The School of Public Health Alumni Network received the Event of the Year Award at the University of Maryland Alumni Association's 2020 Volunteer Leadership Conference. The association recognized the SPH for its 2020-2021 SPH Alumni Mentor Program Kickoff Event and efforts to develop and grow the School of Public Health Alumni Mentor Program.

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. 

Ndidiamaka N. Amutah-Onukagha graduated with her PhD in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Maryland School of Public Health in 2010. She received her Master of Public Health from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in 2005. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha also received a BS in Public Health and BA in Africana Studies from Rutgers, The State University of NJ. Ndidiamaka has a longstanding commitment to public health that spans over 15 years of experience.

Family Science graduates are off doing exceptional work in their post-undergraduate lives. The Family Science department here at the University of Maryland (UMD) would like to recognize Oluwaseun Ajimoko, a former undergraduate student and current Howard University law student.

Dana Ackerman '19 (BCH) recently got engaged to her fiancé, Jared in upstate New York. Dana and Jared met at a soccer game through his roommate and bonded over soccer and hiking.

On Thursday, September 17, 2020, the SPH Alumni Network held a webinar featuring University of Maryland alumnus Dr. John Hart, MS '12 (Marriage and Family Therapy), PhD '17 (Family Science). The webinar, "Restoring Promise: Disrupting the US Prison System," focused on the current prison conditions in the United States and Dr. Hart's ambition to improve them.

André Blackman '05 was an aerospace engineering major, but a public health elective sent his life on a different trajectory when he learned how tuberculosis disproportionately sickened Black communities.

“Didn’t we eradicate tuberculosis like 5,000 years ago, why is it still a thing?” he recalled wondering. “The other question is, why for this particular community?”

“We’re so afraid of aging that we begin to devalue ourselves and others with each passing year,” Isabel Tom, an MPH graduate from the Department of Behavioral and Community Health, wrote. “The phrase '30 years old' incites panic. Seniors live in separate communities and barely interact with young people, while middle-aged people spend millions each year on anti-aging products.”

But what if we have it all wrong? 

The School of Public Health is pleased to announce the members of the 2020-2021 Alumni Network Board.

With members spanning the spectrum of young professionals early their careers to experienced industry leaders, the board is comprised of greater Washington area alumni who are seeking to uphold the network’s mission to promote and support the school, encourage academic and professional excellence and facilitate career development for both current students and graduates while fostering and strengthening a lasting relationship between the school and its alumni.

Jocelyn R. Smith Lee, PhD ‘13, who is assistant professor of human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for her project “Disrupting Dehumanizing Narratives of Black Men in Poverty.”