While students in medical school can practice their new skills in controlled environments—whether that means operating on cadavers or using high-tech simulations—Associate Clinical Professor Tracy Zeeger didn’t see as many options in public health.

“Folks are developing and designing interventions, programs, communication materials, screening tools, surveys,” she said, “and the only way to gather feedback is through pilot testing or direct engagement with a community.”

The University of Maryland School of Public Health announced Tuesday it will launch an undergraduate major in global health along with the Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health (GEOH) in Fall 2024. The department will replace and expand upon the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health (MIAEH).

Arms raised triumphantly, with “FlyGyrlz” emblazoned across her chest and sparkly shadow framing her eyes, 9-year-old Kamryn Edwards ’27 beams in a family photo as she’s lifted high in the air by her three sisters.

That’s how it’s always been for the Edwards girls. The two sets of fraternal twins, born less than two years apart, have supported each other in everything, from cheerleading competitions to a specialty high school program to now all attending the University of Maryland.

Regardless of your political leanings or the company you keep, the road to the 2024 presidential polls will likely be studded with conversational potholes. So how do you keep insults (or rolls) from flying at the dinner table?

Dozens of University of Maryland programs earned high rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 Best Graduate Schools lists released Tuesday, with many achieving top-25 placements in overall and specialty categories.

Among UMD’s highlights, the College of Education and the School of Public Health both climbed into the top 25, and the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) earned four top-25 accolades, including No. 15 in artificial intelligence.

Depending on where Marylanders live, their assurance of safe drinking water isn’t always crystal clear. In some Baltimore neighborhoods, it can be brown. While the city’s drinking water meets federal safety standards when it leaves municipal treatment plants, it might pick up lead, E. coli and other contaminants while flowing through a network of aging pipes before reaching a drinking glass. 

It can be as simple as a high-five from a kid while prepping an anti-bullying workshop in Prince George’s County. Or seeing a family equipped with tools like mosquito nets to reduce their malaria risk in Sierra Leone.

“It’s so rewarding to volunteer in these communities,” said biological sciences major Meghna Pandey ’24, co-president of the University of Maryland’s Public Health Beyond Borders—the first organization of its kind at an American college.

LGBTQ+ as well as Black and Latinx populations are at increased risk for using tobacco products, so youths of color who are LGBTQ+ are squarely in the sights of Big Tobacco. As a result, they experience greater tobacco-related health burdens than their non-LGBTQ+ and white peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Black barbershops and beauty salons often serve as virtual community centers, improving not only the hairstyles but the well-being of their clients by hosting vaccine clinics health outreach activities, according to Professor Stephen B. Thomas, founding director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Health Equity and originator of the barbershop initiative known as HAIR (Health Advocates In-Reach and Research).

Without smart policymaking, banning harmful chemicals like bisphenols and phthalates—common ingredients in plastics manufacturing—can result in a game of regulatory whack-a-mole where chemicals of similar toxicity or that have not been rigorously tested take their place.

The finding comes from a wide-ranging University of Maryland study published on Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.