2007 Selected News Archive
IPH Graduate Presents at APHA
Katie Sobush, a 2007 MPH graduate, presented her thesis research at the recent American Public Health Association meeting in Washington, D.C. and received the Best Poster award by the Environmental Health Section of APHA. Katie's work was conducted in conjunction with two IPH faculty, Valerie Hepburn and Derek Shendell. View Katie's APHA poster.
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IPH Fulbright Scholars
The Institute of Public Health is fortunate to have six Fulbright Scholars in residence, two from Afghanistan, and one each from Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq and Mongolia. The Scholars met recently at the Commerce Club to celebrate their first graduate, Sardar Ahmad, who will receive his diploma in December.
IPH Welcomes New Graduate Program Coordinator
The Institute of Public Health is pleased to welcome Courtney Burton to Georgia State University. Courtney will be responsible for all aspects of student affairs, from admissions to alumni relations. She has extensive experience in higher education and most recently worked at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Florida State University College of Law. Courtney has a masters degree in higher education from Florida State University.
IPH Awards First Georgia Health Foundation Scholarships
The Institute of Public Health is honored to award the first Georgia Health Foudnation Scholarships to three new MPH students: Megan Reynolds, Bethany West and Anna Rocket. These three Georgia students started their MPH program in August and have committed to advancing the public health in Georgia following graduation. Learn more about the Georgia Health Foundation schoarships here.
IPH Faculty Receives International Excellence Award
Karen Gieseker, Assistant Professor in the Institute of Public Health, received the Georgia State University "International Excellence Award" at a university ceremony November 12. Dr. Gieseker's award is in recognition of her international teaching, research and service, which includes developing graduate global health courses, conducting applied research in Tanzania and Kenya, and teaching public health law courses as part of the College of Law's study abroad program in Rio de Janerio, Brazil.
Alumni News
On November 5 at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Katie Sobush, MS, MPH who graduated in May 2007 from the Institute of Public Health was voted as one of the top three presentations from among 20 finalists in the Environment Section's Student Poster Sessions. The poster was based on her MPH thesis, entitled "Obesity and the built environment in twenty-six rural Georgia counties: An analysis of physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and environmental factors." Details are available here. Dr. Valerie Hepburn (thesis chair) and Dr. Derek Shendell (2nd reader, and advisor) were among the co-authors.
Katie Kilker to Lead National Autism Communication Campaign
Katie Kilker, a 2007 MPH graduate of the Institute of Public Health, was just appointed as a Health Communications Specialist to lead CDC's new autism awareness campaign, "Learn the Signs. Act Early."
You can learn more about the campaign here.
IPH Graduate Presents at National Meeting
Shauta Parker, a 2007 MPH graduate of the Institute of Public Health, will present her thesis research at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research Conference on Cancer Health Disparities. Shaunta is currently Communications and Education Manager at the Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education, Inc. (Georgia CORE). You can read more about Shauta's thesis research here.
In the News: The Dirty Truth Campaign (an intervention of the Accountable Communities: Healthy Together Partnership)
The Campaign is designed to alleviate the health and public safety challenges embedded in the built environment in neighborhoods near Turner Field. Click here to watch the 11 Alive video.
Tanzania Project Showcased in Georgia State Magazine
Karen Gieseker and a number of her students are showcased in the current issue of the Georgia State Magazine. As part of a joint CDC/GSU research project, Dr. Gieseker brought four MPH students to Tanzania last spring to learn first-hand about public health in Africa. Read more about bringing classroom training to life.
Russ Toal, Associate Professor in the Institute of Public Health, has been selected to be President-Elect for the Georgia Public Health Association (GPHA) effective the next annual meeting in 2008. GPHA is a nonprofit corporation organized for the purposes of promoting the public and personal health of the people of Georgia, and is the largest public health organization in the Southeast. Professor Toal has been on the faculty of the Institute of Public Health since 2003 and will continue his teaching and advisement activities as he serves as GPHA President. Before joining the faculty at Georgia State University, Professor Toal was Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health and President of the Georgia Cancer Coaltion.
Institute of Public Health welcomes largest class ever
The Institute of Public Health is pleased to welcome 29 new graduate students to our MPH degree program. This is the largest class ever enrolled and these students were selected from nearly 200 applicants. The Fall 2007 class includes two new Fulbright Scholars, Panji Hadisoemarto from Indonesia and Ariuntsatsral Erdenebileg from Mongolia. Click here for full size photo.
Institute of Public Health welcomes new faculty
The Institute of Public Health is pleased to welcome Frances McCarty and Monica Swahn to Georgia State University. Frances McCarty's expertise is research methods and statistical consultation and joins GSU from Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. Frances has her doctorate in measurement and statistics from GSU and will be teaching the core Research Methods course (PH7019). Monica Swahn's area of research interest include youth violence, alcohol research, social epidemiology and health disparities. Monica has her doctorate in psychiatric epidemiology from the University of Pittsburg and will be teaching courses in social epidemiology and violence prevention. Learn more about our newest faculty members here.
Institute of Public Health Receives Full Accreditation from CEPH: The Institute of Public Health has received full five year accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The Georgia State University MPH degree program was one of four graduate programs approved by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents in January 2004 and the first to be accredited by CEPH. More information about the accreditation process can be found here and the GSU Self Study documents are here.
The Institute of Public Health is the home for the Editorial Offices for two international public health journals. With Professor Richard Rothenberg joining the IPH faculty, Georgia State University will now be the editorial office for Annals of Epidemiology, one of the leading epidemiology journals in the world. The Annals will be the second public health journal at Georgia State, joining Health Education Research, where Michael Eriksen serves as the Executive Editor.
Matthew L. Johnson, a spring 2007 graduate of the MPH program and GSU Urban Fellows program in 2006-07, was selected to start a fellowship with the Public Health Prevention Service. His position starts in Atlanta in fall 2007.
IPH Faculty and Students in Tanzania
Dr. Gieseker and four Georgia State graduate students spent a few weeks in Tanzania as part of a joint CDC/GSU research project. Read the daily accounts of their journey here.
A team from the Institute of Public Health worked for a week in Nigeria during March to continue building and planning their collaboration for classroom and field research-based training in community environmental health and emerging chronic disease epidemiology for health professionals with the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (UI). The interdisciplinary team includes Principal Investigator Dr. Derek Shendell (back row, left side), Dr. Ike Okosun (front row, far left), Dr. Eme Owoaje of UI (front row, to right of Dr. Okosun), and MPH student Heartley Egwuogu (fourth from left, next to the UI Dean of Medicine). For more information, please click here.
Public Health professor recognized for community service with NPU-V
Marshall Kreuter, professor of public health, has received the 2007 Outstanding Faculty Member Award (click to view video) during the 2nd annual Presidents Awards for Community Service and Social Action. Read More
Georgia Health Rankings just released: The Healthcare Georgia Foundation has just released its new publication, "Georgia's Health Rankings - 2006". This is an extremely useful tool documening how Georgia compares to other states in key public health and vital statistic measures. IPH recent graduate Samina Shariff served as a research assistant to the Healthcare Georgia Foundation on this project.