This week, the University of Maryland School of Public Health virtually inducted 21 members into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. Inductees included students, faculty, alumni and this year's honorary inductee, Maryland Senator Brian Feldman, who represents District 15 in Montgomery County.

The TOGETHER Program, which offers services that help local families develop healthy relationships and achieve financial stability, will continue its work for another five years with a $5 million grant renewal from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

A timely commentary co-authored by Dr. Woodie Kessel in the journal Pediatrics urges greater US investment in the non-healthcare related programs that play an important role in determining health outcomes, particularly related to infant mortality. 

Ndidiamaka N. Amutah-Onukagha graduated with her PhD in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Maryland School of Public Health in 2010. She received her Master of Public Health from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in 2005. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha also received a BS in Public Health and BA in Africana Studies from Rutgers, The State University of NJ. Ndidiamaka has a longstanding commitment to public health that spans over 15 years of experience.

Family Science graduates are off doing exceptional work in their post-undergraduate lives. The Family Science department here at the University of Maryland (UMD) would like to recognize Oluwaseun Ajimoko, a former undergraduate student and current Howard University law student.

Children and families across Maryland and throughout the United States are grappling with the challenges and necessity of virtual learning required by the Covid-19 pandemic. But Black, Latino, and low-income children face starker difficulties and may be at risk of falling behind or disengaging from school entirely. Inequities that existed before the pandemic have become even deeper and difficult to bridge. 

Natasha D. Williams, a third-year Family Science doctoral student, is one of 60 scholars who was recently accepted to the 2020 cohort for Health Policy Research Scholars, a training and leadership program led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated to health.

Anti-vaccination discourse on Facebook increased in volume over the last decade, coalescing around the argument that refusing to vaccinate is a civil right, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Public Health.

Associate Professor of Family Science Mia Smith-Bynum (she/her) identifies as a scholar-activist, harnessing her personal experience as a Black woman and vast research expertise to dismantle racism and improve African American mental health. As the director of the Black Families Research Group, an affiliate of the Center for Health Equity and an investigator with the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center (UMD-PRC), Dr. Smith-Bynum has quickly emerged as a necessary and leading figure in psychology and family science. 

On Thursday, September 17, 2020, the SPH Alumni Network held a webinar featuring University of Maryland alumnus Dr. John Hart, MS '12 (Marriage and Family Therapy), PhD '17 (Family Science). The webinar, "Restoring Promise: Disrupting the US Prison System," focused on the current prison conditions in the United States and Dr. Hart's ambition to improve them.