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.

Don Milton, professor of environmental health, and Jessica Fish, assistant professor of family science, each received seed grants from the UMD Division of Research for COVID-19-related research.

Faculty members and graduate students in the Department of Family Science have created several resource guides for families and children in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. These guides aim to support parents who may be struggling with how to communicate to their children in an age-appropriate way about this unprecedented global pandemic.

Financial stresses can squash a relationship as thoroughly as stomping on a Valentine’s box of chocolate—and Emily Garcia’s* metaphorical box was looking more than a little crumpled. 

Garcia and her husband, who works in finance and handled the money in their marriage, had begun to argue when finances got tight. 

“With two completely different cultures, nationalities and backgrounds, he had his way of dealing with money, I had my way,” García said. “And it just got out of control.” 

The opinion piece was written by Sandra C. Quinn, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Family Science and published in Maryland Matters on February 12, 2020.

Julia Steinberg, assistant professor of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, published a commentary about a new study examining women’s feelings five years following an abortion in Social Science & Medicine.

The availability of services to help clients achieve pregnancy depends on if the clinic receives funding through Title X, according to a study co-authored by Dr. Marie Thoma, assistant professor of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. 

Zeina Mohamad Alkhalaf didn’t plan to go into public health, at least not at first. She received a degree in communications and public relations and conducted humanitarian work through a non-profit. But at the age of 23, Zeina was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that affects around 200,000 individuals in the US every year and can lead to infertility, diabetes and even cancer.

Policies based on the notion that undergoing an abortion causes or increases women’s risk of attempting suicide are misinformed, according to the results of a 17-year study led by a School of Public Health researcher.

In a year that has seen the largest measles outbreak in the US in more than two decades, the role of social media in giving a platform to unscientific anti-vaccine messages and organizations has become a flashpoint.