This story originally published on July 15, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30th anniversary celebration.

“USF was chosen as the place for Florida’s College of Public Health,” Dr. Peter Levin wrote in 1984, “because of the broad base of knowledge found in the many colleges of the University and the unique Tampa location.”

Levin, the college’s first dean, expounded further, noting that not only faculty from the colleges of medicine and nursing, but from business, education, engineering, natural sciences and social sciences were “key to the development of the college.”

Three decades of growth and innumerable success stories later, former Fla. Rep. Samuel P. Bell III shed more light on the founding of COPH.

Like many created entities of any kind, it all started with one person’s idea and another person’s decision to act on it.

The idea person was Robert Hamlin, a graduate of the Harvard University College of Public Health. He brought his idea to Bell, dubbed “the godfather of the college” by Charles Mahan, another founder who was COPH dean from 1995 to 2002.

“He had retired to Florida and realized that there was not a college of public health in Florida,” Bell recalled of Hamlin. “He contacted my staff director, John Phelps, with the idea, and John and I discussed the idea and decided that we should pursue the project. When we began the effort, we discovered that there had not been a college of a public health created anywhere in the country for more than 20 years, and most emphasis was on clinical health.

From left: Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the USF College of Public Health, the late Robert Hamlin and Rep. Sam Bell, “the godfather of COPH.”

“As a member of the Florida Legislature, I could see the results of public health problems – mental health issues, alcoholism, child abuse, heart attack and stroke brought on by lack of exercise and obesity, infant mortality, etc. – yet there was no focus to address these issues. In addition,” Bell said, “there was a shortage of trained public health workers as problems grew and population increased.”

Where to establish the college as a physical entity turned out to be fairly obvious. Logic dictated that the state’s first college of public health had to be part of a public university that had a medical school and was located in an urban area, and USF was the only institution in the state that met all three requirements.

“There was no bill,” Bell said of the necessary legislative action that followed. “The college was first created by a line item in the state appropriation. Of course, we had to work the proposal through the Board of Regents and the USF administration.”

All of it moved with surprising quickness and ease, he said, underscoring an idea whose time had come. Naturally, it didn’t hurt that its biggest proponent was in prime position to do it the most good.

“The College’s success must first recognize the man who made it all possible,” said Dr. Heather Stockwell, the first faculty hire in the college’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

“Without Sam Bell,” she said, “there would be no COPH.  Before our college was formed, there were no schools of public health in Florida. It was through the vision and leadership of Sam Bell that our college was formed and its funding secured in its early years so that it could grow and develop into the College we are all so proud of today!”

From left: Dr. Martha Coulter, Dr. Heather Stockwell and Dr. Peter Levin, first dean of COPH, ca. 1988.

“Sam Bell was absolutely committed to the idea that there needed to be a strong college of public health in this state,” Dr. Martha Coulter agreed. “He single-handedly got absolute support for us from the state legislature, so that we were not dependent completely on federal funds and training grants.”

“There was not much opposition to the effort,” Bell said. “It really flew under the radar. I was in leadership during all of this time and was chair of the appropriations committee in the House for the years 1985 through 1988, for four sessions. Before that, I had chaired the rules committee and was majority leader, so I was in a position to get support. After the College was initially approved, I was able to guide funding.”

If founding the college had seemed relatively easy, running it in the early days was not. Being the only college of public health in Florida created a heavy work load at the same time it underscored the demand for what a college of public health delivers.

The first year, Coulter and the other two faculty members in the Department of Community and Family Health traveled regularly to teach at the Florida Department of Health offices in Tallahassee and at USF-Sarasota, as well as in Tampa, said Coulter. There simply was no one else to do the job.

From left: Jennifer Harrell, filmmaker and documentarian Frederick Wiseman, Dr. Marti Coulter and the late James Harrell in an undated photo.  The Harrell Center is named for Harrell and his wife, Jennifer.

“Of course, this was before you could take things online,” she said, “and it certainly was a lot easier for us to go there than for all of them to come here.”

Simply finding space was another challenge. Originally housed on the first floor of the present Continuing Education building, the fledgling college wouldn’t see its own building for another seven years.

Community and Family Health had a particularly hard time finding a permanent home, Coulter said. It would reside alongside the college’s other departments in the present Continuing Education building, then move to the first floor of the University Professional Center, then find space in the Florida Mental Health Institute (now Behavioral and Community Sciences) building.

“I had to bend my head down to get into the attic to get into my office,” recalled Dr. Paul Leaverton, first chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

“Then we took over the auditorium. It used to be a basketball auditorium – just wherever we could find room, and that was where we were ’til ’91, when we moved into this building. We kept moving around in funny little quarters, so this building was really nice – and it still is.”

COPH groundbreaking ceremony for it’s $10-million building, March 1990.

Artist’s rendering of the COPH building.

A royal opening

Almost everyone expects fanfare at any major debut, the opening of a new building at a major university posing no exception, but probably no one expected the kind of pomp and circumstance that played at the USF College of Public Health’s opening of its own building in 1991.

A month before the building’s official dedication, two weeks before faculty and staff even began moving in, the first lecture was delivered by a scientist, and yet the affair was literally regal.

With an entourage of attendants by her side, Professor Dr. Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand, a biochemist, arrived in a police-escorted motorcade of limousines to speak about her research on medicinal plants.

Leaverton talked recently about how the building’s unusual opening came to pass.

“In the late ’80s, I had done a lot of work in Thailand with NIH and Thai scientists on the epidemiology of aplastic anemia,” Leaverton said.

Thailand had an unusually high rate of the rare but serious blood disorder, Leaverton said, and the group set out to investigate why.

“My colleague over there was probably the top scientist in Thailand. He was a really good medical scientist,” he said, “and he was also the king’s doctor.”

The king was a believer in education, Leaverton said, and his four children eagerly shared that belief. All earned advanced degrees, and two earned doctorates. Leaverton’s Thai counterpart was a friend of Princess Chulabhorn’s, having done post-graduate work with him in Germany.

“So even though she’s a multimillionaire as the king’s daughter, they took it to heart that they should give back to the community. So she got an education in science and directs her own research institute, mostly in cancer.

“I had not met her, but I had heard of her and knew she liked to give lectures occasionally, so I asked my friend, ‘Do you think she’d ever like to give a lecture at USF?’ He said, ‘I’ll ask her.’

A short time later, back at USF and ready to re-settle into his routine, Leaverton had a surprise waiting for him.

“The next thing I know, my phone’s ringing, and it’s the ambassador from Thailand asking if I’d like the princess to speak at USF.”

The answer was yes, and the ambassador personally flew down from Washington to make the arrangements.

“He sounded pretty upset,” Leaverton said, “but they have to handle the royal family with kid gloves. Turned out he was a wonderful man, and he came down a couple of times. We had to meet with the mayor of Tampa and the chief of police to make sure the princess got a motorcade from the airport to her hotel – she took over three floors at the new Wyndham – and from her hotel to USF and back again, no stopping at red lights. So it was quite a show.

“The building wasn’t scheduled to open until December, but to make her schedule, she could only come in November, so the dean opened the building just to accommodate her, which I thought was nice.

News story on Thailand’s Princess Chulabhorn’s royal visit for the COPH opening, November 1991.  Pictured with the princess (left) are Drs. Peter Levin (second from left) and Paul Leaverton, who watch as a student from Thailand extends a greeting.

“It was a packed audience. She gave a very technical lecture that no one understood except the biochemists, but it was a big show, and we got to have lunch with the president of the university. It was a royal opening for the college.”

When the college first opened for classes, Leaverton said, a few students were admitted even before the departments were created. After they were created, the departments didn’t last long initially.

Dean Levin created the initial four of COPH’s present five departments and recruited four professors from other institutions to chair them.

From left: Dennis Werner, senior research coordinator, Jan Marshburn, research assistant, and Lesley Bateman, PR and development coordinator, move into the new COPH building in November 1991.

Leaverton was brought in from the National Institutes of Health, and before that, the University of Iowa, to head Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Stewart Brooks would leave the University of Cincinnati to lead Environmental and Occupational Health. Dr. Stan Graven came from the University of Missouri to direct Community and Family Health. Dr. Tom Chirikos from Ohio State University would take the reins in Health Policy and Management.

“In early ’85,” Leaverton recalled, “the dean got to thinking maybe we didn’t need departments. We could just follow what he called the Texas model – no departments, just one big happy family. But the four chairs who had been recruited to be chairmen of departments objected mightily, and besides, I tried to convince the dean, students tend to think of themselves along discipline lines anyway, whether you call them departments or not. So he relented and re-created the four departments.”

Typical of the new departments, “Epi and Biostats,” as Leaverton calls it, consisted of two people. He and Stockwell were it for the time being, but that was about to change, although maybe not as quickly as they would have liked.

“The legislature was wonderfully generous,” Leaverton said. “They gave us a lot of tenure-track lines, almost unheard of in the creation of a new school. As chairman of Epi and Biostats, I had six tenure-track lines. Two of them were filled by Dr. Stockwell and me, but we had to recruit for the other four.

“Dr. Stockwell and I both had pretty high standards – she had been at Hopkins. We had a file of about 30 people. We rejected all of them. We didn’t think they were good enough to be on our faculty.

“So we had to start the recruiting process all over again, and she and I did all the teaching for that first year, because we were a two-person faculty. We did have a few adjuncts, maybe, here and there, and we eventually filled the faculty positions for the next year.”

Leaverton chaired the department until 1995, then remained as a professor for another six years. He retired as an emeritus professor in 2001.

Memories

The founders and early leaders of COPH have more memories than just those that deal with the college’s inception and its early operation, more memories than space could ever allow, including a few on the lighter side.

“When she was president of the university, she knew everybody on campus,” Coulter recalled of Betty Castor, “and when I got the funding to start the Harrell Center, I was walking across the campus behind the administration building, and she was walking back to her office from somewhere. She saw me all the way across the grounds and yelled out, ‘Hi, moneybags!’

Sam Bell and Betty Castor, former USF president and Florida Secretary of Education, at the COPH 25th anniversary gala, December 2009.

“She knew everybody and supported everybody, and no matter that I was an associate professor in the College of Public Health, she knew.”

“I recall conducting a final exam in epidemiology one evening in which two unusual events occurred,” said Leaverton. “First, a student came to me in obvious pain. She had accidentally put the wrong kind of eye drops in her eyes, which were nearly swollen shut. Okay, she was excused.

“Then, another lady went into labor. We called 911 and sent her to the hospital. It turned out to be a false alarm – she delivered two weeks later. Maybe my exams were too frightening.”

“Being a fan of Chevy Chase and SNL, especially his take-offs on the clumsiness of President Gerald Ford, I purposely stumbled up the auditorium stairs and fell against the podium on the stage, scattering papers everywhere,” Mahan recalled. “This was at one of our graduation convocations. Instead of the audience laughing at my parody of Chevy, they all thought it was real and rushed to the stage to help me – very embarrassing! I think it’s funny now, but I have a very bizarre sense of humor.”

The particulars vary from person to person, but the size, scope and overall success of the college are unanimous themes for the people who were there in its earliest days. In one way or another, all said they could not have foreseen in 1984 what it is on its 30^th anniversary.

“I don’t think we could have imagined,” Coulter said, “the ability to move as strongly as it has in the direction of being a research one university – USF as a whole and the College of Public Health as a leader in that regard. I don’t think we quite envisioned it that way. That has been very exciting.

“Also, the expansion of the whole global health department, the global health focus, and the ability to do international public health work with researchers that are in the global health unit. That really hadn’t been anticipated,” she said.

“I think Donna Petersen coming here was a huge milestone,” she added. “I think she is absolutely extraordinary. Without Donna’s leadership, we could not have gone as far as we’ve gone. She’s given us a lot of support for community-based research, and that’s been critical in terms of the direction that we’ve gone.”

“I’m very pleased with how well our students have done,” Leaverton said. “It’s kind of shocking, in a way. As I look back, we must have organized the curriculum pretty well, Heather [Stockwell] and I. We had to basically design it from scratch. We set up some pretty good courses, and they essentially stayed the same for a long time. We had some good faculty who kept the standards high.

COPH student Sherri Berger as a model for a National Public Health Week poster, March 1996.  She now is chief operating officer at the Centers for Disease Control.

“I actually saw some memos that said, ‘Don’t take Epi and Biostats at the same time, it’s too hard. You have to take them separately,’” Leaverton said. “Sometimes I would take some pride in that. We never made soft courses. Our courses were tough.”

Past, Future and Present

The few shortcomings the college’s founders can think of actually only further reflect the college’s success.

“If I could change one thing,” Stockwell said, “it would be to have a much larger building. The college’s rapid growth has resulted in a need for more space. Maybe we could add a floor?”

“Our beautiful building should have been built to be able to add additional stories,” Mahan concurred.

For Leaverton, it would be an epidemiology laboratory, something he said he and Dr. Doug Schocken, a cardiology professor, tried twice to get funded by NIH.

“If I could do that over, I would pursue that even more vigorously. But we tried,” he said.

Mahan said he sees the college’s future dependent upon “a stronger marriage” between the college and the state and local health departments.

Former COPH Dean Dr. Charles Mahan (above left, below right) participates in an exercise with the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Hazardous Materials Unit, April 2000.

“What if you got your medical degree or nursing degree but never saw a patient and never went into a hospital? Well, why are we giving people public health degrees, and they never set foot in a health department, and they don’t work in the community, which is where the problems are?”

Mahan believes that national accreditation of health departments should be as universal as accreditation for colleges and universities, and that closing the gap between public health education and practice is the way to achieve it. COPH would help a health department earn accreditation, with the understanding that once it became accredited, it would become an “official outpost of the USF College of Public Health.”

“I hope the emphasis on a strong research program will continue,” Leaverton said. “Public health programs need to be based upon sound science, of course. I hope that never changes.”

“What I would like to see the college do is continue on the path that it’s on in terms of really being a leader in the country in community-based research,” Coulter said, “increasing its role as an intermediary between research and practice, and having a committed sense of responsibility to community service providers.”

“Over the next five years,” Stockwell said, “I think – or at least I hope – that public health in general will focus on a positive approach to health, not just disease prevention but improving the quality of health and health maintenance for all our citizens. To do this there will need to be a strong interdisciplinary approach to developing strategies that focus on primary prevention and sustainability at the community level.

“I think our college is uniquely positioned to address these issues,” she said. Its interdisciplinary educational focus positions it as a leader in public health education, and our emphasis on the development of high-quality, collaborative, community-based  research seeks to provide critical information to policy makers to address current and future public health concerns locally, nationally and internationally.”

From left: Susan Webb and Drs. Michael Reid and Phillip Marty establish the Public Health Leadership Institute with a grant from the CDC and ASPH, January 1995.

Stockwell remained with COPH until 2014, when she retired as professor emerita.

But between all the memories of COPH’s beginnings, all its history, successes, scarce shortcomings and envisioned futures stands the here and now.

“If imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” he said, “then we should be flattered, because every university in the state wants a college of public health.

“The College is having impact around the world. I had thought it would be a mecca for public health in Florida and a source of information and advice for state decision-makers. It has done that and much more. We now have graduates working on every continent. Our faculty are internationally recognized. Our students are studying and doing internships around the world. We are attracting major grants, and the research continues to grow.

“I am very proud of what the College has become and what it has done to touch lives around the world,” the college’s “godfather” concluded.

“It has far exceeded my hopes and expectations.”

The USF College of Public Health solves global problems and creates conditions that allow every person the right to universal health and well-being. Make a gift today and help the COPH to advance the public’s health for the next 30 years and beyond. 

Story by David Brothers, USF College of Public Health; photos courtesy of COPH and various faculty.

Related media:
30th anniversary website

The post An Idea Whose Time Had Come: Florida’s First College of Public Health appeared first on College of Public Health News.

First published on June 1, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

It was the evening of May 2.  There was a slight chill in the air as fans gathered in Traditions Hall anxiously awaiting the event of the century.

No, not the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.  The other event ….

The USF College of Public Health’s Inaugural Alumni Awards Ceremony.

More than 180 supporters of the college traveled from as far as Indonesia to celebrate 28 Bulls with significant impact in public health.  From research to practice to policy to teaching, the awardees have done it all and are doing it exceedingly well.

COPH 2015 alumni awardees

The celebration began with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the ceremony.  The dynamic Dr. Joette Giovinco served as mistress of ceremony for the evening.  She’s the first physician to complete the COPH’s occupational medicine residency program, but is probably best known as Dr. Joe, the medical reporter for Fox News in Tampa.

Dr. Joe shared stories and relics from her days as a graduate student in 1988.  She even dusted off some vintage overhead sheets and her carousel replete with slides!

“We were so fortunate 30 years ago that visionary leaders like Sam Bell and Dr. Robert Hamlin believed that Florida deserved to have a school of public health and created the foundation for the first one in the state at the University of South Florida,” said Dr. Donna J. Petersen, COPH dean and senior associate vice president of USF Health.

“It is only fitting on the occasion of our 30^th anniversary that we recognize some of those alumni who, through their commitment to their profession, improve the health of communities around the world and reflect back so positively on our College of Public Health.”

Nominations were accepted through January.  A selection committee comprised of retired and current faculty, staff, alumni, students and community partners in public health had the arduous task of reviewing dozens of nomination packets.

Each alumni awardee received a stunning silver bull engraved with his or her name.

After dinner, Peggy Defay shared her experiences as a public health graduate student.

“As a first generation immigrant from Haiti,” she said, “higher education in any capacity is a priority for me.”

“I discovered my passion for public health through my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia.  Through this experience, I gained a better understanding of health issues at the grassroots level.  Being a volunteer in the Peace Corps helped me understand some of my weaknesses and the need to continue training in this field.”

“The past seven years have taken me to various corners of the world where I have been privileged to meet, live and be empowered by many people.  The last two years at the University of South Florida are no exception to that.  And, I can now say that I have once again lived and worked among amazing people!”

Then, it was time for the main event—presentation of the COPH Class of 2015 alumni awardees.  Each alumni award recipient was recognized during the ceremony, and all are listed here.  A few of their stories are included for those who weren’t present to hear them all on May 2.

Tabia Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH
Director, Prevention Research Center
Director, Evaluation and Institutional Assessment
Associate Professor, Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean, Community Health
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, Ga.

“As a graduate student, I had the opportunity not just to learn how to conduct research, but how to lead it in partnership with experts who cared,” Dr. Tabia Akintobi said.  “They recognized the importance of students as significant contributors to their research as reflected in the number of co-authored papers and abstracts I had under my belt prior to graduation.”

“Among the wonderful colleagues, mentors and leaders I met during my tenure was the love of my life, professional confidante and partner in good Dr. Adebayo Akindele Akintobi [former student and husband].”

Abdel A. Alli, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, Ga.

Philip T. Amuso, PhD, MS
Consultant
Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Retired Director
Bureau of Laboratories
Florida Department of Health
Tampa, Fla.

Roy W. Beck, MD, PhD
Executive Director
Jaeb Center for Health Research
Tampa, Fla.

Sherri Berger, MSPH
Chief Operating Officer
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga.

“My undergraduate degree was in political science, and I didn’t know exactly what to do with it after graduation,” Sherri Berger said.

Sherri Berger and son Jacob.

“Listening to my mother’s advice to ‘get more education,’ I did what other college kids do, and I followed my boyfriend to Tampa, where he had a job offer.  I was hoping to get a master’s degree in hospital administration.  However, in my first semester at the COPH, I fell in love with epidemiology.”

Arlene Calvo, PhD, MPH
Research Assistant Professor
Depts. of Community and Family Health & Global Health
USF College of Public Health
City of Knowledge, Panama

James R. Chastain, Jr., PhD, PE, MPH
President
Chastain-Skillman, Inc.
Tampa, Fla.

“Having an undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, I found public health a perfect complement to that training,” Dr. James Chastain said.  “While engineering is much more design and nuts-and-bolts execution-oriented, public health was more about the personal impacts and generally a systems-oriented and advocacy approach.  There certainly was a great overlap, but even the way that I had to study was different.  Public health provided fresh perspectives to design problems, and I enjoyed expanding my horizons with my studies.  In a word, public health tended to address the “why” questions, and engineering focused on the “how” questions.  I’ve found that very helpful in my practice.”

The Chastain Family celebrated James accomplishments. James is pictured far left.

“The COPH also was quite progressive at the time in terms of scheduling courses that allowed working professionals to take the courses while working at the same time.”

Chastain managed a company and family with three children while earning his degree.

“The time pressures were intense,” he said, “and would not have been possible without a very understanding and supportive wife.”

Stephen R. Cole, PhD, MPH
Professor of Epidemiology
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, N.C.

Martha L. Daviglus, MD, PhD
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor of Medicine
Director of the Institute for Minority Health Research
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Ill.

Hanifa M. Denny, PhD, MPH, BSPH
Dean
College of Public Health
Diponegoro University
Semarang, Indonesia

“One day, we were brought to new [medical] student orientation session.  After touring a hospital ward, I was not able to eat or sleep for some days due to seeing a diabetic patient with a severe wound,” Dr. Hanifa Denny recalled.

“I asked one professor if there is a program within the college of medicine without a requirement to visit patients in a hospital ward.  I also said that I wanted to help people to live in a healthy lifestyle without necessarily suffering from sickness.  I wanted to make people healthy and able to work without a fear of being sick.  The professor explained public health and how the science would meet my expectation.  After my second year of college, I fell in love with occupational and environmental health.”

Scott Dotson, PhD, MSC, CIH
Lead Health Scientist – Senior Team Coordinator
Education and Information Division
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Cincinnati, Ohio

Anthony Escobio, MPH, FHFMA, CHAM
Vice President
Patient Financial Services
Tampa General Hospital
Tampa, Fla.

“I wanted to be an MD.  I took a few of the pre-med “weed out” courses as an undergraduate and did not do very well,” Anthony Escobio recalled. “I had an entry-level job at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1990, and this is where I learned that there were many more opportunities in health care that did not involve practicing medicine.”

The Escobios couldn’t be more proud of Anthony (back row, second from right).

One of the more “interesting” events from Escobio’s COPH days involves a class with Dr. Alan Sear.

“I left a management position at University Community Hospital to be a senior analyst at Tampa General Hospital,” Escobio said.  “TGH was having a host of financial challenges at the time, and the leadership was being ridiculed in the press on a weekly basis.  One of my professors, Alan Sear, spent an entire lecture discussing the poor decisions that leadership at TGH was making.  I sat slouched in my chair knowing that I had just taken a job to be an analyst for these very leaders.  All I could think to myself was ‘what have I done?’  Little did I know that I would be at the center of one of the biggest hospital turnarounds in the country for this period of time.”

Ligia María Cruz Espinoza, MD, PhD, MPH
Associate Research Scientist
International Vaccine Institute
Leon, Nicaragua

Kathryn J. Gillette, MHA, FACHE
Market President and Chief Operating Officer
Bayfront Health-St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Jan J. Gorrie, JD, MPH
Managing Partner
Ballard Partners
Tampa, Fla.

Richard T. Hartman, PhD, MS, CSP, CIH
Chief Health Strategist
PSI Inc.
Alexandria, Va.

Xiomara Zulay Hewitt, MPH
Director
Infection Prevention and Control
Adventist Health System
Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Winifred M. Holland, MPH, MA, LMHC
Administrator-Health Officer
Florida Department of Health in Clay County
Green Cove Springs, Fla.

Carol Ann Jenkins, MPH, FACHE
Director, Accreditation and Survey Readiness
All Children’s Hospital Inc.
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Claudia X. Aguado Loi, PhD, MPH, CHES
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Community and Family Health
USF College of Public Health
Tampa, Fla.

Christine McGuire-Wolfe, PhD, MPH, CPH
Firefighter/Paramedic and Infection Control Officer
Pasco County Fire Rescue

Adjunct Faculty
Department of Global Health
USF College of Public Health
Tampa, Fla.

Maj. (Dr.) James McKnight
Force Health Protection Officer
U.S. Central Command
Serving in Jordan

Maj. James McKnight’s children accepted his award since he is serving in Jordan.

Rachel Nuzum, MPH
Vice President
Federal and State Health Policy
The Commonwealth Fund
Washington, D.C.

Claudine M. Samanic, PhD, MSPH
Commander
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

Environmental Health Scientist
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Research Region 5
Division of Community Health Investigations
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Chicago, Ill.

“Since 1999, when I graduated, I’ve been impressed with the expansion and creation of new institutes and centers, the college’s increasing role in global health, and announcements of various faculty accomplishments and impact,” said Dr. Claudine Samanic.  “It was humbling to be in the room with so many accomplished fellow COPH alumni.”

Angelia Sanders, MPH
Associate Director
Trachoma Control Program
The Carter Center
Atlanta, Ga.

Natalia Vargas, MPH
Public Health Analyst
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Rockville, Md.

Angelica C. Williams, MPH
Disease Intervention Specialist
Florida Department of Health in Broward County
Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Lauren B. Zapata, PhD, MSPH
Commander
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

Senior Research Scientist
Division of Reproductive Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga.

COPH Deans, from left: Drs. Peter Levin, Donna Petersen (current) and Charles Mahan.

Without question, the night was all about the alumni awardees, but there were a few other show-stoppers in the room. Namely, COPH Deans Drs. Peter Levin, Donna Petersen, and Charles Mahan (above) and COPH alumnus and USF Board Trustee Scott Hopes (below left).

USF Trustee Scott Hopes (on left) with Lesley and Rick Bateman.  Lesley was the college’s first public affairs and development officer.

Founded in July 1984, the USF College of Public Health is wrapping up a yearlong celebration of educating and training public health professionals.  Some of the 30^th anniversary year highlights include

• regional events in Orlando, New Orleans, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
• the Dean’s Lecture Series featuring alumni like Drs. Richard Hartman, Charlan Kroelinger and Hana Osman.
• community building activities like a tailgate and USF football game, fall networking social during homecoming, Super Bowl party and spring BBQ.
• Team #USFCOPHRocks with more than 50 public health Bulls participating in the Gasparilla Distance Classic.
• raising almost $70,000 in new commitments to student scholarships in the college.

“We are proud of the work we have done building on a solid foundation and creating an outstanding school of public health—one that just recently jumped in national rankings from 21 to 16,” Petersen said.  “In addition to our great champions and the consistent high performance of our faculty and staff, the reputation we have earned is due in no small measure to the incredible contributions of our alumni.”

The alumni awards ceremony was made possible with support from the COPH, as well as corporate sponsors USF Health and Bayfront Health-St. Petersburg, and individual sponsors Drs. Jay Wolfson and Phillip and Jean Amuso.

It takes a village to raise a family AND host an amazing alumni awards ceremony.  Salute!

Alumni awardee Dr. Abdel A. Alli (second from right) enjoyed the festivities with his family, as well as nominator and faculty mentor Dr. Donna Haiduven (center) and her husband, Michael Gronquist (far right).

Alumni awardee Dr. Arlene Calvo shares a special moment with fellow alumnus Dr. Clement Gwede.

Go, Bulls!

“I applaud the College of Public Health for recognizing alumni who not only have tremendous accomplishments, but who have made a difference in the lives of so many,” said Bill McCausland, executive director of the USF Alumni Association.

Story by Natalie D. Preston, College of Public Health.  Photos by Ashley Grant and Humberto Lopez Castillo.

Related media:
Alumni Awards photo gallery on Facebook

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First published on October 20, 2014 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Like many entities directed at the greater public good, the USF College of Public Health’s Harrell Center was the product of a private philanthropist’s gift. James Harrell and his family wanted to do something to help eliminate family violence, and they acted on that desire. The result was a 1997 endowment that set the stage for what has become an international force.

“The intent of the Harrell family was to provide a center that would focus on family violence,” affirmed Dr. Martha Coulter, the center’s founding director, “but they were particularly interested in looking at the prevention of family violence, as well as research that would be directly applicable to prevention and intervention.

“So the mission of the Harrell Center, really, is to be an intermediary between research and practice, to do research that is focused on family violence intervention and prevention across the lifespan.

“The grant was an endowment, so the funding is very limited, because it’s just the interest on the endowment. Now, most of the income is from other grants and contracts,” Coulter said, “but what the Harrell endowment did was provide the base for doing that kind of research.”

Brick sponsored by the Harrell Center in remembrance of James Harrell after his death in 2007.

One of three faculty members at the center full-time, Coulter, whose doctorate is in maternal and child health, teaches three courses: Family and Community Violence, Child Maltreatment, and Child Health, in addition to coordinating the maternal and child health academic concentration at COPH.

“In the very beginning, there was only the grant and the establishment of the center conceptually,” she said. “Over the years, we’ve developed.”

That development recently necessitated alignment into three divisions.

“The specific divisions – the redesigning of the organizational chart – has really been something that I’ve done this year,” Coulter said. “Before that, over the years, we’ve just developed these different projects and all worked together, but it looked like now we were at a place where we really needed to have a little bit more separate organization and to develop some strategic goals and objectives in each of those content areas.”

The result is a children’s services division directed by Dr. Lianne Estefan, an intimate partner violence division directed by Coulter, and an elder mistreatment division directed by Dr. Carla Vandeweerd. Dr. Karen Liller recently joined the center as a regular collaborator focusing her attention on the overlap between child maltreatment and unintentional injury, Coulter said, and “usually about 10” graduate students round out her staff. A community advisory board is among the center’s numerous external extensions.

“The children’s section has been very involved in looking at issues regarding the prevention of violence in the community,” Coulter explained, “and the center has developed a virtual research institute with one of the community agencies, Champions for Children, which is a multi-program unit, so that we can do research that is truly collaborative. We’ve worked very consistently with them over the years.”

Graphic that Harrell Center graduate assistant Natasha Hojati created for the Center’s Facebook page.

Coulter said that much of what her intimate partner violence section does involves the courts, so much so that she has become a regular consultant for the courts and has undertaken the task of evaluating the effectiveness of their intervention programs for batterers. Developing and continually improving guidelines for batterer intervention and responses to the needs of victims have been major off-shoot projects.

Among the section’s more significant research findings is that female batterers are falling through the cracks. While the county’s intervention for male batterers has been “very effective,” Coulter said, it has largely failed to successfully intervene with female batterers, who comprise about 15 percent of all convicted batterers in Hillsborough County.

“The clinical providers of these programs,” she said, “have been saying for a long time that they didn’t think the state-mandated curriculum for men was really the right curriculum to use for women.”

Among many leaders and dignitaries who have visited the Harrell Center over the years was then-Attorney General Janet Reno, who attended an elder abuse conference sponsored by the Center in 2001. The attorney general is pictured above with students Seraphine Pitt (left) and Carol Williams, and below with Dr. Coulter.

The elder mistreatment division concentrates on elders with dementia and the kinds of violence against them, which is, Coulter said, “fairly common, unfortunately, from both spousal caretakers and children taking care of elderly parents. The dynamics of this are very different from other sorts of domestic violence and really have a lot to do with people not understanding how to help people who have dementia.”

Coulter said she considers a new project in the division to be particularly tantalizing and potentially groundbreaking.

Called the Senior Surfers Project, Coulter said it looks at the rapidly expanding but little-known phenomenon of women over 50 seeking relationships online and getting responses from people who wind up physically, emotionally or financially harming them.

All previous research on Internet connections leading to violent encounters has been on adolescents, she said, so Senior Surfers is another project aiming to keep potentially overlooked victims out of the cracks – in this case, the cracks that open at the nexus of society and technology.

Dr. Coulter chats with Judge Dennis Alvarez (left) and James Harrell at a 1997 function.

With so much involvement in the local community, including working closely with the Spring and, until its recent demise thanks to funding shortfalls, the Family Justice Center, the Harrell Center’s global impact might be surprising to some, but global involvement has proven beneficial on numerous fronts.

Dr. Pnina S. Klein, a clinical and developmental psychologist and professor of education at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, recently led a Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers workshop on campus to promote cognitive functioning and attachment by improving parent-caregiver interactions with infants and young children.

Attendees included community professionals, physicians and COPH students, faculty and staff.  Dr. Robert Nelson, a joint professor in COPH and the Morsani College of Medicine, sponsored attendance by a visiting group of physicians and clinicians from Ecuador.

“It’s been used all over the world,” Coulter said of MISC. “The outcomes internationally of this program have shown that it’s very effective in strengthening attachment and reducing child maltreatment, so we brought Dr. Klein here from Israel this year to do a training for community people and staff here, as well as faculty and students.”

Dr. Martha Coulter, Harrell Center founding director (right in both photos), in Ecuador in 2007.

Elsewhere on the international front, Coulter is working with the medical school in Panama to begin collecting information and developing guidelines for Panamanian health providers to improve their responses to intimate partner violence. She’s also working in Quito, Ecuador, to develop a program that will provide fundamental intervention services for indigenous populations.

Children in a remote Himalayan village in India read books sent to them by the Harrell Center.

Coulter went to India in 2012 with a group that collected data on maternal/child health and family violence among the 26 indigenous tribes in the Himalayas as a response to one tribal leader’s interest in addressing those issues. Progress has been slow, she said, because the tribes are not formally centralized in any way, and the terrain is difficult and isolating. The center recently collected books to send to children there. A librarian navigates dirt paths on a bicycle to deliver them.

Not surprisingly, Coulter’s five-year vision for the Harrell Center is about more expansion, mostly ideological, and lots of it.

“I would like to expand our depth in looking at female offenders and the way the courts respond to them,” she said.

“We’ve applied for some grants to look with a lot more depth at issues related to fathers. This is an area that has been somewhat neglected and needs a lot of attention. What are the ways that we can help fathers from the very beginning develop the kinds of skills that will be more nurturing and less likely to produce problems?

“As far as the center itself,” she said, “I think the area that we really need to expand the most is our capacity for doing community training and education and technical assistance.”

“I’d also like to see us focus on more primary intervention in a public health direction.   A lot of what we’ve done has been secondary response intervention, but I would like to see us working with primary situations – families, parent-child relationships.”

Coulter said an example of the center’s involvement in this area is its participation in the Hillsborough County Violence Prevention Collaborative, a plan for reducing violence throughout the county.

Community events also make Coulter’s expansion list. Recent ones have included fundraisers with artists and bands, and even a biker run.

“I would like to see us expand these community events, because they have been very helpful. The center doesn’t have much funding,” she said, “and the funding that we get is almost always research funding, so if we want to do things that are outside the research arena, we have to raise the money ourselves.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health. Photos courtesy of Dr. Martha Coulter, Eric Younghans, Dr. Robert Nelson, USF Health and the Harrell Center.

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The USF College of Public Health hosted a global panel discussion on Jan. 27 as part of a weeklong international endeavor associated with the College’s 30^th anniversary celebration. Four public health leaders came to COPH from various parts of the world for the event, the highlight of which was the panel discussion, Healthy populations in the 21^st century: international trends, in the Sam Bell III Auditorium.

Dr. Donna Petersen, COPH dean, delivered the opening remarks and extended a welcome to the esteemed guests.

Dr. Donna Petersen (left), College of Public Health dean, extended the college’s welcome to panelists and guests. To her right in photo are Emmanuel Ofumbi of Uganda, Dr. Boo Kwa of COPH and Dr. Nestor Sosa of Panama.

“When we look back over our 30 years,” Petersen said, “one of the things we are proudest of is our unflagging attempts to continue to reach across the globe, to make friends and create partnerships, to provide our students opportunities to learn and to grow professionally in communities around the globe, and to make sure our students understand that public health is global health.

“Public health is also community health, and we can’t be successful if we don’t engage the communities in that global spirit. We have placed students in many, many countries over the years all across the world, but in recent years, we have been very grateful to four particular partners. We are delighted to welcome them here today.”

Those four international guests were Emmanuel Ofumbi, executive director of the Papoli Community Development Foundation, Uganda; Dr. Fernando Ortega, dean of the School of Public Health at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador; Dr. Safii Razitasham, head of the community and public health unit at UNIMAS in Malaysia; and Dr. Nestor Sosa, director of the Gorgas Memorial Institute in Panama.

After setting the tone, Petersen turned the program over to its moderator and chief organizer, Dr. Boo Kwa, professor in the Department of Global Health and associate dean, Office of International Programs.

Kwa thanked the dean and acknowledged her “enthusiasm, energy and continuing support” for making the program possible. After recognizing the college’s “benefactors and champions,” former state Rep. Sam Bell III and his wife, former USF president and former state education commissioner Betty Castor, Kwa introduced the panel and opened the discussion by asking each panel member a question specifically related to a major public health trend in his or her country.

Chatting before the panel presentation, from left: Sosa, Kwa and Betty Castor, former Florida education commissioner and former USF president.

Ofumbi discussed Uganda’s war against malaria and the mosquitoes that carry it, and the effect of the disease disabling family wage earners in a poor country.

Sosa noted Panama’s position between North and South America and its resultant heavy international traffic via airlines, as well as cruise ships and international freight passing through the Panama Canal, all posing the threat of diseases introduced by people briefly passing through.

Ortega talked about the recent crash in oil prices threatening funding for public health education and planned projects such as installing safe drinking water systems for rural populations in the Andes. Ecuador is a major producer of oil, a major factor in its national economy.

Razitasham discussed Malaysia’s reduction of infectious diseases at the same time it is seeing an increase in the incidence of chronic diseases.

Discussing the state of the public health world, from left: Ofumbi, Sosa, Kwa, Dr. Fernando Ortega of Ecuador, and Dr. Safii Razitasham of Malaysia.

After a more general discussion about the Ebola outbreak and each panelist’s country’s response to it, the floor was opened to questions from the audience. A lively reception followed in the COPH lobby before the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to breakout sessions anchored by the individual panelists.

Rep. Bell was all smiles at the reception and expressed his appreciation for the program and what it meant in the bigger picture.

“This was just a wonderful example of what the College of Public Health is all about,” he said. “We had representatives from Malaysia, from Ecuador, from Panama and from Uganda talking about public health, and in all of those cases, students from here have gone to these countries through our programs. So, this truly is the essence of the College of Public Health. It’s just wonderful, and we’re just so proud of it.”

Some of the many distinguished guests at the global symposium and panel discussion Healthy Populations in the 21st Century: International Trends.

Graduate student Ryan Ortega (left in photo) and fellow COPH student researchers presented one of several posters in the lobby. Second from right is Ortega’s advisor, Dr. Robert Novak.

Before and after the panel presentation, guests and participants visited the numerous displays set up in the COPH lobby. Here, Ortega says hello to representatives of the USF Peace Corps program.

Related media:
Event photo gallery on Facebook

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.  Photos courtesy of Natalie D. Preston and Marissa Williams.

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“Our strategic plan is your strategic plan,” said Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the USF College of Public Health, as she expressed gratitude toward an audience of almost 150 familiar colleagues during the 30th Anniversary Community Partner Celebration on March 27.

More than three dozen local, state, national and international organizations attended out of 70 nominated by COPH faculty and staff.  Dr. Petersen has been working on ways to help solve public health problems we face today, in days past and in years to come.  Instead of publishing a report, which has finality, she invited her audience to visit the online forum to keep the conversation going.

Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the USF College of Public Health addresses an audience of health professional who’ve collaborated with USF COPH as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations to honor community partnerships.

Dr. Charles Mahan, dean emeritus of USF College of Public Health, recalled earlier times, when students and faculty didn’t go out to communities.

“Things have really changed,” he said, noting one of the first goals attained was offering the master’s of public health to those already working in the field via satellite, an early version of online courses.

Community partnerships ranging in fields of cancer, senior health, behavioral health, diabetes, and many more, have been a main gateway into gaining knowledge about community health, and have been instrumental in helping place students, as well as participate in research projects for field advancement.

From left: Nancy Natilson and Barbara Zdravecky of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida with Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center pioneers Dee Jeffers and Charles Mahan.

“Nothing happens in public health without our partners,” said Dee Jeffers, RN, MPH, who has been working in communities for many years. Through public health initiatives, the average lifespan of individuals has increased by 25 years. Among the main factors making this possible are partnerships working in 10 areas: immunizations, work-place safety, motor vehicle safety, control of infectious diseases, heart disease, safer and healthier food, healthier mothers and babies, family planning, fluoridation of drinking water, and tobacco as a health hazard. As this list was read out, members of the audience applauded or raised their hand to acknowledge the work their organization does in the area.

The celebration continued with a projected presentation acknowledging organizations who worked with USF COPH throughout the past three decades. COPH has established their ongoing relationships worldwide, from Florida, Nicaragua to Uganda and also Malaysia. Click here to see a commemoration to those partners. 

Manuel Fermin from Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade joined in the USF College of Public Health partnership celebration. Mr Fermin describes an important initiative to change the standard pregnancy term from 36 weeks to a full 39 weeks when the most significant brain developments occur.

Read the full blog on National Public Health Week at USF Health News

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In honor of the 30^th anniversary of the College of Public Health, the University of South Florida recognized a higher education leader for his critical role as the founding dean of the college.  Dr. Peter Levin received the President’s Fellow Medallion at USF Health commencement May 1.

Dr. Peter J. Levin, founding dean of the USF College of Public Health.

Established in 1988, the President’s Fellow Medallion is awarded at the president’s discretion to highly distinguished meritorious individuals.  Levin joins the ranks of the privileged few who have been so honored.

Levin became the founding dean of the USF College of Public Health in 1984.  During his ten-year tenure, the college grew from one faculty member and a few dozen students to almost 40 faculty members and hundreds of students.  With the support of State Rep. Sam Bell (D-Volusia County), a $10-million building was funded, designed and built for the college, which had become fully accredited in a record three years.  Off-campus programs were offered in Ocala, Sarasota and Tallahassee, meeting the needs of state employees, a major purpose of the college.

Dr. Peter Levin at COPH dedication, circa 1986

Concurrently with his USF appointment, Levin chaired the Florida Hospital Cost Containment Board and served on the boards of two billion-dollar non-profit health care systems and an HMO.  He also served as chair of the Hillsborough County Health Care Advisory Board, where he contributed to the development and approval of a quarter-cent sales tax to create a system of health care access for the uninsured.  Working closely with the county commission, legislators, local businesses and health care providers, the board created a rural/urban system of care.  In 1995, the board received the Ford Foundation-Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government $100,000 Award for “Innovations in American Government.”

After leaving the USF COPH, Levin served for four years as Health Policy Counsel to U.S. Senator Connie Mack (R-Fla.) handling issues related to biomedical research, cancer, academic medical centers, long-term care, managed care and Medicare.  Prior to coming to the USF COPH, he served as dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Oklahoma, associate vice-president and executive director of the Stanford University Medical Center and associate commissioner for program analysis and planning of the New York City Department of Health.  From 2001-06, he served as dean of the School of Public Health at the University at Albany.

As a commissioned officer in the United States Public Health Service Corps, he was the administrator of the Blackfeet Indian Hospital in Browning, Mont., and previously had served in the U.S. Army Reserve.  He is a graduate of Harvard College with public health degrees from Yale and Johns Hopkins universities.  He is married to Judy Levin, a registered dietitian who worked for the Hillsborough County Health Department and at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in hospital-based home care.

The University of South Florida is proud to recognize Dr. Peter J. Levin’s extraordinary contributions, which have benefited our great institution, the Tampa Bay region and our state.

Related story:
First USF Health Commencement marks milestone for 600 graduates [Multimedia]

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“The goal of a doctoral program is to break you down until you feel like you know nothing, then build you back up as a strong scientist – everyone struggles, everyone wants to quit at some point, but you have each other for support to keep moving forward,” said Charlan D. Kroelinger, PhD.

Take it from someone who’s been through it – and flourished.  She earned her bachelor of arts from Auburn University, her master’s from the University of Alabama, and her doctorate in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of South Florida.  Last week, Kroelinger once again returned to the USF College of Public Health, this time to deliver a Dean’s Lecture in conjunction with the college’s 30th anniversary.

Kroelinger spent her early career in two separate county health departments, but switched paths with the hopes of affecting change.  In her own words, she “wanted to conduct scientific work that would reach at-risk populations rather than only sit on a shelf!”

Now, she works as the team leader of the Maternal and Child Health epidemiology program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  There, she works to develop and implement national strategic plans in MCH epidemiology and provide scientific oversight while focusing on national leadership on maternal and child health issues.  She also serves on the editorial board of the Maternal and Child Health Journal and as a chair member for the Coalition for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology.

Dr. Charlan Kroelinger

During her time with COPH, she worked as a research assistant for two years, a teaching assistant for one, and then as a teacher.  Kroelinger also worked as a junior faculty member during her post-doctoral fellowship and was named the 2014 Division of Reproductive Health Award winner for administrative management and staff expansion in the MCH epidemiology program. According to Kroelinger, the COPH graduate program provided her with two huge advantages – wonderful mentors and opportunities.

“The doctoral-level courses provided opportunities for discussions often missed in more structured classes,” she said.  “Heather Stockwell joined the department as chair during my fourth year as a doctoral student – she was an incredible manager and mentor.”

According to Kroelinger, Stockwell shared her experiences working in the federal government, and “emphasized that in order to truly teach, individuals need to work in the field first.”

“I have always remembered those words,” said Kroelinger.

She credits Dr. Tom Mason for recruiting her to the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, and later for influencing her decision to take a position with the CDC.

“Tom Mason led discussion classes that forced students to work as a team in response to exposures,” she said.  “These mandatory discussions supported students’ understanding of working in a team environment, identifying each individual’s skills and abilities.”

Kroelinger presented her Dean’s Lecture Series talk, “Practicing the ‘Applied’ in Applied Public Health: Using Evidence to Understand Public Health Systems for At-Risk Populations,” on April 17 in the Samuel P. Bell III Auditorium.

Her lecture, she said beforehand, would allow her to get to what really interests her about public health, which is “taking scientific findings and translating them for use in public health settings.”

Returning to COPH also offers Kroelinger an opportunity to reminisce, she said. The first COPH undergraduate course was offered during her last year, and she said she never could have fathomed the size or success the program has today.

“My years at COPH were some of the best years of my life,” she said.  “I hope that all graduate students leave the college with the same feeling!”

Story by Shelby Bourgeois, College of Public Health writing intern.

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U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor visited the USF College of Public Health April 7 to commemorate National Public Health Week (April 6-12) and to help celebrate the college’s 30th anniversary.

The congresswoman was joined by COPH founder Sam Bell who, as a member  of the Florida House of Representatives, was instrumental in pushing legislation that created the state’s first accredited public health college in 1984.  They met with COPH Dean Donna Petersen, ScD, and students representing colleges’ diverse areas of study, from community and family health, global health and prevention research to public health practice and epidemiology.

“I want to thank you for all that you do to improve global health, prevent disease nationally and all your efforts locally,” Castor said to the students and faculty gathered in the college’s lobby.  “USF Health understands the importance of integrating all its health colleges, including public health, for the betterment of students and to improve the lives of our entire community.”

Castor noted the USF College of Public Health’s boost in graduate program rankings, making it among the nation’s best in the latest U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best Graduate Schools” edition. She and Dr. Petersen also thanked Sam Bell for his vision in helping establish a strong public health college well positioned to respond systemically and at the grassroots level to the next 30 years of public health challenges.

Students represented the colleges’ diverse areas of study, from community and family health, global health and prevention research to public health practice and policy.

Read the full story with video at USF Health News.

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Join the USF College of Public Health community as we celebrate 28 Bulls with significant impact in public health research, practice, and policy, as well as teaching, scholarship, and mentorship of public health professionals. It is a tribute to those who have most advanced public health domestically or internationally and you don’t want to miss it!

The festivities begin with a cocktail reception at 6pm, followed by dinner and the ceremony at 6:30pm.  The dynamic Dr. Joette Giovinco serves as mistress of ceremony for the evening. She’s the first physician to complete the occupational medicine residency program from the COPH, but is probably best known as Dr. Joe, the medical reporter for Fox News in Tampa.

For a complete list of the 2015 award recipients, click here.

Related story:
College announces Outstanding Alumni Awards, opens call for nominations

This event is part of the USF College of Public Health’s yearlong 30^th anniversary celebration.  To learn more about this event, contact Natalie Preston at npreston@health.usf.edu

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It’s no secret that “Our practice is our passion” in the USF College Public Health. However, the college is also passionate about fellowshipping together.

Often.

Case in point, over the past 30 days members of the COPH family had an opportunity to unite in Washington, DC and Tampa for the sole purpose of building community.

On March 24, about 50 alumni, faculty, and staff gathered at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The 30^th anniversary event was held in conjunction with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s annual meeting.

U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (FL) and COPH Dean Donna Petersen hosted the soiree with support from COPH alumni Samantha Haylock, Candace Webb, and Natalia Vargas. Special guests included, Sam Bell, COPH godfather, and Dr. Betty Castor, former USF System president.

Back on the home front, USF’s Riverfront Park served as the backdrop for the COPH’s annual BBQ on April 11.

“We all had a wonderful time at the BBQ on Saturday, thanks to the financial support of the college, [department] chairs, and EOH for the canoeing,” said faculty member Dr. Kate Wolfe-Quintero.  “I want to thank the community-building committee who planned this event and took care of the prep, purchasing, set-up, grilling, and take-down.”

CBC members include: faculty—Marie Bourgeois, Sheri Eisert, Rene Salazar, Kate Wolfe-Quintero (chair); staff—Somer Burke, Jessica Grossman; and, students—Arturo Rebollon, Danielle Rankin, Rema Ramakrishnan, Alexis Brinkerhoff, Kambria Haire, Alison Palmer.

BBQ attendees strike a Bullish pose at USF’s Riverfront Park.

“The BBQ was a blast, said doctoral student Arturo Rebollon, president of COPH student organizations. “I think everyone loved the chill vibe.”

To actively engage with the USF COPH, join the community on Facebook or Linkedin. Upcoming events are posted to social media and the college’s calendar. Next up is the college’s Inaugural Alumni Awards Ceremony on May 2.

Related media:
Washington, D.C. soiree photo gallery on Facebook

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