Congratulations to the New Graduates! | |
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The 2023 UTHealth Houston School of Public Health Commencement Ceremony was held on May 12, 2023, at the NRG Center in Houston, Texas. The Commencement ceremony celebrated over 300 graduates from the School of Public Health. The ceremony was well attended by graduates along with family and well-wishers. We wish all of our graduates great success as future public health professionals.
Check out our EHGES photo album featuring more photos of our EHGES graduates and faculty.
The School of Public Health also published photos from the pre-commencement reception and a short wrap-up video from the commencement ceremony.
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EHGES Faculty and Staff Honored with
School of Public Health Awards
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The 2023 UTHealth Houston School of Public Health Awards honors faculty and staff who exemplified excellence in their respective award categories. This year, the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences faculty and staff were honored in a variety of categories.
This year's winners include:
2023 Award for Excellence in Academic Advising: Associate Professor Miryoung Lee, PhD
2023 Faculty Award for Excellent in Teaching: Associate Professor Eric C. Jones, PhD
2023 Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Service: Professor and El Paso Regional
Campus Dean Kristina D. Mena, PhD
2023 Faculty Research Mentor-Mentee Awards:
Professor and Chair Alanna C. Morrison, PhD
Assistant Professor Paul S. de Vries, PhD
2023 R. Palmer Beasley, MD Faculty Award for Innovation:
Associate Professor Michael B. Cannell, PhD
2023 Inaugural Oustanding Staff Award:
Academic and Admissions Advisor JR F. Bright, MBA
You can read more about the awards here.
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New Research Shows an Uptick in Weight Loss Surgery Among Youth in the US | |
EHGES Professor Sarah Messiah, PhD, has published a new study in JAMA Pediatrics showing that more U.S. adolescents undergo bariatric surgery year over year.
“This analysis shows that families are making the decision to pursue bariatric surgery more frequently year-over-year, and among those from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds in particular,” said Messiah.
Researchers found that in 2021, metabolic or bariatric surgery completion increased from 182 to 258 in Black youths, 179 to 273 procedures among Hispanic youths, and 459 to 518 procedures among white youths.
Read the full story here.
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UTHealth Houston Assistant Professor Demonstrates MALDA on Local News Channels | |
EHGES Assistant Professor and Interim Program Director of Industrial Hygiene for SWCOEH Wei-Chung Su, PhD, CIH, recently appeared on two local news programs to talk about the Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus (MALDA) and how it's being used to study occupational and environmental health exposures like fumes and emissions.
Su was joined by School of Public Health doctoral student Jinnho Lee, MPH, on Fox 26 News and KPRC 2 News.
Research with MALDA continues with a new project in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where Su's team is studying indoor aerosol exposure for residents living in underserved neighborhoods.
Read more at the SWCOEH News Link and the Houston Chronicle.
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Newly Funded Study to Evaluate Food RX Program Key Outcomes Among High-Risk Pregnant Women | |
EHGES Professor and Vice Chair Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, and Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences Associate Professor Nalini Ranjit, PhD, are the principal investigators for a new study funded by the Episcopal Health Foundation.
The purpose of this two-year study is to assess if a Houston Food Bank (HFB) comprehensive food prescription (Food Rx) program that provides consistent access to healthy food plus nutrition education impacts gestational weight gain, other pregnancy and birth outcomes, and food and nutrition security in low-income, ethnically diverse, at-risk women residing in Houston, TX.
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A New Study by Assistant Professor Lanza Tracks Winter Bicycle Commuting in Quebec | |
EHGES Assistant Professor Kevin Lanza, PhD, co-authored a new study to characterize bicycle commuting during winter in Canada and identify the psychological determinants of this transport mode.
The data suggests intention and habit constructs are longitudinally associated with winter cycling behavior. Future winter cycling interventions should combine individual behavioral change techniques with collective strategies such as winter bicycle-friendly infrastructures and policies.
The study concluded that providing the same access to bike lanes all year is essential. For this to happen, it requires additional effort from cities to ensure cycling infrastructure maintenance during winter.
Read more about the study here.
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New R01 Grant of $956,440 Awarded to EHGES Faculty to Aid in Identifying Drug Resistant Tuberculosis | |
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded nearly $1 million in grant funding to aid in developing a new method to identify drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). This project, "Improving rapid phenotypic drug susceptibility testing for drug-resistant tuberculosis in high-burden areas," aims to prevent the further spread of these life-threatening strains to the public.
The project, led by Blanca I. Restrepo, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville, along with principal investigators including Jordi Torrelles, PhD, of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, and Marcel Yotebieng, MD, PhD, MPH, with Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
You can read more about the newest R01 grant here.
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EHGES On Location: Charge Conference | |
EHGES faculty and students recently took part in the CHARGE conference in Boston.
Poster presentations included EHGES Assistant Professor Chloé Sarnowski, PhD, and epidemiology PhD students Julie Hahn, MPH, Songmi Lee, MPH, and Anuja Godbole, MPH. Sarnowski, Lee, and Alkis presented their poster in the one-minute blitz session, and both Sarnowski and Alkis received travel awards to attend the conference.
Also, present at the conference:
EHGES faculty Associate Professor Bing Yu, PhD, Assistant Professor Paul de Vries, PhD, and Professor Myriam Fornage, PhD, along with three of our senior statisticians, Michael Brown, MS, Taryn Alkis, MS, Adam Heath, MS, all represented the School of Public Health at the conference.
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2023 Pride Parade
Walk with UTHealth Houston
June 24, 2023
6:00 p.m.
Students, faculty, staff, and trainees from all six UTHealth Houston schools and UT Physicians, along with family, friends, and allies, are invited to join the festivities and celebrate diversity at the 45th annual Houston LGBTQ+ Pride Parade.
Sign up to walk with UTHealth Houston!
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Upcoming Deadlines, Dates, and more!
June 14
Registration Opens
6 Week 2 Session
June 19 - Juneteenth Holiday
University Closed
July 4 - Independence Day Holiday University Closed
July 19 - 8:00 AM
Registration Opens for Fall Semester
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The Texas Medical Center Library and the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health library offer many student and faculty services, including Canvas training, navigating the SPH library website, writing services, and much more. Contact Kelsey Koym for assistance and more information. Email Kelsey Koym here or visit the TMC Library website for more details. | |
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Calling all EHGES alums! EHGES in the News would like to include alum updates and news to feature in our monthly spotlight! Please email Jana Satterwhite, Communications Specialist, to be considered for our upcoming newsletters. | Reminder: For more information on how to handle media requests, see the UTHealth Houston HOOP policy here. If you are contacted by the media, please call the UTHealth Houston Media Relations team on the hotline, 713-500-3030 - someone is available 24/7. Deb Lake is the designated School of Public Health contact. Always choose to call the hotline for immediate assistance. | |
SUBMISSIONS AND NEWSLETTER DEADLINE | |
All campuses are encouraged to submit items for consideration for the monthly EHGES newsletter. Please feel free to submit your items to sphehges@uth.tmc.edu. | | | | |
