Don Milton, professor of environmental health, along with lead author and post doctoral fellow Jake Bueno de Mesquita, published an article on how airborne transmission contributes to influenza epidemics. 

Using data from the largest human influenza challenge-transmission trial, researchers applied the data to university dormitory environments. Drs. Milton and Bueno de Mesquita predicted transmission risk given measurements of the source strength of virus shed into exhaled breath and indoor air characteristics. 

Associate Professor Typhanye Dyer and Assistant Research Professor Rodman Turpin conducted two studies on the role of syndemics—combinations of adverse social, structural and individual factors—on health outcomes among Black sexual minority men and transgender women in the US. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased risk factors for child maltreatment. A group of researchers, including Assistant Professor Elizabeth Aparicio in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, drafted a policy brief to urge policymakers to adapt existing child and family services and policies to ensure the safety, resilience, and overall well-being of vulnerable children and families in the face of increased stressors.

Two experts in LGBTQ and young adult mental health, Dr. Jessica Fish (UMD SPH) and Dr. Stephen T. Russel (UT, Austin) describe the serious harms that LGBTQ youth experience from so-called “conversion therapy” efforts in a new editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health.

After Push by UMD Researcher, WHO Changes Course/New Recommendations Acknowledge Possibility of Airborne Transmission

A high-profile campaign led in part by a University of Maryland infectious disease expert moved the World Health Organization (WHO) to acknowledge the novel coronavirus may remain airborne indoors and infect people through breathing.

Marie Thoma, an assistant professor of family science in the School of Public Health received an honorable mention in the 2019 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Global Health NOW Annual Untold Stories of Global Health Contest for her submission putting forth the untold st

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.”

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."

A new multinational consortium of scientists, led by Professor Amir Sapkota, in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, is developing innovative solutions to reduce the burden of diarrheal disease caused by extreme weather events in Taiwan, India, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam and Indonesia.

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.