HSPH to Take Part in Major Public Health Meeting in Boston
One of the most important public health meetings in the country is coming to Boston from November 12 to 16 at various downtown locations. The 128th annual meeting and exposition of the American Public Health Association (APHA) is expected to draw more than 14,000 people. The meeting's theme is "Eliminating Health Disparities," and HSPH will be well represented.
One of the centerpieces of the meeting involves no less than three Surgeons General and has been organized by HSPH alumnus Myron Allukian. Allukian is director of oral health at the Boston Public Health Commission, and he will moderate a panel on Tuesday, November 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. about "Neglected Epidemics and the Reports of the US Surgeon General: A Call to Action for Oral Health and Mental Health Disparities."
The panel will include David Satcher, current US Surgeon General; Antonia Novello, former US Surgeon General; Richard Harding, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association; Richard Mascola, president of the American Dental Association; Steven Schroeder, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Julius Richmond, former US Surgeon General and professor of health policy at HSPH.
For those who cannot afford the APHA registration fee, there is a free session about public health advocacy on Tuesday, November 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Smitha Arekapudi, master's degree student in the Department of Epidemiology, helped to organize the session. Arekapudi serves on the steering committee of APHA's effort to start a public health advocacy group called the Public Health Advocate. The envisioned goal of the group is to build public health coalitions at the grassroots and professional levels. She also has worked on the board of the Public Health Student Caucus of APHA for the past year.
Delivering a lecture at the meeting is Meir Stampfer, chair of the Department of Epidemiology, who will deliver the Wade Hampton Frost Lecture on Monday, November 13 at 5:30 p.m. He will speak about the role of observational studies and randomized trials in setting prevention policy. James Ware, dean for Academic Affairs, will present "Multilevel Analysis: Methods and Model Interpretation" on Tuesday, November 14 at 2:30 p.m.
On Monday from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., HSPH researchers will present two posters about nutritional epidemiology. One poster is entitled "Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire in African-American Children One to Five Years of Age," by Robin Blum and Helaine Rockett of the Department of Nutrition; Jane Gardner of the Department of Maternal and Child; Graham Colditz of the Department of Epidemiology; and a colleague from the Family Care Health Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
The other poster, "Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire: A Service and Research Tool," was written by Blum, Rockett, Gardner, Colditz, and a consultant in nutrition and maternal and child health in Northfield, Vermont.
A discussion about minority health professions will be facilitated by Joan Reede of the Department of Maternal and Child Health on Monday, November 13 from 12:30 p.m to 2 p.m. Reede will present "Leadership Training in Minority Health Policy," "Addressing Minority Pipeline: A Health Policy Summer Program," and "Project Success: A Program Model of Academic-Community Linkage."
Joining Reede will be Deborah Prothrow-Stith of the Division of Public Health Practice, who will present on "Recruiting Minorities into Academic Public Health: The Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health."
The reduction of firearm and other injuries takes center stage on Tuesday, November 14 when David Hemenway of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC) presides over a round table discussion about injury control research centers from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Hemenway also will moderate a special session about building a national firearm fatality reporting system on Wednesday, November 15 at 8:30 a.m. He will discuss HICRC's pilot program called the National Firearm Injury Surveillance System. The special session will include a presentation by the program's co-director Cathy Barber.
Deborah Azrael and Matthew Miller of HICRC will present posters written with Hemenway on "An Assessment of Self-Defense Gun Use: Findings from Three National Surveys" on Monday, November 13 from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and "State Gun Levels and Violent Death Among 5-14 Year Olds, 1988-1997" on Monday, November 13 from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
On Tuesday, November 14 Ichiro Kawachi, director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health, will take part in a live satellite broadcast about health disparities. Kawachi will speak on "Investing in Social Capital to Improve Public Health" at 2:50 p.m.
HSPH will maintain an exhibition booth at the meeting sponsored by the Office of Admissions.
The APHA has dedicated its November issue of the American Journal of Public Health to the theme of the meeting, and Nancy Krieger, associate professor of health and social behavior in the Department of Health and Social Behavior, has been asked to serve as guest editor.
Anyone interested in registering for the conference must go on site during the days of the meeting. Fees are $150/student member; $200/student non-member; $345/member; $480/non-member.
For more information, go to www.apha.org/meetings.
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HSPH at APHA at a Glance Saturday, November 11 "Community-Based
Health Care: Lessons from Bangladesh to Boston" Sunday, November 12 "Community-Based
Health Care: Lessons from Bangladesh to Boston" Monday, November 13 Poster:
"Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire in African-American
Children One to Five Years of Age," Board 7
Poster:
"Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire: A Service and Research
Tool," Board 10
Poster:
"An Assessment of Self-Defense Gun Use: Findings from Three
National Surveys," Board 4
"Leadership
Training in Minority Health Policy" Poster:
"State Gun Levels and Violent Death Among 5-14 Year Olds, 1988-1997,"
Board 6 Tuesday, November 14 "Neglected
Epidemics and the Reports of the US Surgeon General: A Call to Action
for Oral Health and Mental Health Disparities"
"Public
Health Advocates: Crafting Our Action Agenda"
Injury
Control Research Centers Round Table Discussions: "Firearms
Research and Policy," Table 2
"Multilevel
Analysis: Methods and Model Interpretation"
"Investing
in Social Capital to Improve Public Health" Wednesday, November 15 "Building
a National Firearm Fatality Reporting System" |
