Our Faculty

Mailman School faculty and students will join more than 13,000 public health experts in Denver, Colorado, this week to participate in the American Public Health Association's annual meeting. The event provides a forum for sharing the latest research, best practices, and trends in public health.

Each year, the event attracts researchers, medical professionals, advocates, and educators. Mailman School faculty will deliver over 20 presentations on topics ranging from emergency response to increasing men's access to healthcare to asthma prevention with many others serving on panels.

Faculty presentations include:

Sunday, November 7, 2010

A novel tool to address safety hazards in the home healthcare setting
Robyn R.M. Gershon, DrPH, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health
Julie Pearson, MPH, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health
Tara P. McAlexander, BA, Mailman School of Public Health

Presentation of study findings serve as an important first step in reducing the risk of injury and illness related to household hazards in the HHC sector.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Social Capital and the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial: Results from recruitment through gospel radio
Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology and Medicine, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, with colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health

Discussion on the ability of Experience Corps® Baltimore City (EC), to mobilize social capital in the form of older adult volunteer activity in public schools.

Alcohol consumption and mammographic density in a multiethnic urban community
Mary Beth Terry, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health

Presentation on the association between alcohol consumption and mammographic density and examination of possible effect modification by ethnic group. This study adds to the growing evidence that alcohol consumption is associated with mammographic density.

Role of gendered norms in young female and male Latino adults' experiences of relationship violence in a predominantly Latino New York City neighborhood area
David L. Bell, MD, MPH , Department of Pediatrics and Mailman School of Public Health's Department of Population and Family Health
Marina Catallozzi, MD, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Population and Family Health,
Cynthia Golembeski, MPH, Columbia Center for Youth Violence Prevention, Columbia University
Saroj Sedalia, MPH, Mailman School of Public Health
Leslie L. Davidson, MD, MSc, Department of Epidemiology and Mailman School of Public Health's Department of Population and Family Health

Presenters explore the role of gendered norms and expectations regarding the nature and dynamics of coercive and violent behavior within young Latino adult heterosexual relationships, whereby men and women experience violence as perpetrator, victim or both. 

Engaging community in developing, implementing, and evaluating a multilevel community-based culturally situated website
Carly Hutchinson, MA, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Harlem Health Promotion Center
Andrea M. Nye, MPH, MBA, Harlem Health Promotion Center and Project STAY
Alwyn Cohall, MD, Harlem Health Promotion Center
Mary E. Northridge, PhD, MPH, Department of Sociomedial Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

Presentation on the approach used to develop, implement, and evaluate a locally-focused health information and social networking website in Harlem, New York City

Preparing for PrEP: Understanding Perceptions High-risk Black and Hispanic Populations Have about HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis
Patrick A. Wilson, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a novel biomedical HIV prevention strategy currently under study involving the use of antiretroviral drugs by HIV-negative persons to reduce risk for acquiring HIV. Based on experiences in working with high-risk B/L populations, investigators have sought to develop a strategy to understand perceptions high-risk B/L populations have about PrEP.

Association between urban street noise and neighborhood crime: A pilot study
Tara P. McAlexander, BA, Mailman School of Public Health
Robyn R.M. Gershon, DrPH, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

Presentation of a pilot study conducted to determine the influence of average income on the spatial correlation between street-level noise and neighborhood crime rates in New York City.

Availability of essential health services in post-conflict Liberia
8:30 AM
Margaret E. Kruk, MD, MPH, Department of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Elizabeth Williams, MPH, Liberia, John Snow International, Washington, DC
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY

Describes the pattern of essential health service availability in rural post-conflict Liberia, a country targeted by the international community for health system strengthening.  Evaluation of access to facilities providing index essential services: artemisinin combination therapy for malaria, integrated management of childhood illness, HIV counseling and testing, basic emergency obstetric care, and treatment of mental illness.

Impact of Haiti's earthquake on the South Florida Haitian community
9:30 AM
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Examination of the impact of the earthquake in Haiti on the health and psychological well-being of residents of the Little Haiti community.

Outcomes associated with a hospital-community program aimed at reducing the burden of asthma among inner-city families
10:30 AM
Sally Findley, PhD, Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health

Childhood asthma rates in Northern Manhattan are four times the national average. The complexity and fragmentation of local health systems, combined with conflicts between cultural and clinical values, create significant challenges for this largely foreign-born, low-income community.  WIN for Asthma demonstrates that a family-centered, community-based asthma prevention program can make a significant impact among high-risk children with asthma.

Exodus of Public Health: What History Can Tell Us About the Future
12:30 PM
Amy Fairchild, PhD, MPH, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

Traces the shifting definitions of the American public health profession's mission as a social reform and science-based endeavor.

Linking formerly incarcerated men to health care: A capacity building intervention at a prisoner re-entry program in East Harlem
12:30 PM
Debra Kalmuss, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health,
Bruce Armstrong, DSW, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health

Research documents that men's needs for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care are not adequately met in the U.S. and formerly incarcerated men represent a particularly high need group. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a capacity-building intervention to promote men's SRH at Exodus Transitional Community (ETC), a prisoner re-entry program in East Harlem.

"Male-Friendly" sexual health promotion for low-income men of color: Lessons learned from a service-based research project at a community health center in Harlem
12:50 PM
Debra Kalmuss, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health,
Bruce Armstrong, DSW, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health

Presenters assess whether a "male-friendliness" (MF) assessment and training intervention could increase the capacity of a community-based primary health clinic to offer male-friendly sexual health services.

Student Surge Capacity for Outbreak Investigation (Team Epi!)
1:35 PM
Stephen Morse, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health

To assist the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene the Student Surge Capacity for Outbreak Investigation (Team Epi) program was developed to recruit graduate public health and professions students to augment staff for outbreak investigation.  Advantages of using graduate health professions students to enhance the public health workforce during a public health emergency, and best practices and relevant issues with recruitment and retention will be presented.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Barriers to demand and use of antenatal, delivery and post-natal care services among women in rural northern Nigeria
Henry V. Doctor, PhD, Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health
Sally E. Findley, PhD, Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health

Maternal mortality in Northern Nigeria is among the highest in the world. To guide program planning the presenters interviewed 7,442 women in May 2009 in three northern states (Jigawa, Katsina, and Yobe) to understand patterns of antenatal care (ANC) and delivery. There is an urgent need for our programs to increase awareness of pregnancy and delivery complications while reducing barriers to assessing risk and accessing facilities.

Natural History of Building an Anti-violence Youth Center
Lourdes J. Hernández-Cordero, DrPH, Mailman School of Public Health
Arlene Peguero, Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York City, NY
Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, Mailman School of Public Health   Nyspi
Arelis De La O, Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York City, NY

Fresh Youth Initiatives (FYI) is an organization that promotes community service, including organizing to fight violence, in Washington Heights, NY. In 2003 FYI proposed to build a new headquarters in a troubled section of the neighborhood. In order to assess the impact of this building on the local environment, we worked with FYI to develop a study that compared the evolution of the FYI block.

Conceptualizing Bisexual Health Promotion: A Multilevel Perspective for Reducing Sexual Health Threats to Latino/a Bisexual Teens and Young Adults
11:00 AM
Miguel Muñoz-Laboy, DrPH, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

Addresses the sexual health threats to these groups from structural and meso-structural perspectives using the bisexual experience, the experience of being bisexual and the expressions and voices of bisexual Latinos (as) as points of departures. This presentation is intended to stimulate the debate and further the agenda of comprehensive sexual health interventions for bisexual groups nationwide.

Dealing with climate change: An evaluation of a national online course
11:00 AM

Team from the Mailman School's National Center for Disaster Preparedness
Without substantial changes in emissions rates, climate change from the buildup of greenhouse gases is likely to lead to extensive transformations of U.S. ecosystems and coastlines later this century. This study involves the evaluation of an online course developed at NCDP and distributed to more than 2,000 U.S. public health workers and will indicate whether there has been a significant increase in the participants' understanding of climate change and its inter-relationship with public health.

Increasing men's access to health services: A case management intervention at workforce development programs in Upper Manhattan
12:30 PM
Bruce Armstrong, DSW, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health,
Debra Kalmuss, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health,
Chelsey Leruth, MPH, Mailman School of Public HealthEdwin Zambrano , Mailman School of Public Health
David L. Bell, MD, MPH, Department of Population and Family Health

Widespread racial/ethnic and gender-based disparities in health behaviors and outcomes place men of color at a notable disadvantage relative to other groups. This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a case management health promotion intervention with males ages 18-55.

Gendered vulnerability, heterosexual men, and HIV/AIDS: Do we need a paradigm shift?
2:45 PM
Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH, Mailman School of Public Health

Presentation reviews the extremely convincing reasons (biological, epidemiological, socio-cultural) why the vulnerability paradigm -- to HIV infection --emerged, as well as the model's most important benefits to for women.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Advancing the voice of Community Health Workers to inform their identity, training and certification
8:30 AM
Sergio Matos, BS, CHW, Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Sally E. Findley, PhD, Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health

In recent years, the community health worker (CHW) field has grown significantly in the US, with increasing numbers, roles, and visibility.  Our objective was to define CHW, identify training needs, and examine possibilities for credentialing from the perspective of CHWs in NYC.

Children as Bellwethers of (Mal)Adaptation after a Disaster: Enduring Mental Health Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Children and Youth
11:00 AM
David M. Abramson, PhD MPH, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health
Tasha Stehling-Ariza, MPH, National Center for Disaster Preparedness
Yoon Soo Park, MS, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health

Special panel will discuss children and youth and their limited capacity to independently mobilize resources to help them adapt to stressful post-disaster circumstances.  Outcome measures were used to test the effect of household characteristics and neighborhood characteristics, among a pediatric cohort exposed to Hurricane Katrina and a subsequent displacement.

Impact of Online Learning on Emergency Response: An Evaluation of an Online Course
11:15 AM
Thomas Chandler, PhD, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health
Yoon Soo Park, MS, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health
Karen L. Levin, RN, MPH, CHES, National Center for Disaster Preparedness
David M. Abramson, PhD, MPH, National Center for Disaster Preparedness
Stephen S. Morse, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health

The National Center for Disaster Preparedness has been conducting an ongoing evaluation of its online Public Health Basic Emergency Preparedness course, which has been completed by more than 15,000 public health workers in all 50 U.S. states since 2002. This study explores the following questions: In what capacities are public health workers who have taken this course involved in disaster response? Has this course helped public health workers to be more effective in actual distaster situations?