Community and family health doctoral student Erika Thompson attended Acting Surgeon General Dr. Boris D. Lushniak’s keynote address at the annual American College of Sports Medicine Meeting.  The event was held May 27-31 in Orlando, Fla.

According to Thompson, Rear Admiral Lushniak enthusiastically described the role of the surgeon general’s office commenting that it is more than just labeling cigarette boxes with the surgeon general’s warning each week, but that the office promotes public health initiatives across the country.  One initiative in particular brought Lushniak to the meeting, the Surgeon General’s Every Body Walk! Initiative, a call to action to support and promote walking and walkability in the community.  Meeting attendees had the opportunity to participate in one of these walks around the convention center with Lushniak and his staff.  The animated and spirited acting surgeon general even took the time to chat with each walker and take the occasional selfie.

In addition to shameless picture-taking, Thompson also presented two abstracts at the annual meeting.  One was of a secondary data analysis of long-term physical activity adherence in women, co-authored with Drs. Cheryl Vamos and Rita DeBate, faculty in the Department of Community and Family Health; Jennifer Bleck, a doctoral student in CFH; and Drs. Haichun Sun and Sara Flory, faculty in the Physical Education Department.  The abstract developed out of the Center for Transdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health from a cross-department collaboration between the Departments of Community and Family Health and Physical Education.  Faculty members and students worked together to develop the analysis and abstract using group think and interdisciplinary strategies.

 

The other poster presentation was a systematic review on the theory-based determinants of physical activity during pregnancy, co-authored with Vamos.  This product was also the result of faculty and student collaboration at the CTR-WH.

“I’m grateful for sponsorship from the Maternal and Child Health Traineeship, which provided funding for me to attend the conference and present this research,” Thompson said. “It was an excellent opportunity to network with professionals from many disciplines and inspire future work.”

Story and photos courtesy of Erika Thompson, USF College of Public Health