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.

Staying active can help older people prevent depression while following the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, according to a new University of Maryland School of Public Health study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. The study is the first to examine the association between physical activity levels and mental health symptoms in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authorities shrugging off risk—or ordering everyone to mask up. The virus surging in locales that dropped their guards too soon. Death rates that cut along racial lines, impacting African Americans with particular ferocity.

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."

Congratulations Spring 2020 graduates! We are so proud of your accomplishments and with the future of public health in your hands, we feel hopeful about the future.

Near the end of each academic year, the School of Public Health faculty, staff, students, families and friends join together for the special occasion of honoring our outstanding students through the SPH Convocation ceremony.

A team of researchers, including School of Public Health's Jennifer D. Roberts, received a National Science Foundation RAPID grant to study COVID-19 risk perceptions and behaviors.

Two faculty members from the School of Public Health, Shannon Jette and Elizabeth Aparicio, received Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year awards from the University of Maryland Graduate School. 

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.

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.