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.

Don Milton co-authored a study to understand the patterns of contamination of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. Researchers say it's essential for prevention policies and effective interventions.

Authorities shrugging off risk—or ordering everyone to mask up. The virus surging in locales that dropped their guards too soon. Death rates that cut along racial lines, impacting African Americans with particular ferocity.

A public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the digital divide more visible, though the researchers' analysis was done long before the pandemic. Working adults and children haven't been able to easily shift to a virtual environment during the pandemic, as they don't have the laptops, smartphones, networked printers, broadband and wifi connections to make the shift.

The Big Ten Conference’s decision last week to postpone the fall athletics season, the latest coronavirus-driven disappointment for sports fans, shows the conference has its priorities straight, Maryland School of Public Health Dean

School of Public Health Dean Boris Lushniak, a former Deputy US Surgeon General, spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on March 24, 2020 about the global COVID-19 pandemic and the confusion created by President Donald Trump's communication.

This story was originally published in Maryland Today on Friday, February 21 and was written by Sala Levin '10.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to expand around the world, and definitive answers trail behind rising numbers of diagnosed cases, a School of Public Health symposium yesterday sought to shed some light on the emerging disease, its impact and the steps being taken to contain it and ultimately stop it.