Congratulations to Elsie Essien, a Health Services Research doctoral student, for being selected as a recipient of the AcademyHealth Alice S. Hersh Student Scholarship! 

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly altered the research field, leading to institutions struggling to keep career development connections and networks. The virus may also contribute to increasing the research divide, specifically for underrepresented Early Career Researchers (ECR’s) and doctoral students. 

Racial and ethnic groups who are underrepresented in Health Management, Services and Policy fields tend to face unique obstacles when it comes to career success. 

The university celebrated the accomplishments of our graduates in a virtual commencement ceremony on Sunday, December 20. The main ceremony can be viewed on the UMD Facebook and YouTube channels. Graduates are encouraged to share their photos and memories on social media using #UMDgrad. SPH graduates should also use #publichealthTerps and tag @UMDPublicHealth. See Public Health Terps' photos and reflections and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram!

In October, UMD students who are a part of the Free the Vaccine Campaign (a group advised by HPM’s Melvin Seale), joined a Funk Rally in Washington D.C. to advocate for publicly funded medicines, including a COVID-19 vaccine, that are affordable and accessible for all. With a coalition of organizations such as Oxfam, UNIAIDs, Public Citizen, Space in Action, Gogo DC, and many more, the group rallied with music and a positive spirit to bring attention to the issue and to demand that the Department of Health and Human Services ensures a safe and effective vaccine for all in the coming months.

This week, the University of Maryland School of Public Health virtually inducted 21 members into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. Inductees included students, faculty, alumni and this year's honorary inductee, Maryland Senator Brian Feldman, who represents District 15 in Montgomery County.

Over four weeks this fall, the School of Public Health’s Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) lab hosted the sixth annual Environmental Justice and Health Disparities Symposium. The free event was virtual this year due to Covid-19. 

There were nearly 1,000 registrants from at least 45 states and six countries. 

The event spanned four Saturdays and included speakers from community organizations, environmental justice advocacy groups, researchers, scholars, legal professionals, elected officials and more. 

John Salerno, a PhD candidate in behavioral and community health, was one of 28 students nationwide selected to present research at the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health poster session at this year’s American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting. 

Washington, DC is full of talented and ambitious young people, and the organization DC Inno recognizes a select group through their annual list of top innovators in the Washington region who are all under 25 years old. DC Inno, which calls itself, “your source for local innovation,” features local news about innovation in technology, startups, higher education and more.

Natasha D. Williams, a third-year Family Science doctoral student, is one of 60 scholars who was recently accepted to the 2020 cohort for Health Policy Research Scholars, a training and leadership program led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated to health.