The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics will host the first UMD Big Data in Public Health conference on February 28, 2020. The event is free and open to all interested in learning more about collaborations using big data methods to advance public health.

Anna Posbergh, kinesiology PhD candidate at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, received a grant to explore the “science” of fair play and medicalized ideas of fairness in sports policy, particularly relating to transgender eligibility and gender-verification processes from the Olympics Studies Centre. 

The grant will fund a month-long stay in Lausanne, Switzerland, during which Posbergh will pursue archival research at the Olympic Studies Centre. 

Financial stresses can squash a relationship as thoroughly as stomping on a Valentine’s box of chocolate—and Emily Garcia’s* metaphorical box was looking more than a little crumpled. 

Garcia and her husband, who works in finance and handled the money in their marriage, had begun to argue when finances got tight. 

“With two completely different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds, he had his way of dealing with money, I had my way,” García said. “And it just got out of control.” 

Julia Steinberg, assistant professor of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, published a commentary about a new study examining women’s feelings five years following an abortion in Social Science & Medicine.

The availability of services to help clients achieve pregnancy depends on if the clinic receives funding through Title X, according to a study co-authored by Dr. Marie Thoma, assistant professor of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. 

As we usher in the new year and decade, we’re looking back at the School of Public Health’s successes in innovative research, service and education in 2019. 

Here are our top 10 most popular stories published this year. 

Six years ago, the University of Maryland enacted a campus-wide smoking ban, but the policy wasn’t quite 100% smoke and tobacco-free. 

The 2013 ban allowed four designated smoking areas on campus and the policy did not include language that explicitly restricts the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (known often as vapes, vape pens and e-cigarettes), which have recently surged in popularity with teens and young adults. 

We’re running out of water to grow food. Climate change, population growth and increasing demands on freshwater systems are straining agricultural water supplies.

Policies based on the notion that undergoing an abortion causes or increases women’s risk of attempting suicide are misinformed, according to the results of a 17-year study led by a School of Public Health researcher.

“No TV or internet for a week!”

“Don’t touch the phone until your homework is done.”

“Wouldn’t you rather talk to your friends in person instead of over text?”

Ever heard, or said, any of these things?

Too often, reducing screen time is the go-to solution in families battling media overuse. But another approach might be needed as it gets harder for any of us to escape screens, according to a University of Maryland expert.