Sidiki Keita ’23 has always had a passion for physical activity. An avid athlete, his love for sports such as wrestling and track led him to pursue a degree in kinesiology. This spring, Keita was awarded the Whitlark Endowed Scholarship for his strong academics, potential for leadership in public health and commitment to integrating physical activity and public health. He plans on becoming a physician assistant (PA) and will apply to PA school.

Even for the slipperiest student on the playground or the most inescapable “it,” the prospect of going pro in tag probably seems like little more than a gym class hero’s daydream. But a University of Maryland alum has taken his talents from the schoolyard to the world stage, with a twist—or maybe a backflip.

At the annual Maryland Research Excellence Celebration on April 16, more than 200 outstanding scholars and researchers, nominated by their deans, were recognized for their research success and visibility.

Students from across the University of Maryland gathered at the School of Public Health to showcase their research during the annual SPH Public Health Research & Practice Day on Wednesday, April 4, one of several events taking place in SPH as part of National Public Health Week.

Students and instructors from across the world will soon be connected with those in the University of Maryland School of Public Health community, thanks to grants awarded to several SPH departments and faculty to establish new global public health classrooms.

Terps like to say that they are “fearless”, always pushing “fearlessly forward”. For SPH Dean’s Council member Deborah Gebhardt, Ph.D. ’79, “fearless” means jumping into the action, not always knowing what lies ahead. This trailblazer has spent a lifetime breaking barriers and forging a path of excellence, from early days playing baseball alongside the boys in her Hazleton, Pennsylvania, neighborhood, to founding a company that regularly counsels leaders of the nation’s largest organizations.  

After a dreary winter—and brutal flu and cold season—most of us are welcoming a new kind of affliction: spring fever. Coma-like weeks on the couch, whether brought on by a super virus or the new season of “Vanderpump Rules,” may have you itching to resuscitate your fitness routine—or reluctant to emerge from hibernation.

This summer, the University of Maryland will partner with Ohio State University to launch LiFEsports, a nationally acclaimed summer camp for children ages 9 through 14 from low-income families.

At 79, Ed Vilade has a jammed social calendar. Between his choir practice (he’s in two), voice lessons, community theater and overseeing the writer’s guild at his Silver Spring, Md., retirement community, Vilade’s brain was getting a regular workout, critical, he thought, to staying sharp as he aged.

But what wasn’t in shape was his body. So, three years ago, Vilade joined a clinical trial at the University of Maryland’s Exercise for Brain Lab, which used MRI and other diagnostic tools to study how physical exertion affects the neural networks that control memory and cognition.

The School of Public Health continued to move fearlessly forward this year, tackling pressing issues at the local, national and global level, while educating the next generation of public health practitioners. Here's a look back at some of the school’s achievements in 2023.