HPH NOW, January 6, 2006, Post Hurricane Katrina, APHA Annual Meeting Focused on Disaster Management Amid Plethora of Other Topics

The annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) was convened from December 10 to 14 in Philadelphia, drawing more than 11,000 public health professionals from around the world. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place in New Orleans in November, until Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. In response, APHA established a task force and devoted sessions of the meeting to the hurricane and to other disaster management efforts.

The number of attendees this year was down from approximately 14,000 professionals last year, but the meeting lost none of its depth or breadth. More than 1,000 scientific presentations covered a breathtaking range of topics, such as the new Medicare prescription drug plan, flu preparedness, Social Security reform, violence prevention, war and public health, training public health students, transparency and integrity of scientific data, and controversies over drugs such as Plan B contraception and Vioxx. Abstracts are available at http://www.apha.org/meetings.

HSPH was well-represented among the presenters. Below are some snapshots of faculty, alumni, and students describing their public health research.

At podium, alumna Tamara Dubowitz described her analysis of factors influencing fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income, post-partum women. Sitting immediately next to her was HSPH doctoral student Allison Appleton, who presented a state-wide analysis of women's status and their children's well-being.

Nancy Krieger

At left is Professor Nancy Krieger, who spoke at sessions involving The Spirit of 1848, an APHA caucus she co-founded 11 years ago. The caucus' name refers to the early days of a worldwide public health movement and its links to other burgeoning movements for social justice: slavery abolition, women's rights, trade unions, child welfare, and political efforts to secure social and economic democracy.

Deborah Prothrow-Stith

Above, HSPH Professor Deborah Prothrow-Stith spoke about her involvement in youth violence prevention.

Below, HSPH Associate Professor Rebecca Betensky (right in photo) received the Spiegelman Award from the APHA Statistics Section. The award has been presented annually since 1970 to an outstanding public health statistician under age 40. More information may be found at http://www.aphastat.org. Pictured with Betensky is HSPH Senior Lecturer Marcia Testa.

HSPH Associate Professor Rebecca Betensky and Senior Lecturer Marcia Testa

Marcia Testa and Rebecca Betensky