This story appears in Maryland Today, April 3 and was written by Chris Carroll.

Surgical masks may help prevent infected people from making others sick with seasonal viruses, including coronaviruses, according to new research that could help settle a fierce debate spanning clinical and cultural norms.

Dr. Sandra C. Quinn, professor and chair of the Department of Family Science in the School of Public Health, who studies how misinformation on social media may impact attitudes about vaccines and vaccine uptake, has joined colleagues from George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University to launch the platform, which will collect data resources and publications.

Associate Professor Jie Chen, Lecturer Priscilla Novak and doctoral students Ivy Benjenk and Deanna Barath in the Department of Health Policy and Management, discuss the vital role of local health departments in preparedness and response measures needed to respond to disease threats such as COVID-19, and call for increased funding and support in a new article to be published Thursday, March 26 on the 

The rapid emergence of COVID-19 reminds us of the importance of the public health system and the central role of local health departments (LHDs) in preparedness and response. Effective epidemic response rests on the performance of the essential public health activities—assessment, policy development, and assurance—by LHDs.

University of Maryland School of Public Health researchers found that federal rental assistance programs may be associated with reduced use of emergency department services for the treatment of asthma in children. 

Kinesiology Professor Jae Shim is partnering with University of Maryland engineering professor Derek Paley to study how e-scooter users adapt to urban infrastructures. 

The research is funded through a new Maryland Transportation Institute (MTI) Seed Grant designed to spur collaborative, interdisciplinary research across multiple colleges at the University.

The University of Maryland School of Public Health held its first Big Data in Public Health conference on Feb. 28, with 202 attendees from 35 different institutions and organizations. 

In this year's conference, 10 speakers from different application areas of big data analytics—including social media, genomics and bioinformatics, health care, imaging and neuroscience—presented about their cutting edge research using big data and its connection with public health data science. 

A new report, “Improving America’s Oral Health Literacy,” published by the Delta Dental Institute and co-authored by Alice Horowitz, a research associate professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, calls on the need for health literacy to address oral health in the United States.  

Devlon Jackson, assistant research professor of behavioral and community health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, received an Investigator Diversity Research Supplement grant to explore how Health Information Technology (HIT) can improve health for African Americans and Hispanics living with mental health issues and chronic diseases.

This story was originally published in Maryland Today on Friday, February 21 and was written by Sala Levin '10.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to expand around the world, and definitive answers trail behind rising numbers of diagnosed cases, a School of Public Health symposium yesterday sought to shed some light on the emerging disease, its impact and the steps being taken to contain it and ultimately stop it.