Over 24 hours on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, the University of Maryland School of Public Health community came together virtually to support our research initiatives, scholarships and educational programs. 278 donors—alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students—gave a total of $220,724, an increase of more than 137 percent from the previous year. That placed the School of Public Health at #2 on the leaderboard after Athletics for most funds raised during Giving Day.

Dr. Quynh Nguyen, an assistant professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, has received a $3.3 million RO1 grant from the National Institutes of Health for the project Risk and Strength: Determining the Impact of Area-Level Racial Bias and Protective Factors on Birth Outcomes.

Bridgette Heine is a graduate assistant for the Teaching and Learning Center in the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (CMNS). She is also a research assistant for Dr. Hongjie Liu in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, where she is working on two projects. The first is modeling Covid-19 in a university setting by looking at how different research groups have modeled Covid in other settings and then applying those later to a university setting.

In 2020, Jennifer Guida transitioned from a Cancer Research Training Award Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)/National Institutes of Health(NIH) to a Program Director at the NCI/NIH. Her role allows her to stimulate new areas of science and continue pursuing her own research on improving healthy longevity for long-term cancer survivors.

The university celebrated the accomplishments of our graduates in a virtual commencement ceremony on Sunday, December 20. The main ceremony can be viewed on the UMD Facebook and YouTube channels. Graduates are encouraged to share their photos and memories on social media using #UMDgrad. SPH graduates should also use #publichealthTerps and tag @UMDPublicHealth. See Public Health Terps' photos and reflections and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram!

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, people have accessed health care appointments and services in a virtual format more than ever before. A new study by the University of Maryland School of Public Health found that hospitals in rural areas faced more barriers in adopting these telehealth approaches than those in urban areas. 

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.

Where we live impacts our health in many ways, including how susceptible we are to contracting Covid-19. Quynh Nguyen, assistant professor of epidemiology, uses big data techniques to analyze massive volumes of visual information about our neighborhood environments and their relationship to population health.

The FDA has issued several novel coronavirus tests, but the tests are often time-consuming and sometimes inaccurate— failing to meet the urgent need to quickly identify and isolate infected people.

In this year of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions—like every other segment of society—have been forced to make critical decisions about when to reopen that could have significant health and financial implications. And because of the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, these decisions are being made with limited information, constrained resources and no reliable road map.