First published on October 7, 2019 in observance of the COPH’s 35^th anniversary celebration.

Advocacy is as important in public health as data analyses and needs’ assessments.

But students have traditionally lacked advocacy experience.

In 2018, Dr. Karen Liller, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor specializing in injury prevention and health education, decided to remedy that situation by starting the Activist Lab at the COPH.

The group, which is run with the help of two research assistants and a six-student advisory board made up of graduate and undergraduate students, provides interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders.

The Activist Lab, directed by Liller, is the second such lab in the country, with the first being at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

Liller says she had been wanting to start a program like the Activist Lab at the COPH for a while, to compliment the Doctoral Student Leadership Institute she began as dean of the USF Graduate School, now known as the Office of Graduate Studies.

“I strongly believed students needed much more preparation in leadership and advocacy skills before they graduated,” Liller commented.

In just one year of its existence, hundreds of students have taken part in the Activist Lab’s educational and service opportunities, which include activism boot camps, seminars, guest speakers, journal clubs, writing groups, research efforts and public health in a minute videos. These videos—only 60 seconds long—have featured faculty and community leaders discussing pertinent public health issues, everything from the importance of voting to refugee health.

According to Liller, some of the Activist Lab’s first-year highlights include:

• work with Dr. Mark Roberts and other University of Pittsburgh researchers on a measles simulator for Florida (called FRED Florida Measles Simulator), which shows how cases of the viral infection can grow in an area with just a 10 percent drop in immunizations
• a gun violence prevention and advocacy seminar, held in partnership with USF Health and led by Parkland shooting survivors David Hogg and Emma González

Things won’t slow down for the Activist Lab anytime soon. In addition to the continuation of seminars, speakers and learning opportunities, the organization has the following things planned for the future:

• a boot camp on the prevention of firearm violence, scheduled for January
• a new program called “More Opportunities to Use Learned Advocacy” (MOULA), where students work with particular agencies, such as Moms Demand Action and the Guardian ad Litem program, on advocacy issues
• the launch of a new podcast series called “Advocation—Change It Up!” The first podcast features Dr. Jill Roberts, a COPH alumna and assistant professor of global health, discussing the importance of immunizations.
• an oral presentation on activism, to be delivered at the 2019 American Public Health Association (APHA) meeting in November

The Activist Lab serves as an exciting hub of learning and action for students to become directly involved in practicing leadership and advocacy skills, says Liller, who sees the lab’s numbers growing and its reach expanding beyond the college and university to the state, nation and world. 

“For example, with our podcast new persons will be reached and advocacy skills can be expanded and practiced,” remarked Liller. “Students can become part of our advisory board and really help shape the direction of the lab. They can participate in all of our events, and as we grow more and more opportunities will become available.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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The DrPH Public Health and Clinical Laboratory Science and Practice program at the University of South Florida College of Public Health is uniquely designed to meet the needs of working laboratory professionals and strengthen the pipeline of public health laboratory leaders. We discussed the origins of the program, APHL’s pivotal involvement and its impact on the field with three APHL members who have helped guide it since its inception.

Jill Roberts, PhD, MS, MPH, CPH, is associate professor in the College of Public Health, Global and Planetary Health at the University of South Florida; Leah Gillis, PhD, MS, HCLD(ABB), is adjunct professor in the University of South Florida College of Public Health and chair of the APHL Workforce Development Committee; and Andy Cannons, PhD, HCLD(ABB), is laboratory director, Bureau of Public Health Laboratories – Tampa with the Florida Department of Health, and chair of the APHL Public Health Preparedness and Response Committee.

Q1: Can you tell us about the DrPH Public Health and Clinical Laboratory Science and Practice program?

Jill: The University of South Florida College of Public Health (USF COPH) created the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program to address a growing need for career advancement for experienced, and currently employed, public health employees. It is designed to allow public health leaders to continue their current employment while completing our program. The program expanded to include the laboratory track as it was recognized that pathways for career advancement in public health laboratories were limited. The DrPH program benefits laboratory scientists in that they maintain their current employment while the labs supply the necessary setting for bench research.

Our program is entirely online, except for three short institutes that students attend in the first two years of enrollment. These institutes provide networking and advising, and some courses are completed during five days of attendance.

All of the students in our DrPH program learn core public health leadership skills such as public health practice and scholarly writing. The students in the laboratory concentration will learn laboratory management, microbiology, molecular biology, laboratory safety and bioinformatics. These skills will aid in the development of a doctoral project.

The doctoral project focus can be quite broad but most of the students are aiming for the American Board of Bioanalysis High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (ABB HCLD) certification examination and will design bench research projects. Some of our past research includes waterborne pathogens, COVID, Candida auris and PFAS detection.  

Q2: How did the program come about?

Leah and Andy: While there wasn’t any hard data, it was pretty evident to some public health laboratory leaders that there was going to be a dearth of laboratory scientists who were both available and qualified to take over public health laboratories in the next 10-20 years. Lab directors were going to retire and there was no plan to replace them. This fear was substantiated when a 2006 Public Health Leadership Institute report clearly identified that there was a severe and continuing shortage of qualified, doctorate-level, public health laboratory scientist-managers available to succeed the currently retiring generation of public health lab directors. Who was going to take over the ships so to speak?

Another document published in 2013 by the APHL Workforce Development Committee—“Developing a Doctoral Program in Public Health Laboratory Science and Practice”—supported the evidence and added some hope. This report summarized the current and possible future shortage of public health laboratory directors and stated that a dedicated doctoral program was urgently needed to ensure a future workforce of public health laboratory leaders. This doctoral degree needed to be available nationwide and be cost-effective and consequently rely on distance learning as a major program strategy. There was no way that staff currently working in a public health lab could afford to take off time to be enrolled at a college to take a doctoral degree for six or seven years! It just wouldn’t be feasible.

So fast-forward to 2015 when, following a survey of possible sites, USF COPH, with its extensive experience and background in distance learning doctoral degrees, was identified as a site for a new doctoral degree. A team of APHL members, all voluntary and led by Dr. Phil Amuso, stood up to get this degree going. In consultation with USF COPH faculty, a DrPH plan of study was designed to educate laboratory scientists to become leaders in their field and to also meet the standards of the university. While some of the coursework was already in place, it was obvious that six new online courses needed to be designed and written that were specific to this new doctoral degree. APHL members were recruited to write the online lectures, which were all ready for when the degree was officially offered and the first cohort was recruited in 2017.

This was quite a terrifying adventure since we did not know if this online DrPH would be acceptable as a doctoral degree for graduates to apply for national certifications, such as the ABB HCLD certification or by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a doctoral degree for CLIA directorship. It wasn’t until the first graduate of the program successfully was accepted to take the ABB certification, and passed, that we knew we had gotten it right! And that graduate is now a laboratory director!

Now in 2023, the DrPH has proven to be what we had hoped. It is a way for laboratory scientists, currently working, to earn a doctoral degree that will allow them ultimately to become laboratory directors.

Q3: Why is this program so unique?

Leah and Andy: One aspect of the program that makes it unique is the groundwork provided by the APHL Workforce Development Committee (WDC) almost a decade before the first student cohort was admitted to the program. Early on, the WDC Chairperson, Dr. Jack deBoy, led the effort of committee members and other members of APHL by preparing a workable timeline, developing surveys and writing multiple papers and articles for publication, in addition to advocating to the APHL Board of Directors for approval to continue working to solve the upcoming leadership shortage. The APHL Board of Directors established a Doctoral Program Workgroup with the major goal of contacting the deans of about 40 public health academic programs in the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health to determine the interest, if any, of their respective college or university in partnering with APHL to develop a Public Health Laboratory Science and Practice (PHLSAP) graduate degree program. In short, the effort to solve the approaching public health laboratory leadership dilemma was provided by APHL members for the benefit of current and future APHL members.

A second aspect of the uniqueness of the program relates to its focus during development on the public health laboratory workforce—that is, asking and answering the question—how do we make this degree amenable to public health lab staff? Now, most students seeking the degree are employed in a public health laboratory and an individual student’s selected doctoral project is conducted in a public health laboratory, usually addressing an issue or problem in the diagnosis or detection of a pathogen or chemical that is an emerging threat or is a known threat to the public’s health. And, importantly, the resulting publication of the different student dissertation projects appears in peer-reviewed journals, ultimately increasing the knowledge that is available and shared by all public health laboratories. 

The program’s unique design and curriculum development by APHL members in partnership with the USF COPH continues to close the forecasted public health lab director gap identified in 2006. It uses the elective courses developed by APHL member subject matter experts to prepare current public health laboratory staff to sit for a CLIA-approved board examination and, through this pathway, obtain the necessary certification for directing a high-complexity laboratory.

Q4: What are graduates doing now?

Jill: Five students have graduated from our first cohort and all five have successfully passed the ABB HCLD examination. Four of those students are public health laboratory professionals serving in director roles including director of agency operations at the San Diego County Public Health Laboratory, director of the Santa Clara County Public Health Laboratory, director of the Tulare County Public Health Laboratory and assistant director of the Orange County Public Health Laboratory. Our program has also attracted laboratory scientists from clinical and industry laboratories in addition to public health. We are proud of our first clinical laboratory professional graduate who recently passed the ABB HCLD exam and is currently serving as the regional director of laboratory operations for PIH Health, Los Angeles.

The first graduate of the second cohort is currently serving as division manager at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and will likely take the HCLD exam soon. Three additional students, all public health laboratory scientists, are expected to graduate in the next few months.

Q5: How can interested candidates learn more and apply?

Jill: I encourage anyone who is interested in our program to reach out to me directly with questions. Our application system, SOPHAS, is now open through November 2023 for our Fall 2024 cohort. We look forward to receiving applications and welcoming our new students!

Reposted from APHL Blog

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According to the United States Department of Agriculture, foodborne illnesses are a “preventable public health challenge” causing an estimated 48,000 illnesses and 3,000 deaths each year.

And summer, with its warmer temperatures and outdoor barbeques and picnics, is a prime time for these illnesses to surface.

“Summer is a peak time for foodborne illnesses because we leave so many foods exposed to the elements during picnics, boating, beach, sporting events, etc.,” said Dr. Jill Roberts, a USF College of Public Health associate professor and food safety expert. “Some microbes cause disease simply by being present (Salmonella), while others cause disease due to the production of toxins while growing (Staphylococcus). Microbes like to multiply at higher temperatures, similar to the temperature of our bodies. So, when it is hot outside, the food heats up and any microbes that are present start multiplying.”

The first step to protecting yourself say Roberts and other food safety experts is keeping foods at the proper temperature.

• When you’re barbequing, use a meat thermometer to make sure foods are cooked to a safe temperature. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends cooking chicken, for example, to a temperature of 165 Fahrenheit degrees, ground beef to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Thaw and marinate foods in the refrigerator. Once you take raw meat out of a marinade, discard it. Using it on cooked meat can spread contaminants.
• Keep cold foods cold. “Use a cooler,” cautioned Roberts.
• Put perishable foods in the refrigerator/cooler within two hours of having them out.
• “When in doubt,” Roberts said, “throw it out.”
• Don’t cross-contaminate. For example, don’t put cooked meat onto a platter that held uncooked meat unless the dish is washed first.
• Make sure you always wash your hands after handling raw meat.

Lastly, if you’re in a high-risk group for serious complications from food illnesses, be extra vigilant. While anyone can develop food poisoning—even by eating only a minuscule amount of contaminated food—young children, those who are 65 and older and those with a weakened immune system are at particular risk.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Dr. Ira Richards, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor who specialized in toxicology, and Dr. Lillian Stark, a veteran of the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories, the 2005 COPH Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health and a past adjunct assistant professor at the college, recently passed away.

Ira Richards, PhD

Richards was a member of the COPH faculty for over 35 years, joining the college in 1986 as an assistant professor of toxicology in the department of environmental and occupational health—a department he helped build from the ground up.

Richards received his PhD from New York University. In addition to his COPH faculty position, he was also a professor in the department of internal medicine at USF. He was a consultant to the Tampa Bay Poison Information Center, Southwest Florida Water Management District on pesticide-related health effects and a hazardous substances consultant and emergency responder to both the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Tampa Fire and Rescue.

Expert in toxicology, respiratory irritants

His research interests centered on respiratory irritants and the expression of biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress from exposures to chemical agents. His lab was able to isolate single muscle fiber activity and record how that activity was affected by ambient toxicants. This led to his interest in red tide. Richards explored the effects of brevetoxin (a toxin that affects the central nervous system of fish) from red tide on pulmonary tissue.

One of Richard’s proudest achievements was his work developing a popular toxicology book, Principles and Practice of Toxicology in Public Health, used in many colleges of public health. The COPH’s Dr. Marie Bourgeois, a research assistant professor, helped author the book.

Funny and strong

“For those who may not have known him well, a visit to his office would tell you two things,” Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the COPH, said. “First, you will be in awe of what can fit into 100 square feet. He grew up in New York City and maximizing space was a survival trait. Second, he loved books. He could tell you how thoughts evolved through editions, and how physiological systems deal with perturbations, especially disease and environmental insult. And he willingly shared his knowledge with those who would ask. You could also see the famous 10-year-old cupcake whose youth and vigor had benefited from trans fat.”

Dr. Steve Mlynarek, COPH professor focusing on industrial hygiene, remembers Richards as a humorous man with inordinate strength in the face of challenges. “He would come to my office once or twice a week and we would talk about everything wrong with the world, and everything right as well,” Mylnarek said. “These 15-minute vacations taught me a lot. He was able to face his troubles with a positive attitude. He was the toughest guy I knew.”

Dr. Tom Bernard, another COPH professor specializing in industrial hygiene, recalls the camaraderie he and Richards built around the picnic tables outside the NEC, discussing their future fates in the hands of the tenure and promotion committees.

Dr. Karen Liller, distinguished university health professor, remembers securing a seat next to Richards in the back of the room at faculty meetings. “No matter what was happening, he always made me laugh and smile. I have lost a lifelong friend,” she said. “His wry humor and very clever personal asides will be missed,” added Dr. Jay Wolfson, distinguished service professor of public health, medicine and pharmacy.

Bourgeois also noted Richard’s dry wit.

“Ira was pure snark. As his grad student, I was informed that ‘adequate’ was high praise,” Bourgeois said. “He never failed to remind me that I was adequate. So, when I graduated, I got him a paperweight that enshrined the term.”

Lillian Stark, PhD, MPH

Two-time Bull Lillian Stark earned her PhD in biology from the university in 1976 and her MPH from the COPH in 1988. For over 40 years, she worked for the Florida Department of Health, tracking diseases and outbreaks.

In a Monday Letter interview she gave just prior to her retirement in 2012, Stark recounted how she became interested in public health.

Start in public health

“I was a doctoral student at USF in the ’70s and someone scooped my dissertation topic,” Stark said. “Around the same time, my husband Arnold and I were seeking employment and turned to JobCorp, the State of Florida’s job search system. We were both earning doctorates in marine biology, but JobCorp gave us very different job referrals. My husband received a referral card for a laboratory job doing epidemiology research. I was referred to a secretarial job. Obviously, the system was plagued by gender-bias. As luck would have it, Arnold secured a job with a private school so I took his referral card and interviewed for the lab job. I quickly surmised that I could readily do the lab work, but I needed to learn the language of public health. So, I enrolled in the college and took one course a semester until I finished.”

Dedicated public health servant

Thus started Stark’s long and storied career in virology and public health laboratories. In addition to her work with the Florida Department of Health, she also was a COPH adjunct assistant professor, teaching a course on public health laboratories. Over the years she mentored countless students, including COPH associate professor and alumna Dr. Jill Roberts.

“At the service, it was mentioned that Dr. Stark was a force of nature and I cannot think of a more perfect description,” Roberts said. “She was an exemplary public health professional and highly respected in her field. To me, she was a brilliant, skilled, dedicated and driven role model and mentor. She instilled in me a passion for public health laboratory work that drives the work I do today.” 

Mentor and friend

Lea Heberlein, DrPH, a medical laboratory scientist and COPH alum, said Stark was an important mentor for her as well. “She (strongly) encouraged me to pursue a doctorate degree. She shaped my career, and I know she did the same for many other public health professionals.”

Natalie Preston, who’s now director of the COPH’s Office of Engagement and Constituent Relations, remembers first meeting Stark when she managed the college’s field experience program.

“I fondly recall my first meetings with Dr. Stark,” Preston said. “She would have my head spinning with virology-speak! She loved her work and made sure that every student who fell under her care had a rich practicum. Some students would go on to work in her lab on a full- or part-time basis. Dr. Stark was always kind to me, and we eventually developed a professional friendship. She will be missed.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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The USF College of Public Health (COPH) Activist Lab held its fifth annual boot camp virtually on Jan. 27. Over 200 students, faculty and interested parties took part in the event, which focused on teaching advocacy strategies to promote global health and health equity.

The Activist Lab provides interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders. The boot camp is a one-day advocacy education and practice program highlighting successful public health advocacy, policymaking and communication strategies.

“This is technically my last year in the MPH program and I knew I could not let myself graduate without attending an activist lab boot camp,” said Delaenam Akahoho, who’s concentrating in epidemiology and maternal and child health. “The focus of health equity is what caught my eye with this year’s theme. An equity-centered approach to health is important because it ensures that those who have been historically overlooked are no longer cheated out of a safe and quality health experience across the life course.” 

After a welcome from Dr. Karen Liller, a Distinguished University Health Professor and director of the Activist Lab, Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the COPH, gave the opening remarks, noting that it’s the duty of all public health professionals to work together to encourage and promote health for all.

“We do it because we want to see change in the world so everyone can be healthy, happy and thriving,” Petersen said. “And we know that being able to effectively communicate, build coalitions and work in the policy arena to make these changes is so important.”

U.S. Rep. Cathy Castor echoed those sentiments. While acknowledging that the U.S. has played an important role in tackling worldwide problems like HIV, malaria, Ebola and COVID, she called on students to not ignore the issues facing our own country.

“We have a lot of work to do when it comes to protecting reproductive rights and ensuring that people from disadvantaged communities have access to contraceptives, reproductive care and needed medical services,” Castor said.

Attendees listened to presentations about advocacy 101, policy development and communication from COPH faculty, including Liller and Drs. Zachary Pruitt and Claudia Parvanta.

Dr. Jill Roberts, COPH associate professor, gave the keynote address that focused on vaccine-preventable diseases and global health equity. She used the disease mpox (monkeypox) to highlight the health inequities between high- and low-income countries.

“Despite the fact that there was widespread knowledge of an mpox outbreak going on [in  Nigeria] in 2017, there was no surveillance, no epidemiological investigation and no use of the vaccine that we had sitting in the States, getting stockpiled and going nowhere. There were vaccine dosages that went in the trash because they expired. We never sent them to Nigeria. Had we been at the forefront of this when it was starting, we could have saved. I’m sorry to tell you that the very first vaccines that went to Nigeria to combat this [virus] went out last month. So clearly, we have an equity problem going on here.”

After a Q&A session with a diverse group of COPH faculty and a former Activist Lab Student Advisory Board member, attendees took part in breakout sessions, each one focusing on a different global health topic, including nutrition, violence-related issues, maternal child health and vaccine-preventable diseases. Each breakout session produced a position paper that was later presented and reviewed.

Akahoho said the breakout sessions were her favorite part of the event.

“As a team, we were tasked with advocating for a global maternal and child health issue,” she said. “We all had our own level of expertise and bringing all that to the table allowed for us to create a strong ask. Passion takes us far, yes, but the facts are just as important in getting people on your side. I walked away a lot more confident with the new advocacy skillsets I gained through the boot camp.”

“The biggest takeaway for me was the critical importance of teamwork and the composition of the team itself,” added Catherine Oakes, an MPH student concentrating in public health practice. “There must be diversity in experience and perspectives and disciplines as well as diversity in backgrounds, cultures, lived experiences and education. Without having the ability to see from all angles, it is not possible to properly frame the issue or problem. I loved the learning and engagement opportunity that attending this boot camp gave me, and I would highly recommend it to my fellow students and colleagues.”

Liller expressed thanks for all those who contributed to the success of the boot camp, including the students, faculty, staff, speakers, Dr. Ann Joyce and Silvia Moreno from the Lifelong Learning Academy and Carlos Montoya, who provided technical support. She also thanked the Florida Public Health Association, who paid for members’ boot camp registrations. 

The Activist Lab looks forward to planning boot camp number six, to be held in 2024.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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The USF College of Public Health (COPH) has been given a sub-award of $1.055 million from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) to help grow the public health laboratory workforce. 

The award is part of a larger grant ($282 million dispensed over five years) given to the APHL from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund the APHL’s Public Health Laboratory Workforce Pipeline Project. The aim of the project is to increase the number of qualified public health laboratory personnel by expanding training opportunities, building up the existing APHL-CDC Fellowship Program and launching a new internship program to enhance laboratory capacity now and in the future.

The COPH will use the money to cover tuition and provide a stipend to certain students enrolled in the college’s public health and clinical laboratory science and practice (LSP) DrPH program, said Dr. Jill Roberts, a COPH associate professor and LSP director.

Roberts said as many as 12 students could receive full tuition support in the first semester. To be eligible, students must:

• Work in a public health laboratory (including city, county, state, federal and veterinary public health labs)
• Be admitted to the public health and clinical laboratory science and practice track (track is excluded)
• Perform a bench-level doctoral research project in a public health laboratory 
• Commit to two years of employment in a public health laboratory post-graduation

In the last two years, three COPH students in the public health and clinical laboratory science and practice program have passed the national board examinations that are necessary to become a public health lab director. One of the most recent to pass is Dr. Denise Lopez, the public health laboratory manager at the Tulare County Public Health Laboratory in Tulare, Calif.

“It can be difficult to recruit and retain candidates that meet the stringent federal and state requirements to direct a public health laboratory,” said Lopez, whose lab provides testing to monitor and prevent high-consequence infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, pandemic viruses and agents of bioterrorism. “The DrPH laboratory science and practice program at USF allowed me to pursue a doctoral degree without disrupting my career. It provided a collaborative and dynamic learning environment to further my knowledge in public health laboratory science and helped prepare me to sit successfully for the required national board certification examinations. Now that I have completed the degree pathway and board certification, I plan to direct one or more public health laboratories in the San Joaquin Valley of California.”

“Public health laboratories led the response to COVID-19, providing much of the laboratory confirmatory testing for suspected positive cases,” Roberts added. “The labs also developed the initial tests used to confirm COVID. The DrPH laboratory science and practice program provides a pathway for laboratory personnel to obtain the knowledge and degree needed to sit for the national board examinations for laboratory directors. This is critical, as nationwide many of the current laboratory directors are retiring. Our program ensures that the laboratory leaders of tomorrow are trained, and this sub-award provides necessary funding needed for these talented and dedicated professions to acquire that training.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health associate professors Dr. Jill Roberts and Dr. Katherine Drabiak went live on Facebook to answer questions and share what concerned parents and caregivers can do to protect K-12 children as they return to the classroom this school year.  

A more contagious strain and new peaks

The Delta variant is more contagious than the other COVID strains, according to Roberts.

“[With] the previous strain of coronavirus, if you got it, you’d likely spread it to one person. [With] the current strain, the Delta strain, you’re likely to spread it to eight people. So, it is significantly more contagious,” Roberts, who specializes in molecular epidemiology, said.

The return to school is going to impact case numbers, according to Roberts.

“When we talk about going back to school in the fall, we are going to need to protect the children.”

“We are watching a pretty significant increase in cases, so much so that we are predicting a peak in September that may exceed what we had seen in January, and that’s unfortunate. When we talk about going back to school in the fall, we are going to need to protect the children,” Roberts said.

A difficult choice to return in person

Drabiak, who specializes in health law, said that despite the increase in cases, we are more equipped this time around with knowledge about what we can do to minimize spread.  

“Any choices we make will entail policy tradeoffs,” she said. “Any type of mitigation efforts that we took before may have decreased transmission, but we also saw a spike in suicides, mental health problems and students not attending school. This has a particular effect on potentially exacerbating educational disparities and learning loss for lower socioeconomic students, so there is always a tradeoff to keep in mind when we’re making decisions about schooling and types of learning.”

Masks will be key to preventing spread  

Currently, only children 12 and older have access to the vaccine, so protecting younger children will require other public health mitigation efforts, according to Roberts, with a strong emphasis on masks.

“I do believe the kids should be back in school, however, they should not be back unprotected. We can put into place the mask policies that were there before and have very strict policies about sending kids to schools only if they are healthy. We don’t want any sick kids in the school,” she said.

With schools at full capacity, social distancing will be a difficult practice, Roberts said.  

“Basically, the mask is the only thing that can protect your child,” she said.

“Staying home if somebody is sick, this is something we saw over the past year, that it is ok and necessary to stay home if you’re sick from work or school,” Drabiak agreed.

Masks are currently optional for students returning to school in Florida, something that Roberts would like to see change.

“I would definitely take the hardline on that. It should definitely change and it shouldn’t have been removed in the first place,” Roberts said. “When the policies came out, they were really directed at people who were vaccinated; the take away of social distancing and masks, and the go ahead and get back out in the world, these guidelines were meant for vaccinated people, not unvaccinated. Children are unvaccinated. It’s a no brainer. There are too many possibilities. Children getting injured by COVID, having long term effects, and now looking at data from countries that got the COVID Delta strain before us it most certainly spreads through schools.”

Long-term effects of COVID in children

Roberts emphasized that the long-term effects of previous COVID infection in children is still largely unknown.

“COVID has the potential to be a dangerous disease.”

“We don’t know the long-term impact of having a COVID infection. We don’t know whether children will take that infection with them home and infect somebody who will have serious disease, and we cannot predict the ones that will go down the MIS-C road, a very serious systemic disease in which you can get inflammation in various parts of the body including the brain, heart, kidneys and other organs. It can be deadly. Children who get this usually end up in an ICU. COVID has the potential to be a dangerous disease,” said Dr. Roberts.

Drabiak added that although children make up only a small percentage of deaths from COVID, it is worrisome that children are dying.

Vaccine for children on the horizon

Roberts said the original vaccine trials for children look “really good” for children in the 2–12-year-old sets.

“However, there is a long road ahead,” she said.

Pfizer, the company currently leading in the trials process, will still need to apply for FDA approval according to Roberts.

“Best case scenario, around Christmas is when we may be able to take vacations and not have to worry about the 2–12-year-old sets,” she said.

Protecting children

“It is time to go put those masks back on again for everybody, vaccinated or unvaccinated.”

“We are definitely looking at cases starting to peak again in Hillsborough County, it’s here,” said Roberts. “It is time to go put those masks back on again for everybody, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Think about taking that mask with you everywhere again.”

“I think Dr. Roberts said it well [that] parents can make these types of decision for their kids,” Drabiak said. “It’s empowering for parents to think about what it is they can do to not only survive back to school, but to thrive.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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Mohammad Ourani, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) DrPH candidate concentrating in public health and clinical laboratory science and practice, is lead author of the article “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Urinalysis Reflex to Culture Criteria: Impact on Reducing Antimicrobial Usage.” The article, co-authored by the COPH’s Dr. Jill Roberts and others, was published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases in October.

“Urinalysis reflex criteria ​is a tool used to screen urine to predict positive cultures,” says Ourani, director of laboratory services at PIH Health in Whittier, Calif. “The purpose of implementing this criterion is to reduce unnecessary urine cultures and to prevent the inappropriate use of antibiotics.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), antimicrobial resistance (which occurs when germs become impervious to the drugs designed to kill them) is one of the “biggest public health challenges of our time.” The CDC reports that every year in the US, 2.8 million people get an antibiotic-resistant infection and more than 38,000 of them will die. 

Ourani and his fellow researchers note that urinary tract infections are one of the leading human infections that require antibiotic treatment, and, thus, can be big contributors to antibiotic misuse. They also note that many labs rely on outdated urinalysis techniques, which have a high false-positive rate.

“When evidence-based urinalysis reflex criteria was used, it significantly decreased the number of urine cultures performed,” said Ourani, “and that significantly decreased the number of patients inappropriately treated with antibiotics.”

In fact, say Ourani and his fellow researchers, the number of patients inappropriately treated with antibiotics could potentially go from 45.1 percent to just 9 percent.

The bottom line?

“This article showed that applying evidence-based reflex criteria in a clinical laboratory setting can improve diagnostics tests, provide quality of test results and decrease the inappropriate use of antibiotics,” explained Ourani. “And that, consequently, leads to improved patient outcomes.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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August is National Immunization Awareness Month

What’s another casualty of life during a pandemic? Childhood immunizations. 

According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), as parents put off well visits and preventive care amidst stay-at-home orders and lockdowns, the rates of nearly all childhood vaccinations have declined. The CDC reports that all noninfluenza vaccines administered to children 18 years or younger declined 21.5 percent between January-April 2020 and the same period in 2018 and 2019.

And that’s a troubling trend, especially in light of a pandemic, when it’s more important than ever to reduce the impact of preventable diseases and ease the drain on an already-strained health care system. 

There’s also the fact that infections can weaken the immune system, making it more likely other, sometimes nastier germs will take hold and wreak their havoc.

“We know that measles infection, for example, depresses the immune system for a while and can leave a child vulnerable [to COVID-19 and other germs],” said Dr. Jill Roberts, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) assistant professor and infectious disease expert. “Fortunately, most children are vaccinated against measles. A more pressing concern is influenza. A co-infection of both influenza and COVID-19 could be extremely dangerous as both kill by lung infection and septic shock.  It is exceedingly important that children and adults are vaccinated for influenza in the coming year.”

The CDC has set up guidelines for the administration of vaccines at places like pharmacies, satellite clinics and drive-up locations, and the Trump administration has recently announced that pharmacists nationwide could administer scheduled vaccinations (including the flu shot) to children as young as three. 

In an effort to get kids back on appropriate vaccination schedules, Roberts says that many pediatricians are reaching out to their patients. 

“A significant number of pediatricians are working actively to close the vaccination gap that’s occurred due to COVID fears, and they should continue to do so,” commented Roberts. “Most doctors’ offices are taking extreme precautions, and to date there have been no [COVID-19] cases reportedly linked to going to the doctor.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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COVID-19: COPH students, faculty and alums on the front lines

When the world is in throes of a pandemic, public health professionals kick into high gear. And the students, faculty and alumni of the USF College of Public Health are no exception.

COPHers around the country have been called into action to translate the science and help track the disease. They’ve given dozens of interviews to local and national media outlets, worked with health department officials to pinpoint potential cases and are using all their training to “flatten the curve.”

Here are some highlights of what USF COPH students, faculty and alumni are doing to combat this novel coronavirus …

Dean Donna Petersen in Rollingstone.com

A healthy person’s guide to staying safe and sane during COVID-19

Dr. Anna Torrens Armstrong, a COPH alum and assistant professor, on Tampa Bay’s Channel 10 News.

Here’s how to avoid stress while working from home

Dr. Jay Wolfson, a USF distinguished service professor of public health, medicine and pharmacy, in the Tampa Bay Times.

What a Tampa Bay public health expert is telling his family and friends

Dr. Jill Roberts, a COPH assistant professor, in a Facebook Live Preparing for Coronavirus

Dr. Krys Johnson, a recent COPH alum and now an assistant professor of instruction in epidemiology and biostatistics at Temple University College of Public Health, was on Philadelphia’s CBS affiliate.

Temple University Professor Joins CBS3@4 To Answer Questions About Coronavirus

Dr. Lynn “Marty” Martin is a COPH professor who specializes in disease ecology and co-hosts a podcast called “Big Biology.” A recent episode featured an interview with John Drake, the director of the center for the ecology of infectious diseases at the University of Georgia, who has been working with the CDC to understand the dynamics of the COVID-19 outbreak and to identify strategies for slowing its spread.

Big Biology Podcast: Episode 38: Coronavirus

Dr. Katherine Drabiak, a COPH assistant professor who specializes in medical ethics, on WINK News.

Preventing spread of coronavirus a matter of ‘social responsibility’

Dr. Janice Zgibor, a COPH professor and associate dean of academic affairs, in the Tampa Bay Times

How did Florida hire 100 epidemiologists in a weekend? Here’s how.

Dr. Abraham Salinas-Miranda, director of the Harrell Center for the Study of Family Violence, in the Tampa Bay Times With coronavirus, Tampa Bay domestic violence advocates prepare for possible spike

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