A group of six University of Maryland students, accompanied by Behavioral and Community Health Research Professor Dina Borzekowski and UMD affiliate and master educator Tina Lipscomb, traveled to Sierra Leone in June to continue the work that the UMD Public Health Without Borders group began back in 2014. The ten-day trip was the fourth visit of UMD students to Calaba Town, a community on the Western coast near the country’s capital of Freetown.

The Gamma Zeta chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health is pleased to announce its 2018 inductees. At the induction ceremony and awards reception on May 14, 2018, Dean Boris Lushniak and Principal Associate Dean Dushanka Kleinman inducted 16 students, seven faculty members, five alumni and one honorary member, Mr. Mark Luckner. The ceremony also recognized student research poster winners from each department of the school.

"Why are cookies unhealthy?” A common question asked by kindergartners wondering why their favorite snack is bad for them. On a recent trip to Edward M. Felegy Elementary School in Hyattsville, MD, members from Schools for Smiles educated children in pre-K and kindergarten on oral hygiene through fun activities and demonstrations.

Kecia Ellick and Joanne D’Silva, doctoral students in the School of Public Health were two of 28 students selected nationwide to present research at the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health poster session, which was held at the American Public Health Association annual meeting and exposition held in Atlanta from Nov. 4-8, 2017.

Deirdre Quinn, who has successfully defended her PhD dissertation, has been awarded the Outstanding Paper Award for a student paper from the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) in the category of Religion, Spirituality and Family. The paper, “Family Religiosity, Parent Monitoring, and College Students’ Sexual Risk,” is based on her dissertation research examining family-level and individual-level influences on college students’ sexual risk and protective behaviors.

Deirdre Quinn, a fourth-year Family Science doctoral candidate, published an article through the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) on teenage mothers in Washington, DC. While teenage motherhood is associated with many negative outcomes for mothers and their children, teen mothers who live with and receive emotional support from their mothers are able to avoid some of these outcomes. In particular, Deirdre found that teenage mothers’ relationships with their own mothers predict contraceptive use.

Rising Family Science senior Erin Sullivan was recently chosen as a 2017-2018 UMD Philip Merrill Presidential Scholar. This scholar program recognizes the academic excellence of a select few University of Maryland seniors, as well as the instructors these students identify as mentors who had the greatest impact on their academic achievement.

As a part of Graduate Student Appreciation Week, the Graduate Student Government (GSG) hosted the annual Graduate Research Appreciation Day (GRAD) on April 5, 2017. Graduate students from all programs and disciplines across campus presented their research and work. Below are the GRAD 2017 winners from the School of Public Health, who were selected as the best presentations from their respective subject-themed oral, poster, and elevator-speech presentation sessions.

A new “Fearless Ideas” course led by School of Public Health faculty is turning a group of 15 UMD undergraduate students into researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs tasked with reimagining our broken healthcare system.

Many faculty members, graduate students, and alum of the Family Science (FMSC) Department attended the 2016 National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Faculty members included Department Chair Dr. Elaine Anderson, Graduate Program Director Dr. Kevin Roy, and Professors Dr. Amy Lewin, Dr. Leigh Leslie, Dr. Ali Hurtado, Dr. Mona Mittal, and Dr. Patricia Barros-Gomes.