School of Public Health News
AquaSafe: ‘Doing Good’ in Tanzania
Against the steep blue backdrop of the Mbeya mountain range in Tanzania’s southern highlands, SPH doctoral student Ibiyinka Amokeodo listened to local farmers’ worries about the safety of the water they use on their crops and in their homes. Then she had a lightbulb moment.
Students grasp Tanzania's food-energy-water realities
In a small village in the lush blue-green hills of Tanzania’s southern highlands, farmers are sharing their biggest challenges with a group of graduate students from University of Maryland.
“Snails are a problem, destroying crops. We pick them off by hand. And there’s another small bug that eats t...
Spotlight: Mia Owens
Mia Owens’ younger brother, who was born premature, displayed symptoms of autism growing up. However, despite visiting multiple doctors, he wasn’t offered a diagnosis until his teenage years.
“It was pretty clear that he was autistic. That fight for just a simple diagnosis was my main introductio...
‘At the finish line’: SPH celebrates 2024 Winter graduates
This week, the School of Public Health celebrated its 2024 Winter graduates with students, faculty and staff joining together on Dec. 10 to commemorate the new graduates’ achievements and honor their milestone.
“Every time I talk with our SPH graduating students, I am so heartened by the intellec...
Welcome to the Hotel Influenza
THE STATELY 23-STORY HOTEL OPENED AT the height of the Jazz Age, but less than a year later, Wall Street’s 1929 crash snuffed out revelry in the opulent ballroom and secret speakeasy. That’s when the property, then one of Baltimore’s tallest buildings, supposedly began accumulating ghosts: failed bu...
Joanne Pérodin: From Haiti to the White House and beyond
As a kid, Joanne Pérodin ('05 BS, ’09 MPH) loved to take things apart and put them back together again, like her bicycle or keyboard, and thought she might become an engineer. By the time she began her studies in kinesiology in 2001 at UMD’s School of Public Health, she had already lived through the...
To Heal the Anacostia, Citizen Scientists Wade Into Troubled Waters
Early on summer mornings, while mist lingers on the river and great egrets pick their way along the shore, the Anacostia’s beauty rests easy. While the air is still cool, residents of Prince George’s County and D.C. bike, walk and row along a stretch of the Bladensburg waterfront.
SPH’s Devon Payne-Sturges earns top environmental health honor
Devon Payne-Sturges, an associate professor in SPH’s Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health (GEOH), has won the 2024 Homer Calver Award, a prestigious honor which recognizes national leaders in environmental health. Payne-Sturges was nominated by the American Public Health Ass...
Incoming graduate students inspire
2024 Fall semester is off to a great start with new graduate students gathering for orientation, connecting across diverse specialties and backgrounds, hearing from inspiring faculty, getting involved in a lively resource fair and, of course, enjoying ice cream!
We took a minute to get to know a f...
Honoring SPH's extraordinary faculty and staff
Congratulations to SPH faculty and staff who received annual awards honoring outstanding teaching, public health practice, service, mentoring and commitment to the school’s success and community during the 2023-2024 academic year!