Kudos to Our Faculty

Aaron Katz	Ira Longini
Marilyn Roberts	Christopher Li

SPH faculty, experts in their fields, continue to be newsmakers. This fall Aaron Katz, Cindy Watts, and Larry Kessler were consulted on health reform. A number of others, particularly Ira Longini, advised on immunization for the H1N1 flu virus, and Marilyn Roberts took the media by storm with her MRSA study. Christopher Li reported on two recent studies on breast cancer—one related to long-term use of Tamoxifen and the other on the effect of lifestyle on recurrence—and we heard regularly from Adam Drewnowski on various issues related to nutrition and obesity. We’ll post news as it happens on our home page, then keep it on our news archives.

Also in the news:

Adam Drewnowski

In July, Adam Drewnowski, director of our Nutritional Sciences Program and the UW Center for Public Health Nutrition, spoke at the Aspen Institute’s Health Forum on the topic, Food for a New World. Adam participated in a “Big Idea” session on food and on a panel titled, “The Weight of the World: How Global Eating Patterns are Leading to an Unhealthy Globe.”

Richard Fenske

A new million-dollar grant from the CDC to evaluate the effects of climate change on human health in our region was announced by Richard Fenske, professor and acting chair of DEOHS and a member of the UW Climate Impacts Group. Faculty researchers from our School and the Climate Impacts Group will work with local communities and their public health officials to study potential health risks from climate change to develop specific plans to help prevent or alleviate them. The UW group will focus on heat-related illness and deteriorating air quality.

Steven Gilbert

Affiliate Professor of DEOHS Steven Gilbert is also director and managing editor of Toxipedia/INND (Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders). He recently announced the addition of The World Library of Toxicology to Toxipedia/INND’s suite of Web sites. Toxipedia/INND is designed to connect the public with the scientific community and make a variety of groups aware of each others’ activities in addressing issues related to toxicology, public health, and environmental health.

Larry Kessler

Larry Kessler, professor and chair of Health Services, will lead a $4 million project called ADVICE, or Advancing Innovative Comparative Effectiveness Research in Cancer Diagnostics. He will be joined by colleagues from the schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, Group Health, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to determine how best to use modern technologies in clinical practice. The award is one of four projects made possible by $16 million in federal stimulus funding for comparative effectiveness research in cancer. Read more about the project.

Bruce Psaty

Bruce Psaty, professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Health Services is being honored this fall as the American Heart Association’s Ancel Keys Memorial Lecturer. The lecture was established in 1990 by the Council on Epidemiology (now the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention) in honor of Dr. Ancel Keys. When he delivers his lecture at the annual AHA meeting in November, Bruce will join a virtual “Who’s Who” of cardiovascular epidemiologists who have received this honor. His lecture is titled Drug Therapies for the Prevention of CVD Events: Trials and Errors.