Dr. Amy Lewin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Science, received funding from the New Morning Foundation, a South Carolina-based organization that provides sexual and reproductive health education, counseling, and clinical services for young women and teens. Dr. Lewin, along with FMSC doctoral students Deirdre Quinn and Towanda Street, and a community partner, Sharp Insight, will be evaluating the implementation and outcomes from a longitudinal teen pregnancy prevention program.
Three FMSC doctoral students were given special recognition for their presentations at this year’s American Public Health Association Annual Conference. Second year Family Science (FMSC) doctoral student Towanda Street won second place in the Greg Alexander Outstanding Student Abstracts Session for her paper on prenatal care, smoking, and low birth weight. Second year Maternal and Child Health (MCH) doctoral student Anthony Kondracki was awarded an honorable mention in the Greg Alexander Outstanding Student Abstracts Session for his paper on smoking and preterm birth.
On April 9, more than 550 attendees participated in the third annual Public Health Research@ Maryland day, held at the Stamp Student Union. This year’s theme, The Changing Climate and Health, which focused on how climate change and health care reform are changing population health, brought together leading researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore campuses, along with experts from county, state and federal health agencies, private research and consulting organizations, non-profit organizations and corporate entities.
On Wednesday, April 8th, eight FMSC graduate students took part in Graduate Research Interaction Day, a campus-wide, conference-style event featuring research done by UMD graduate students. This interdisciplinary symposium, with poster and oral presentations, provides a forum for graduate student research to be peer-reviewed by graduate students and faculty in a variety of disciplines. The event also serves as a supportive venue for students to get valuable feedback on their research and improve conference presentation skills.
A newly published study of teen mothers and their infants in Washington DC by Family Science Assistant Professor Amy Lewin examined father involvement and its role in child social-emotional development. The study found that approximately three-quarters of the infants’ fathers, who were on average 19 years old, African American, and not living with their children, were in fact involved with their children, seeing them regularly and contributing financially to their needs.
