First published on July 13, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

Founded in 1997 by a training grant supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Sunshine Education and Research Center at the USF College of Public Health stemmed from an industrial hygiene training program grant in the late 1980s.

“NIOSH has several charters,” explained Dr. Thomas Bernard, chair and professor in Environmental and Occupational Health and SERC (pronounced SIR-see) program director since 2008.  “One of them is to support and encourage the development of professionals in the field of occupational safety and health.  A mechanism for doing that is through training grants.”

After Bernard’s arrival in 1989, additional training program grants followed in occupational medicine and occupational health nursing.  Then the department began work on an occupational safety program.  Eight years later, the fledgling operation had grown enough to warrant centralization.

“In the mid-’90s,” Bernard said, “we decided that we would combine those training activities with a grant and ask for an education center.  The application required that it have training in at least three programs, and we had four: safety, industrial hygiene, medicine and nursing.  The application was accepted and funded under the leadership of Stuart M. Brooks and Yehia Hammad.”

Being headquartered at a university the size of USF naturally leads any interdisciplinary entity into an expansion cornucopia that Bernard is happy to enumerate, along with the USF colleges involved.

“Because they are multidiscipline programs, part of their value is the interdisciplinary training,” he said.  “We added, about seven years ago, occupational health psychology, so that’s now a funded program in Arts and Sciences.  We’ve expanded the safety program to include a degree out of engineering.  Obviously, we’re involved with the [Morsani] College of Medicine:  The clinical rotations and residency certificates come out of medicine, and then the academic training comes out of public health.

“With nursing,” he said, “we have three options.  One is a straight occupational health nursing degree, a second one is a dual degree in nursing and public health, and then we also have a third degree that’s strictly public health.”

Thomas Bernard, PhD

Another requirement under the grant from NIOSH, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a continuing education component,  which also has been added.  Additional expansion has stemmed from outreach activities, student recruitment and a pilot project in research training for doctoral students and junior faculty.

“We support these throughout the region,” Bernard qualified, “so they aren’t only for USF.  We have reached way beyond ourselves in terms of the arrangements that we have, but we engage the professional community more than the community at large.”

He added that the center is “very much engaged” in state and regional professional conferences, as well as in coordination with other ERCs in the state and the region.

“By and large, we have a very good national profile,” he said.  “There are just a couple of us that reach out globally, but those are more individual efforts.  The ERC is designed to serve primarily Florida, and in a larger sense, the Southeast region.  That’s our mission and our charter from NIOSH, not to go beyond that, but I think we have expertise in a number of areas that have national recognition.”

The highly technical nature of some of those areas probably help limit recognition to professional circles, but their significance would be difficult to deny. Respiratory protection from nanoparticles is one of them, but as Bernard pointed out, it’s not exactly a topic on most people’s minds.

“Few people are asking, ‘What happens when you breathe those in?’  Some of them have characteristics that are not unlike asbestos.  Others are easily transported across the air-blood barriers, so they move through the lungs into the blood and get transported elsewhere in the body.  So protecting individuals from nanoparticles is important,” he said.

And the list goes on.

“We have a major presence in the area of heat stress – how to evaluate heat stress, how to manage it, and especially, the effects of protective clothing.  We have fairly good recognition in Europe in the area of ergonomics,” he continued,  “and occupational health psychology clearly is one of our well-recognized programs.”

Workplace stress, safety climate and work-family balance are others, he said.

“And then,” he concluded with a nod that said he’d saved the best for last, “we turn out good students, and we’re recognized through the product of the quality of our students.”

SERC hosts a six-day Summer Institute for Occupational Health and Safety for students interested in exploring graduate studies.

Looking ahead is easy for Bernard, and he likes what he sees for his organization.

“I think that everything we do in public health, and everything we do within the SERC, is prevention – preventing people from being injured or having their health impaired,” he said.  “But I think our opportunity here at USF lies in translating research to practice and also expanding on the fact that a healthy workforce is healthy not only from controlling exposures to hazards in the workplace, but also from encouraging healthy activities outside the workplace.

“So, bringing these work and home lives together is an opportunity for us,” Bernard concluded, “and that’s where I see our future.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.

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USF College of Public Health (COPH) master’s students concentrating in either healthcare administration or health care organizations and management recently had the opportunity to participate in an interprofessional education (IPE) event held in conjunction with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM).

The session was organized in November by the MCOM SELECT MD Program to teach medical students about the business of medicine. The SELECT MD Program prepares students to become physician leaders who accelerate change in health care.

After listening to remarks about the business of health care from COPH professor Dr. Zachary Pruitt, who is also an alum of the college, and Dr. Mark G. Mosely, president of USF Tampa General Physicians, attendees broke into groups to analyze a case study of a fictitious medical group considering adopting a value-based payment model for health care services. The COPH students guided the medical students on how the payment structure would impact their medical specialties and why. The case study was published by Drs. Pruitt and Moseley in the Journal of Health Administration Education.

The group-based IPE event enabled the COPH students to demonstrate the value of the health administration profession while also learning how to build collaborative relationships with health care providers.

“These discussions are relevant to the healthcare field today, and conversations are being had about applying these [payment] models in various measures,” Kathryn Sherman, a second-year Master of Health Administration (MHA) student who attended the event, said. “This event will help advance both careers in that it allows each student the opportunity to learn the priorities, goals and objectives of each profession. It also helps limit the negative light that is shed on the administrative profession as the medical community learns just how important it is to have someone there who can explain the inner workings of the organization.”

Sherman said participating in the event gave her real-world experience she can take with her in her career.

“Having participated in this event both as a first- and second-year MHA student, I can honestly say I have evolved as a leader, speaker and educator on all things related to healthcare management,” she said. “I was able to better inform my group of the advantages and disadvantages of each model while allowing them the autonomy of choosing what they believed would work best for their specialty. I would absolutely recommend this event for anyone in either program who wants to see how a health care management degree can be utilized in a real-world simulation, as this is a very real topic that is currently being discussed in the community today.”

Dr. Victor Weeden, the USF MHA Program Director, also helped to facilitate group discussions.

According to Weeden, the IPE event provides valuable experience for health administration students seeking to become healthcare leaders. More importantly, he said, interprofessional collaborations help benefit not just the participants, but health care as a whole.

“Even though the management and medical students’ educational backgrounds and goals are so different, the IPE event helps them understand that, in reality, their aim is the same—to improve health care value for patients,” Weeden said.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Candace Webb, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) graduate, drew inspiration from the ‘80s sitcom “The Cosby Show.” 

“I was really impacted by seeing representation of two black professional parents on TV. I always wanted to go into medicine and was always really interested in science and human biology.” 

While a student at Tampa’s King High School, Webb volunteered at Tampa General Hospital as a Red Cross candy striper. 

“I loved patient care—the teamwork and communication between providers. And I really liked the clinical environment.”  

Through a fortunate discovery in the library at King, Webb found a program that allowed her to work in the labs at USF’s Morsani College of Medicine. It was a program that gave minority high school students an opportunity for mentoring and exposure to biomedical research. It was a formative experience that propelled her to pursue a biochemistry major at the University of Florida (UF). 

In her first year at UF in 2000, Webb experienced her mother’s untimely passing from complications related to HIV.  

“It was Thanksgiving Day, and it was traumatic and tragic,” Webb remembered. “Her experience made me ask questions like, ‘Why are African American families disproportionately impacted by a preventable condition like HIV? Why are children of African American women being orphaned in America at higher rates – especially when there’s highly effective treatment available?’ This introduced me to health care disparities, health inequities and how the health insurance system is tied to employment. My mom was caught in that gap period where employers hold initiation of benefits for six months. She passed away in that period of time. That is what drives me now and also what led me to public health.”   

It was during her time at UF that she noticed something. 

“I started seeing that the people who were doing the work that I cared about all had MPH at the end of their names,” Webb said. “I told myself, ‘I need to learn more about this MPH degree,’ and so I shifted from wanting to treat one person to wanting to treat communities and to affect systems.” 

Webb subsequently earned her MPH with a concentration in maternal and child health from the COPH in 2006.  

Driven by her personal experiences and a desire to create change, Webb said she embarked on a path that combined her scientific background with her passion for public health. In 2018, Webb was presented with the USF COPH Outstanding Alumni Award, which is given to alumni who demonstrate—as judged by their former professors and current colleagues—exceptional dedication and improvement to public health. 

Currently, Webb holds a position in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as the chief of the Adolescent Health Branch in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.  

“ I think HRSA is one of the best places to work in the federal government and especially in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” Webb commented. “Equity has been at the core of our mission. While other organizations have broader missions, ours is squarely on underserved and rural communities, people living with HIV, maternal and child health populations and the health workforce.”  

Drawing from her own experiences, Webb offered advice and recommendations to current students and young alumni who aspire to make their mark on the world. She emphasized the following key points: 

• Stay connected: “Maintaining strong connections is essential. I am still connected to individuals I met during my time at USF. And I’m friends with folks who went to USF at different times than I did. The program’s quality and the caliber of its graduates are evident in the strong network of USF alumni. It truly feels like being part of a family.” 
• Broaden your connection: “Join organizations like the American Public Health Association, be an active member and engage with different sections, interest groups and caucuses.” 

Alumni Fast Five:

What are you reading recently? “I recently started reading ‘My Dear Comrades,’ by Sunu P. Chandy, a social justice activist and civil rights attorney who works at the National Women’s Law Center. The book of poems weaves together her personal experiences as a woman of color and her legal and activist work. It provides a refreshing contrast to my daily technical reading. I’m also reading “The Boy, The Mole, the Fox, and The Horse” by Charlie Mackesy.

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?
“I’ve always been interested in science, medicine, dance, and culture so I dreamt of being a physician (an OB-GYN or a pediatrician), a medical geneticist, or a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.”

Where would we find you on the weekend?
“You will likely find me covering a performance at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC for The Rogers Revue, at a book talk or book festival, Latin dancing (salsa, bachata), enjoying brunch with friends, or playing with my rescue kittens Lucky and Nigel.”

What superpower would you like to have?
“I would love to be able to communicate and connect with more people meaningfully. So, it would be cool to be a hyperpolyglot (proficient in more than 6 languages)!”

What’s your all-time favorite movie?
“There are so many. A few are Love and Basketball, Dirty Dancing, Happy Feet, Up, and The Sound of Music.”

Bonus! What podcasts are you listening to? “Loretta Ross, a remarkable human rights activist, has a TEDx talk on the ‘Calling in Culture.’ It emphasizes the importance of fostering understanding rather than calling people out. I also love Michelle Obama’s podcast, ‘The Light We Carry.’ The former First Lady explores themes of resilience, hope and personal growth, inspiring listeners to reflect on their own journeys and find light in challenging times.” 

Story by Liz Bannon, USF College of Public Health 

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Parental rights laws are a hot-button topic. States vary greatly on what kind of mental health services clinicians and school counselors can provide to minors and how transparent they must be with parents.

“There is so much misinformation and confusion about these laws,” said Katherine Drabiak, an attorney, medical ethics expert and USF College of Public Health associate professor.

To help set the record straight for both parents and clinicians, Drabiak and USF Morsani College of Medicine student Sarina Singh co-authored the paper, “Parental rights laws and the impact on mental health services and counseling for adolescents,” published in May in the Journal of School Health.

“We were interested in looking at these laws and parsing out what they actually say,” Drabiak noted. “In some states, for example, certain advocacy groups are pushing against what the law is (parents are the central decision-makers and must be involved) and are trying to assert that adolescents and schools should not inform parents of certain issues that happen at school. This can lead to tragic outcomes (for example, suicide after intense bullying). It also exposes school districts to liability when parents bring a lawsuit on the basis that they should have been involved in the decision-making process.”

Drabiak says the laws should make a distinction between confidentiality and privacy.

“Parents have a right to the child’s medical records or diagnosis,” she said, “but providers can work through a confidentiality agreement that would keep certain thoughts or secrets between the child and provider. Some degree of confidentiality is important for trust and building a therapeutic connection. But if the child discloses certain feelings that could lead to a specific action, then the providers should share this with parents.”

Drabiak acknowledges that the laws are confusing, which makes reading through them even more important.

“Many stories in the media [regarding these laws] are inaccurate or misleading, and that creates difficulties for discussing areas of actual policy disagreement,” Drabiak explained. “For people who are especially interested in this area, it is important to read the law and understand what it does or does not do. For clinicians and school counselors, this article serves as a FAQ and explainer of the most common questions I’ve heard. This can help not only with legal compliance but also navigating the optimal role of each person in a child’s life.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Faculty across several disciplines at USF Health earned National Institutes of Health funding to streamline prenatal, obstetric, pediatric, treatment, behavioral and community health care for patients with opioid use disorder.

Called CADENCE (Continuous and Data-Driven Care), the new program will better serve pregnant patients and new parents, as well as their infants, as they navigate the care they need for managing opioid dependence.

Co-principal investigators for the HD2A R61/R33 grant are Kimberly Fryer, MD, MSCR, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and Jennifer Marshall, PhD, CPH, associate professor in the USF Health College of Public Health, and fellow in the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center.

The primary aim of the new program is to streamline the integration of four “clinics” – or areas that patients might typically access separately. By streamlining these disciplines, care and scheduling will be more coordinated and holistic, and health outcomes of the parent and baby could greatly improve.

The four USF Health clinics being streamlined include office based opioid treatment (OBOT), the maternal family medicine prenatal/obstetric clinic, the PEDI pediatrics clinic, and behavioral health/mental health service.

A “secret shopper” study led by Dr. Marshall a year ago found that only about 20 percent of over 1000 attempts for pregnant women with Medicaid experiencing opioid use disorder were able to set appointments for prenatal care, indicating that many providers may hesitate to take these patients because they do not have the capacity or know how to connect their patients to the addiction treatment critical to helping these patients succeed in caring for themselves and their babies.

By bringing the four primary disciplines together, patients will have access to integrated, continuous, care that will improve maternal engagement in recovery or treatment for maternal opioid use disorder at delivery, neonatal outcomes, and timely referral to early intervention.

The new CADENCE includes two components: a data stage that will create in the first two years an interactive data dashboard that tracks maternal, neonatal, and infant outcomes for pregnancies affected by opioid use disorder and pilot the CADENCE program within USF Health and Hillsborough County; and an implementation stage in the third, fourth and fifth years that will focus on measuring improvement in clinical outcomes at the program level using the data from the dashboard and assessing the implementation and costs of the CADENCE program.

This program of integrated, continuous, care will be rapidly refined using a data-driven approach towards improving maternal engagement in recovery or treatment for maternal opioid use disorder at delivery, neonatal outcomes, and timely referral to early intervention.

A long-term aim of the project is to develop a model that can be shared throughout Florida and at other academic medical programs to help pregnant women in their communities.

Reposted from USF Health Blog

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“Homelessness is a chronic human condition impacting 0.2 percent of all Americans with direct individual and populational implications,” said Rolando Trejos. “The housing crisis is not a new phenomenon; however, it has been exacerbated in urban communities in the last decade.”

To further understand the health disparities and factors impacting urban homelessness, USF College of Public Health (COPH) doctoral student Rolando Trejos recently published a review that mapped the last five years’ literature around homelessness in U.S. urban communities by utilizing the socio-ecological model to analyze system-based implicated factors.

The socio-ecological model considers the complex interplay between individual, relationship, community and societal factors.

The review, “Homelessness in urban communities in the US: A Scoping Review Utilizing the Socio-Ecological Model,” published by the Florida Public Health Review, resulted from a long-term collaboration between the USF Morsani College of Medicine and the COPH to generate an evidence-based approach to homelessness in Tampa.

Throughout this collaboration, multiple educational seminars were conducted in 2021 for USF Health’s students, faculty and staff. As a result of this educational effort, a clear gap in studies on homelessness from a public health perspective was identified. Trejos’ collaborated with USF professors Drs. Joe Bohn, Karen Liller and Lynette Menezes, two medical students, Lauren Linkowski and Shannon Hall, and COPH alumna Carla Salazar in this scoping review.

The review utilized PubMed articles from 2016-2020 that involved homeless individuals and families in urban communities. A total of 145 articles were found for screening. Forty-nine articles met the selection criteria. They also used the USF Morsani College of Medicine’s Tampa Bay Street Medicine Team as a case study.

The Tampa Bay Street Medicine is a student organization at USF Health dedicated to improving the health of vulnerable populations in our community. Through outreach on the streets and in local shelters and free clinics, they seek to provide medical care, education and community connections to the homeless and unsheltered.

The results of this scoping review suggest that structural, systemic and historical factors at all the levels of the socioecological model are implicated in the complex reality of homelessness in U.S. urban communities generating individual and collective disparities. Future research and practice need to elucidate the impact of intersectionality among factors associated with homelessness.

“Even when findings from this scoping review highlight the complex nature of homelessness, it also presents opportunities for prevention, especially among those individuals experiencing transient homelessness and those at a higher risk for homelessness like minors, gender and sexually diverse individuals, veterans and others,” Trejos said.

“Even when historical landmarks situate the start of the U.S. housing crisis around the last mid-century, scientific research has yet to understand its policy and community-level implications within urban communities, including Tampa,” Trejos said. “Therefore, for the research team, it means a lot to be able to summarize findings and highlight potential next steps to prevent homelessness from a system and public health perspective.”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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Overdoses are now the leading cause of pregnancy-associated death in Fla. According to the Florida Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review, more deaths occur related to drugs than due to complications related to pregnancy, accounting for one in four of these deaths.

To combat this crisis, the USF College of Public Health’s Chiles Center faculty and students in partnership with the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative (FPQC) started the Maternal Opioid Recovery Effort (MORE) initiative to promote strategies that improve health care quality for these vulnerable women. Since 2020, they have worked with 33 hospitals across the state, Medicaid and other state partners to prevent these deaths.

The initiative, which runs through June 2022, goal is to work with providers, hospitals and other stakeholders to improve identification, clinical care and coordinated treatment/support for pregnant women with opioid use disorder and their infants. Obstetric providers, nurses and hospitals are the first health care contact for most mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD) and need to lead the effort to screen, assess and refer these mothers for OUD treatment.

The two most effective ways to prevent the deaths of mothers suffering from OUD is to get them into medication-assisted behavioral health treatment and make sure they have access to naloxone.

“Screening and referring mothers on opioids for medication assisted treatment and making Naloxone available are essential strategies to preventing maternal deaths,” said Dr. William Sappenfield, professor and director of the Chiles Center.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The medication attaches to opioid receptors, reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. Naloxone can quickly restore normal breathing to a person if their breathing has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose.

As the MORE initiative is coming to a close this summer, multiple efforts are underway or have been concluded at the Chiles Center to address this public health issue in partnership with and funding support from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH):

• Drs. Russell Kirby, USF distinguished professor and Marrell endowed chair, and Jason Salemi, associate professor, and their team have worked with FDOH investigators to assess the accuracy of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome and maternal OUD claims on hospital inpatient data, as this is the primary data source for the state’s surveillance of this issue. 

• Pregnant women with OUD have difficulty accessing Medication Assisted Treatment. Dr. Jennifer Marshall, associate professor, Dr. Kimberly Fryer, obstetrician-gynecologist with the USF Morsani College of Medicine, and collaborators examined access to treatment and access to prenatal care in Florida for pregnant women with Medicaid using secret shopper methods. Results confirmed many barriers to access, with few callers successful in obtaining an appointment.

• To improve physician providing practices, the FPQC held a waiver training in conjunction with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Society of Addiction Medicine and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. The FPQC also collaborated with the Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care to provide virtual buprenorphine training modules to providers.

• Continue to promote naloxone distribution to patients with opioid use disorder prior to discharge and have worked with the Florida Department of Children and Families’ opioid prevention program to distribute free Narcan to hospitals throughout the state.

• In conjunction with the COPH, they released a video entitled “Naloxone Saves Mothers’ Lives: Angel’s Story”. The video details how Angel, a mother in recovery, had her life saved multiple times by Narcan and how she in turn was able to save another person’s life by carrying a naloxone kit.

• Dr. Cheryl Vamos, associate professor and director of the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education, Science and Practice, and colleagues examined promising practices in provider education as a key implementation strategy in perinatal healthcare initiatives, particularly as it pertains to delivering care to women with opioid use disorder.

• The FPQC developed both a prenatal and hospital checklist, as well as educational materials for mother and providers. With the help of Healthy Start Coalitions throughout the state, this information will be disseminated to assist obstetrical providers to recognize, treat and support pregnant women with OUD during prenatal care and at their delivery.

• In an effort to decrease stigma against pregnant women with OUD, FPQC offered a virtual naloxone training to Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Free kits from FDOH were sent to those who completed the workshop.

“We know that a smoker needs to quit 8 to 11 times to be successful. With opioids, regretfully, restarting can be fatal,” Sappenfield said.  “As our new video shows, Naloxone is needed to keep these mothers alive until they make it successfully into recovery.”

Sappenfield also commented that none of FPQC’s work on this initiative is possible without their community partners.

Related articles:

PROVIDE and MORE Virtual Mid-Point Meetings Celebrate Successes and Look to the Future

Hospitals vow to do MORE: FPQC’s new Maternal Opioid Recovery Effort

The Maternal Opioid Recovery Effort Mid-Project Meeting Connects Diverse Stakeholders

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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Now more than ever, the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated how one’s daily decisions impact not only personal health, but the health of friends, families and communities, according to Dr. Cheryl Vamos, USF College of Public Health (COPH) associate professor. 

Vamos served as principal investigator with a research team examining health literacy among health professional college students.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.

The research team also included: Dr. Jason Beckstead, COPH professor, Dr. Ellen Daley, COPH professor and associate dean of research and practice, Dr. Joseph Puccio, executive director of Student Health Services and associate professor of pediatrics at the USF Morsani College of Medicine, Dr. Sandra Vamos, associate professor at Western Michigan University and COPH graduate students (now alumni) Rumour Piepenbrink and Sharonda Lovett.

Their findings, “Examining the Associations Between COVID-19 Health Literacy and Health Behaviors Among Health Professional College Students,” earned Best Poster recognition at the national Health Literacy Annual Research Conference, held virtually in Nov. 2021.

“This population is in a unique professional and transitional phase where they are both recipients and agents of health literacy efforts—receiving and providing accessible, reliable and timely information and/or services to patients and community members,” Vamos said. “Receiving this award was very exciting. Not only does this work contribute to the science, but clearly and concisely communicating a study in a poster format at a national conference for health literacy can be particularly daunting!”   

In a survey of 144 health degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate students (most pursuing degrees from public health, nursing and medicine), the researchers found that health literacy was significantly correlated with a range of preventative and unhealthy behaviors, but not health care seeking behaviors.

Vamos said this study contributes to the evidence that health literacy impacts health behaviors, and in this case, COVID-19-preventive behaviors such as using face coverings and adhering to physical distancing guidelines.

However, Vamos says, among this population health literacy was not associated with health care seeking behaviors during the study period.

She said this could be because the majority of participants reported that they did not have a concern where they needed to receive health care for a particular reason (cold/flu, chronic-disease management such as asthma, STI need, injury or accident, etc.).

“There are limitations like there are for any study. This could be related to response bias of those who elected to complete the survey. This data was collected at one period of time and health behaviors as well as health care needs could have changed later on in the pandemic,” Vamos said. “However, what we know from studies among the general population is that many people did not access routine physicals, cancer screenings, contraceptive services and dental care due to fear of contracting COVID-19. They may have also had other life barriers and struggles, such as losing a job or having additional role obligations and strain due to remote work and caring for family members.”

The team is also analyzing other survey data collected, including the impact of the pandemic on mental health, academic learning experiences and future health-literacy training needs and preferences.

Vamos said the study highlights the need to take a critical look at how health-literacy training efforts could be bolstered among emerging health professionals.

“There is a great interprofessional opportunity to assure that all health students—regardless of their discipline or clinical or community focus—can synthesize and interpret available evidence, be comfortable consumers of epidemiological data, clearly communicate both what we know and do not know and empower those they interact with to make informed health decisions that are right for them. This should happen regardless if the health topic is an infectious disease, chronic disease or involves a health behavior such as physical activity, STI prevention, family planning and so on,” Vamos said.

Vamos said she sees public health as a bridge to translate existing and emerging evidence into practice.

“Health literacy is more than just ‘knowing,’ but also ‘doing.’ I’m very passionate about utilizing health literacy as key tool across all intervention points in the system—organizations, providers, patients and the community at-large—to facilitate knowledge, skills, motivation, health-promoting practices and the delivery of high-quality care. Health literacy is critical in all areas of public health, including research, practice and policy,” she said. “Health literacy is very aligned with the mission of public health, where collectively we need to assure healthy conditions. This includes providing information, tools and services in ways that are accessible, easy to understand and can facilitate people’s health decisions. And this is very much needed today where it is easy to get tangled up in the ‘infodemic,’ where there is too much information and misinformation.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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A new herd of Bulls is entering the USF College of Public Health (COPH) on Monday, Aug. 23. Whether you’re a student, faculty or employee on campus, we are ready to be together—in person again—with safety precautions and measures in place.

Safety comes first

Though some of the mitigation guidance has changed based on our evolving understanding of the virus (its transmission, vaccination effectiveness, etc.), all members of and visitors to the university community on any campus should continue to follow any posted signs and placards relating to COVID-19 mitigation. 

To help provide high-quality classes, student services, extracurricular activities and athletic programs in a healthy environment, USF strongly recommends that eligible individuals get vaccinated before arriving on campus. The university also expects everyone to wear a mask indoors, especially those who are not vaccinated. Masks with be available at the COPH’s front desk.

Since the onset of the pandemic, USF’s successes are a result of its campus communities accepting a shared responsibility for their health and well-being and practicing recommended precautions. Being vaccinated can protect your health and others and will help avoid disruptions.

Free, voluntary COVID-19 testing is available on our campuses. It is critically important that individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms do not come to campus, except to get tested for the virus.

Individuals who are experiencing symptoms may report them through the Daily Symptom Checker or by emailing assessCOVID@usf.edu, which will prompt a response from USF clinical staff. They will help you schedule a test, complete contact tracing in conjunction with the Florida Department of Health and provide guidance on any needed isolation or quarantine. 

Information is subject to change based on guidance from the University’s Executive Policy Group and external sources, such as the Florida Department of Health  and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

View latest COVID-19 guidance here. For more return to campus updates and FAQs, click here.

New faces at the COPH

The COPH is welcoming 769 new students enrolled for the fall 2021 semester with 436 undergraduates, 302 masters and 31 doctoral students.

Students will also see some new faces in the college among the faculty and staff.

Faculty

Dr. Kelli Barr joined the COPH in June as an associate research professor in global health and infectious diseases. Barr’s research interests center around virus transmission and infection control.

Read more about her here.

Dr. Imran Mahmood is a full-time senior research fellow at the USF Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research. His research interests include computational epidemiology, scientific software engineering, modeling and simulation, geo-spatial data science, geo-spatial visual analytics, analysis and formal verification of complex systems and innovative Information and communication technologies.

Dr. Brianne Stanback is an instructor with a focus on vulnerable populations, aging, ethical and legal issues, and multidimensions of health. Her teaching experience also includes professional development seminars, internships and service-learning courses. She has published about the use of strengths-based advising for students.

Dr. Megan Barry joined the COPH on Friday, Aug. 20, as a postdoctoral fellow on Dr. Ellen Daley and Dr. Cheryl Vamos’ research team. Dr. Elizabeth Sheldon is also a new postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Lynn “Marty” Martin.

Staff

Dominique King serves as an academic program specialist for the USF COPH Office of Academic and Student Affairs. She previously worked at the USF Office of the Registrar on the space planning team for three years. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at USF in public administration.

Cyrus Stewart is a graduate academic advisor primarily focusing on the global health, global health disease, global disaster management, humanitarian relief and homeland security, infection control, genomics, and epidemiology concentrations. Stewart’s interests are student development and mentorship. His primary objective is to enhance the student journey any way his platform allows.

Desiree Lara is the new research support specialist for the USF Genomics program. She is a COPH alumna, graduating in 2019 with her MPH in global health practice. Lara is a public health scholar and researcher focusing on global health, health disparities, access to health care, women’s health and the impacts of natural disasters on health outcomes.

Carley Davis is the newest member of the USF College of Public Health’s human resources team. Davis works as a unit HR coordinator and is currently pursuing a master’s in health administration at the COPH.

MHA program continues to grow

This past year, the COPH master of health administration (MHA) program has grown 450 percent!

The MHA program prepares students for private and public sector leadership positions, giving them clinical and community perspectives and professional skills. Students develop an understanding of organizational models and management principles applied to health settings, health care financial management and economics, quality and performance improvement, health policy and policy analysis, strategic planning and marketing, and health law and ethics.

“The COPH is the ideal home for the MHA program because our values represent the future of the healthcare industry,” said Dr. Zachary Pruitt, COPH alumnus and associate professor of health administration. “Government policy and competitive pressures require that future health care managers understand the value of prevention. Tomorrow’s leaders will not only need to treat people in hospitals but also keep them from getting sick in the first place. Our students learn public health competencies, such as epidemiology, along with core management skills, such as finance, analytics and human resources.”

Pruitt said that he believes the program saw such a large boost due to the strong leadership of Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the COPH, especially during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am really excited to see how our incoming MHA class has responded to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of withdrawing with discouragement, uncertainty or fear, they’ve asked the COPH to help them become leaders,” Pruitt said. “As their professor, I am incredibly inspired by them. I can’t wait for the semester to start!”

A first for the new genomics PhD program with Jan Dahrendorff

COPH student Jan Dahrendorff graduated this past summer with his MSPH in genomics. He’ll be taking the next step as the first student to enter the newly established genomics PhD program.

The USF genomics programs are comprised of an interdisciplinary team of researchers actively engaged in genomics research. It is a uniquely collaborative environment in which representatives from a variety of academic disciplines use a wide range of approaches (e.g., bench work, bioinformatics, computational modeling, systems biology) to promote understanding of genome structure and function and to use genomic sciences to answer complex questions relating to health, disease and environmental challenges.

Dahrendorff moved to the U.S. in 2013 from Germany after being recruited for swimming at Saint Leo University in St. Leo, Fla. There he earned his undergraduate degree in psychology.

After graduation, Dahrendorff found a job at USF working for Dr. Laura Blair, assistant professor in the USF Morsani College of Medicine. At her laboratory studying the biology of degenerative diseases, he worked as a laboratory technician and became interested in the interplay of genes and psychiatric disorders.

He decided to reach out to the COPH’s Dr. Monica Uddin, professor of psychiatric genomics, who encouraged him to apply to the MSPH in genomics program.

While the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for Dahrendorff in the last year of his MSPH degree, he said that he’s so grateful for the program’s support and the experience he was able to gain.

As the PhD program is so new, Dahrendorff with be starting his PhD degree in the global communicable diseases concentration and will then transfer over to the genomics program.

“I’m very excited about the new program! Everything is new, so I don’t really have a reference of how things are going to go. But if I have an interest in something research wise, I’m going to pursue it,” he said.

Dahrendorff said that the field of genomics gives him a lot of research options.

“Because of the interdisciplinary nature of genomics, you are able to work with people from so many different backgrounds together as a team. It’s a very good experience,” he said. “I think in terms of career outlooks, you have so much flexibility and are able to do and research what you want.”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

The post COPHers return stronger, bolder in year two of pandemic appeared first on College of Public Health News.

“This group of students have persevered under unprecedented circumstances. Their worlds were flipped upside down and they have hung in there, learning in new ways since March of 2020. This group has learned in real-time what it means to confront the failings of our system.” said USF College of Public Health’s Dean Donna Petersen. “We have a lot of choices to make in the coming years about healthcare, the value of work, our place in the global economy, climate change, systemic racism and how to prepare for a future pandemic but I’m not worried. You all are smart, capable, committed and passionate.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s graduation ceremony was presented virtually to family, friends, students, faculty and staff. Petersen delivered her address and congratulated the Summer 2021 graduating class in front of a camera instead of an audience. (Click here to watch the ceremony). 

This semester, 185 undergraduates, 61 masters and 8 doctoral students graduated and entered the public health profession. 

Every year, the COPH Excellence in Teaching awardee offers words of inspiration to the graduating class. This year’s speaker was Dr. Joe Bohn, assistant professor and director of community engagement and deputy director of the DrPH program.

“I have one final lesson for you all,” Bohn said. “Some of you know I have spent a little time on the dance floor these past four years, so I offer you four pillars of practice from my West Coast swing training that we can apply in your public health journey: timing, distance, connection and purpose.”

Timing

“Know when to start the dance if you are the leader and be ready to respond to a public health crisis when it happens,” Bohn said.

Distance

“Manage the distance with others on the dance floor. In your community, understand how distance impacts people and their access to the resources they need,” he cautioned.

Connection

“Pay attention to the connection with your partner in dance and find ways to connect better to your community, virtually and in-person,” Bohn continued.

Purpose

“Practice with intent—and in your community, practice your passion to help others in need,” he urged.

Dr. Alison Oberne, director of the BSPH program, also presented her end-of-the-year address to the graduating class.

“Did you know that only one-third of the U.S. population has a 4-year degree? It is no small feat to earn your degree, and amidst a pandemic it’s even more challenging and inspiring. It is a time where you were tested in more ways than one,” Oberne said. “You learned the value of self-determination through remote learning, the power of data literacy as we’ve been bombarded with information about COVID-19 and the election, and the creativity to find opportunities for community engagement at a time where in-person gatherings have been restricted.”

“I hope these challenges have made you stronger and helped you realize your passion and perseverance despite all obstacles you have faced and that you continue to overcome” she said.

Here are some of the stories from the Class of 2021:

Marina Martinez Rivera, MPH

Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Marina Martinez Rivera moved to Gainesville, Fla in 2008. She earned her undergraduate degrees in public health and psychology from the University of Florida before moving to Tampa in 2019 to begin her master’s degree in behavioral health at the COPH.

“My passion in public health issues revolve around behavioral health with topics like mental health, substance use, HIV/AIDS, harm reduction approaches, LGBTQIA+ and youth/adolescent populations,” Martinez Rivera said. “With that in mind, I thought the behavioral health concentration was a great fit along with wanting to participate in the Institute of Translational Research in Adolescent Drug Abuse as I thought that was something of interesting to participate in and great experience.”

Martinez Rivera said that despite the impact of the pandemic, she did the best that she could to make the most out of her time in the MPH program.

“I made some good friends and developed my professional skills in any way I could. I think the college did the best it could to maneuver through the pandemic while retaining the standard that the college is known for,” she said. “I’m grateful to all the professors that did their best in modifying the curriculums to fit student’s needs and the circumstances we were working with.”

Martinez Rivera’s post grad plans are to continue working in public health and to find a position with a focus in behavioral health so that she can begin developing her professional skills.

“My dream job is a position where I can apply my skills in translational research and community engagement to improve behavioral health outcomes, reduce stigma and improve health equity for youth/adolescent populations, HIV/AIDS populations and/or LGBTQIA+ populations,” she said.

Rolando Trejos, MPH

Originally from Monagrillo, Panama, Rolando Trejos became introduced to public health while working as a program developer and coordinator for USF Health’s Office in Panama City under Dr. Arlene Calvo.

“During my time involved in the USF Health office in Panama, I saw the drive for changing the world for good. I was exposed to so many incredible projects and assets unique to the USF and even more to the USF COPH,” he said. “Out of those assets, the people and their passion for creating healthier communities was why I chose USF COPH for my MPH degree.”

As a student, Trejos was heavily involved with the COPH Activist Lab as both a student board member and graduate research assistant.

“As a member, we were able to tackle with evidence so many important topics like racism and COVID-19 by creating a pathway to deliver information from decision-makers, researchers and community-based organizations back into the general community and to our USF community,” he said.

During his time, he also was a graduate research assistant to the Public Health Interdisciplinary Center in a homelessness cross-college initiative with the Morsani College of Medicine’s Tampa Bay Street Medicine team, a volunteer for the USF Health Peace Corps, a volunteer for the COPH racism working group and a fellow for the Chiles Center.

Trejos’ post-grad plan is to enroll as a PhD student with the COPH.

“I hope to continue to expand my knowledge and skills in grantsmanship, teaching, mentoring, and translating research into practice, policy and tools applicable to communities, decision-makers and individuals,” he said. “My dream job is in academia as a full-time professor and researcher to provide a platform for individuals that have been pushed out of academia due to their sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion or any other category. I want to reclaim their space and have their voices heard and their input elevated so that science can truly become for everyone, not just a reflection of specific communities or individuals.”

Danielle Washington, BSPH

After overcoming adversity as a teenage mother, Danielle Washington graduated with her BSPH with a minor in infection control and specialization in nutrition.

“I became a teen mother to my first son who is now a teenager. I worked many jobs over the years to provide for us. I always wanted better and to prove naysayers wrong,” she said.  “I knew accomplishing my dreams of graduating college would happen if I kept going no matter how many times I failed.”

Washington said that one of the things she loved about USF was its course diversity and the flexibility to take online courses that allowed her to graduate on time.

“My favorite memory during my time at the COPH was taking the workforce course where I learned how to create a resume properly. This gave me the tools I needed to attract more employers,” she said.

Washington plans to attend graduate school to earn her master’s in public health with a specialization in health care management.

“I would like to open a health office that educates the public and also offers testing and routine lab work. I hope to own a health clinic and travel the world helping to solve global health issues,” she said. “I know that attending graduate school will help me go to the next level with owning my business. As a student at the COPH, I worked in groups to complete class projects so having a team will help me bring my vision to life. Teamwork always makes the dream work!”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

The post COPH welcomes 254 graduates to the field of public health appeared first on College of Public Health News.