June 2020. The stress and trauma associated with experiencing racism and violence has negative impacts on health, particularly among young Black men.