Public Health  News

Watch Falk College’s Commencement and Convocation Ceremonies

Chancellor Syverud addressed students in the School of Architecture; College of Arts and Sciences; Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics; School of Education; and University College during the ceremony Saturday, May 22.

During the commencement ceremony professor’s David Larsen and Brittany Kmush in Falk College’s Department of Public Health both received the Chancellor’s medal for their work helping Syracuse University to successfully navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Their expertise in endemiology and public health ensured that the University’s policies were informed by data and aligned with best practices. The Chancellor’s Medal is the highest honor Syracuse University offers and is rarely given. Both had also received the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence during this year’s One University Awards for their invaluable contributions, extraordinary work and selfless efforts to ensure a safe, healthy and rewarding residential experience for our students, faculty and staff in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Falk College also presented a live virtual Convocation at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, May 22. Watch the recording below.

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Creative Problem Solver

Pruthvi Kilaru ’18, G’20 is a tinkerer who enjoys drawing on his creativity to solve problems. With a background in biomedical engineering and public health and a vision of becoming a physician, he is forging a promising future for himself that will benefit others. “I’ve had these amazing opportunities at Syracuse University that I couldn’t get anywhere else. I’ve been able to manage large teams, present to global stakeholders and write incredible papers,” he says. “And that’s what makes Syracuse University unique—it’s the opportunities that you’re given and can take advantage of, if you choose to do so.”

Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, Kilaru has been integral to the University’s effort to keep the novel coronavirus in check. As a project manager in the Department of Public Health at Falk College, he oversees the campus wastewater surveillance program—an early alert system that monitors for traces of the virus in residence halls—and manages day-to-day operations for the COVID-19 testing center at the stadium. He helped establish the center’s training and testing operations, supervises upwards of 50 staff and volunteers, and is responsible for logistics, including keeping track of supplies. “COVID-19 is not a fun disease to have. I caught it earlier last semester, and it’s not something I’d want anybody else to get,” he says. “Every day I’m here and helping to prevent that, it makes me feel like I’ve made a difference.”

Kilaru initially joined the battle against COVID-19 through his master of public health (MPH) practicum with associate professor David Larsen, who organized a Syracuse-based team of scientists to create the SARS-CoV-2 Early Warning Surveillance Platform. “My research interest in infectious disease surveillance took off from there,” Kilaru says.

The team established surveillance initiatives on campus and elsewhere in Onondaga County and, with state funding for a pilot program, extended its reach to other counties and universities. “Pruthvi worked with sanitation engineers to produce sampling protocols that are still used today,” says Larsen, an environmental epidemiologist. “He also led the development and construction of do-it-yourself samplers for the wastewater because the equipment supply chain was disrupted due to the pandemic.” They published information on the samplers in a paper that’s available for free online. “I didn’t want cost to be the prohibitive factor for other universities to implement the same safeguards that we do here,” Kilaru says. “At the end of the day, I want to see the country get back to normal.”

Becoming Orange

Kilaru was born in Syracuse and has a large, extended family in the area, but spent fifth through 12th grade in Lexington, Massachusetts. He was familiar with the Hill and some of his relatives had studied at Syracuse, but it wasn’t until he attended Own the Dome—an overnight event in the stadium for accepted students—that he fully embraced being Orange. “That’s what really made Syracuse University my top choice,” he says.

It’s safe to say that developing an expertise in infectious disease surveillance wasn’t on Kilaru’s radar when he first enrolled. His passion for creativity and problem solving sparked his interest in science and influenced his decision to major in biomedical engineering at the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). “I’ve always enjoyed science because it involves a lot of creativity, and I like tinkering with things,” he says. “For me, it became obvious that in order to tinker with things in life, you want a STEM background.”

Kilaru made the most of his undergraduate experience. He served as an ambassador for the ECS career services office, where he also worked as a technology specialist. He was a director of programming for the Residence Hall Association, and a co-founder and executive board member for Ottothon, the dance marathon fundraiser for the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. He studied abroad at University College Dublin, and for his senior capstone project he created a mechanical heart failure model for testing medical devices. “The best part about being a Syracuse University student for me was all the friends I made and all the people I got to meet,” he says. “I wouldn’t trade that for the world at this point.”

Opportunities for Growth

After earning a bachelor’s degree, Kilaru explored the idea of creating pediatric medical devices, but shifted his focus when he became interested in the social determinants of health that affect children’s lives. This led him to Falk’s public health program, where he welcomed opportunities to learn about underserved communities within a pediatric population and quickly solidified his desire to become a physician.

In a course on refugee health, he teamed up with SUNY Upstate Medical University student Casey Mohrien to help a local refugee family adjust to their new lives and get access to medical care. For another course, he shadowed a physician for eight months at a clinic that served children in the foster care system and gained insights on their health care. One of his favorite experiences was presenting to the Council of Europe Pompiduo Group during an executive training on incorporating gender dimensions in drug policy practice and service delivery. “The most valuable part about my master’s experience was the connections I had to faculty and staff,” he says. “They are very willing to help you and foster your growth and education.”

In July, Kilaru will start the next phase of his career as a medical student. He likes being involved in fields that are constantly evolving, allowing him to keep learning, creating and solving problems. “Health care is always disrupted by technology, as well as by social determinants,” he says. “Being able to navigate those disruptions as an engineer and a public health specialist is amazing. And becoming a physician on top of that will allow me to make an even bigger difference in people’s lives.”

~ An SU story by Jay Cox published on May 20, 2021.

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Congratulations Class of 2021!

Along with Dean Murphy, the entire Falk College community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, community partners and friends, congratulates the Class of 2021! Over the past several weeks, departments across Falk College honored student achievements and celebrated the graduating Class of 2021, which are detailed on individual department websites.

Graduates and families should visit the main page on the Commencement website on Saturday, May 22 at 11 a.m. EST to view the virtual school and college convocations, including the Falk Convocation, and livestream of all Commencement ceremonies. Recordings of virtual convocations will be posted online so that graduates and their families can view them at a later date.

Details about Syracuse University Commencement weekend, May 22-23 are available, including specific information about safety protocols for those attending in person.

“To the Class of 2021, as the newest Falk alumni, you join an accomplished community of socially responsible citizens who can and who must lead change,” notes Diane Lyden Murphy, dean, Falk College.

We know you will lead the way! Congratulations, and best wishes!

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Gaining a Global Health Perspective

When Kennedy Hagens ’20, G’21 took her first public health class at Syracuse University, it wasn’t long before she reimagined her future. “It was a course on social determinants of health titled Health Disparities and Underserved Populations,” she says. “I loved that class so much I thought, ‘I have to take more classes like this.’”

Until then, Hagens had planned on a career in medicine, but her introduction to public health inspired her to consider health care from a new perspective. She changed her major from biology and earned a bachelor’s degree in public health. This summer, she’ll receive a master of public health (M.P.H.) degree as a member of the inaugural cohort of the accelerated B.S./M.P.H. program at Falk College. “When I came to the public health program, I was embraced with open arms—and it really feels like I have a family in Falk,” says the Bowie, Maryland, native. “What I’ve enjoyed the most about the program is that we were given a lot of opportunities to put what we learned into practice.”

The experiences that Hagens mined proved highly influential. She gained valuable insights on global health, health disparities, policy differences and how vital access is to quality health care. This fall, she’ll enroll in the health law program at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. “I want to be the person who can change these policies and provide more health equity around the world,” she says. “That’s my ultimate goal.”

The Orange Attraction

Hagens’ concern for the health of others has played a prominent role in her life since she began volunteering at hospitals as a teenager with aspirations of becoming an oncologist. When her mother suggested Syracuse University as a college destination because of its strong academic reputation and big-time sports atmosphere, Hagens—a high school basketball player and huge sports fan—found what she was looking for on a campus visit. She was accepted early decision and participated in SummerStart, a program that introduces incoming first-year students to campus through classes and activities. “One of the best decisions I made was doing SummerStart,” she says. She embraced campus life and became a loyal member of Otto’s Army, serving as president her senior year. She was also an active member of the Iota Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. “As time went on, Syracuse has become a home for me,” she says.

As a graduate teaching assistant, Hagens has shared her enthusiasm with undergraduates in several courses, including one of her favorites—community health promotion. “I like the students a lot, and it’s been a really fun experience,” she says. “And the classes align with my career goals.”

Real-World Experiences

At Falk College, one of Hagens’ seminal experiences was a course on refugee health that matched her with a family that had fled the Democratic Republic of Congo and resettled in Syracuse. Along with helping the single mother and her five children adjust to their new lives, she worked to ensure they had access to good health care and learned about the struggles they encountered. Back home, she built on that experience as a refugee integration specialist with the Ethiopian Community Development Council in Arlington, Virginia, helping families with housing and other issues. “I had to remind myself that some of the situations would be unlike anything I’d seen before,” she says. “My biggest takeaway was that there should be better policies in place to make their transition easier. I also saw that there’s not one solution to the health disparities that people are facing. It’s a much bigger problem than I first realized—and it stems from race and socioeconomic differences.”

Through a series of internships, class projects and jobs, Hagens expanded her knowledge and understanding of patient-care issues and ways to improve health outcomes. At the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, she logged time advocating for cardiac patients’ care. Through an internship and, later, her senior capstone project, she worked at Hematology/Oncology Associates of CNY, where one of her focuses was on patient communication and how interaction impacts the patient experience. “I helped them find better ways to communicate with their patients,” she says, noting the practice added touch-screen monitors so patients could watch videos that helped them better understand information shared by doctors. She also completed a service-learning project with SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, working on ways to increase student diversity and create safe spaces as well as evaluating textbooks from a race and ethnicity perspective. “It was a great experience,” she says.

Public Health and the Pandemic

When the pandemic broke out last spring, Hagens worked for several months as a contact tracer for Onondaga County, which further illuminated for her the role—and challenges—of public health. “All of those things I learned in my undergraduate courses came into play—the different frameworks and the social determinants that are stopping certain people from dealing with the pandemic and why it’s so challenging for some people to even understand how serious the virus actually is,” she says. “I try to explain everything I can about COVID-19, and I’m always encouraging people to get vaccinated.”

For her M.P.H. capstone project, she’s focusing on health disparities associated with COVID-19 in South Africa. “For portions of my research, I talked to students who go to school in South Africa,” says Hagens, who assisted with a South Africa HIV research project as an undergraduate. “It was interesting to hear their accounts about the disparities as well as how COVID-19 has been impacting them.”

Hagens can trace her concern about global health disparities to travels with her family in Europe and the Caribbean, where she noticed how health care policies and challenges varied from country to country. “In my mind, I thought, ‘This could be so much better,’” she says.

Her time at Syracuse turned that interest into a passion. Her experiences also taught her about herself and the importance of welcoming opportunities. “I want to be remembered at Syracuse for embracing every new experience and trying my best to provide the same opportunities for the people who will come after me,” she says. “I want to leave an impact that tells people the sky really is the limit. They can do anything they want on this campus. They just have to put themselves out there.”

~ An SU Story by Jay Cox originally published on May 11, 2021.

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2021 Public Health Student Awards

The Department of Public Health is pleased to recognize the outstanding work of its undergraduate and graduate students for excellence. Awardees were nominated by faculty and professional staff and selected at a group meeting. Given the abundance of talent and achievements of our students it is always a challenge to make these award decisions. Our department is very proud of all of our graduating students and present for your review in the attached document the undergraduate and graduate student awardees from among the graduating class of 2021.

Our department seeks to be a leader in leveraging public health research, practice, and education to create the greatest impact on global health. You our students play an important part in making this vision possible. Congratulations class of 2021!

Congratulations to our Award Winners!

Public Health Award winners:

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Good Medicine

When Ifeyinwa “Ify” Ojukwu ’22 arrived at Syracuse University three years ago, she knew she’d have opportunities to join organizations and conduct research. But she surprised even herself with the amount of meaningful work she’s been able to accomplish through her classes and research.

Ojukwu—a biology and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a public health minor in Falk College—has set her sights on becoming a physician and on addressing systemic, race-related disparities through health care policies. “I feel like my interest lies in recognizing vulnerabilities in others and wanting to support them,” says Ojukwu, who grew up in Guilderland, New York. “Medicine is just one way to go about that, but it’s an important way, and one that resonates with my personal and scientific interests, too.”

Although she was always interested in medicine and underserved communities, Ojukwu really became invested in the topic when she took the Falk College public health course Health Disparities and Underserved Populations. “It made me understand that there needs to be a great deal of urgency in addressing those problems for women, people of color, low-income, native and LGBTQ+ communities. It opened my eyes in many ways.” Ojukwu received guidance and encouragement along the way, and she credits Jolynn Parker, director of the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising, with helping her define her long-term goals.

Research Opportunities

For Ojukwu, the COVID-19 pandemic has been both an example of how health care inequities can manifest in communities and an important factor in her research. She’s studied health disparities as part of her public health coursework, including disproportionally high mortality rates from breast cancer among African American women.

“I’ve learned that aspects of our clinical tools themselves, such as the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), can sometimes perpetuate those disparities and even exacerbate them,” explains Ojukwu. “I’m hoping to address elements of the health care system that contribute to the inequalities, beyond those that manifest due to social determinants of health.” She says that access, late diagnosis and late treatment are all factors in the disparity.

Driven to become more deeply involved in research, Ojukwu explored studies being conducted by faculty at Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University. Her interest was piqued by the work of Dr. Frank Middleton at SUNY Upstate, so she reached out and was invited to participate in his research on pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN), a neurodegenerative disease that develops due to metabolic pathway breakdown.

The PKAN research focuses on patients in the Dominican Republic, so Ojukwu traveled with the team (pre-pandemic) to conduct educational outreach, secure funding, and further their understanding of how this research might shape health outcomes. While there, Ojukwu helped lead informational seminars with patients to educate them about transmission of the disease. Even for someone who knew she was going to have a chance to conduct research, this opportunity to have a positive impact on an underserved community was unexpected. “I would not have thought I’d have a chance to do this type of research and travel if you’d asked me as a freshman,” she says.

Expanding the Curriculum

After witnessing protests across the country last summer related to institutional inequities, Ojukwu worked with a friend to bring a sociology class called Race, Health and Healthcare to the course offerings in spring 2021. The class gives its 20 students a platform to discuss medical issues and race-related health disparities. Over the course of the summer, Ojukwu met with faculty, department chairs and deans to add the course to the curriculum on a trial basis, and she says it was well worth the effort.

As a result of her interests, Ojukwu was recruited as an undergraduate liaison to the biology department’s diversity and inclusion committee, where she works with faculty, staff and other students to evaluate ways of making the curriculum more inclusive. At a virtual retreat to discuss department policy, the committee recommended including a statement on each biology course syllabus indicating the department’s commitment to promoting diversity, inclusion and safe spaces in the classroom. “It feels like a small change, but it is a testament to the biology department’s willingness to openly promote equity and inclusion,” Ojukwu says.

Making Her Presence Known

This spring, at the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Racial Equity Symposium, she presented her breast cancer research as a case study highlighting racialized clinical tools, including the BCRAT—the first time she had ever given a talk outside of a classroom setting. In April she represented Syracuse University at the virtual ACC Meeting of the Minds conference, hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she gave a presentation on her PKAN research. “Each of these opportunities has really allowed me to step into the next dimension of what my career, what my advocacy, might look like,” she says.

As she wraps up her junior year, she feels grateful for the opportunities provided to her at Syracuse University. “All of this has made me more excited for what the future might hold, because I’m honing those skills in a way that will make me better poised to effect the change I want to make over the course of my career.”

– An SU Story by Lisa Maresca originally published on April 20, 2021.

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New research explores EMS workers’ mental health

Emergency medical service (EMS) workers face triple the risk for significant mental health problems such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder compared to the general population, according to a recently published study by researchers from Syracuse University.

The study also showed that daily mental health symptoms for EMS workers can be reduced through recovery activities such as exercising, socializing with other people, and finding meaning in the day’s challenges.

The study, “Dynamic psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with mental health in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel,” was published recently by the Journal of Affective Disorders. The study is also summarized in the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion research brief “How Do Emergency Medical Service Workers Cope with Daily Stressors?”

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the significant mental health burden experienced by EMS workers. The researchers surveyed EMS workers at American Medical Response in Syracuse, N.Y., for eight consecutive days in 2019 to better understand their mental health symptoms related to daily occupational stressors. These stressors can take the form of routine work demands, critical incidents involving serious harm or death, and social conflicts.

“Together, these occupational stressors negatively impacted mental health each day that they occurred,” said researcher Bryce Hruska. “Each additional work demand or critical event that an EMS worker encountered on a given workday was associated with a 5 percent increase in their PTSD symptom severity levels that day, while each social conflict was associated with a 12 percent increase in their depression symptom severity levels.”

The research team was led by Hruska, assistant professor of public health at Syracuse University’s Falk College and a Lerner Faculty Affiliate. Here are the team’s key findings:

EMS workers experience a diverse array of occupational stressors each day.

These stressors are associated with an elevation in mental health symptoms each day that they occur.
Recovery activities (like exercising or socializing with other people) and looking for meaning in the day’s stressors may protect mental health.

The study found that on workdays, the EMS workers engage in approximately three recovery activities during non-work hours, mostly visiting with friends and family, eating a meal with others, and spending quiet time alone.

“These activities had a beneficial impact on mental health; each additional recovery activity in which a worker engaged was associated with a 5% decrease in their depression symptom severity levels that day,” Hruska said. “The social nature of the reported recovery activities is notable, given that healthy relationships can alleviate the negative impact of stress on mental health by assisting with coping efforts and helping to reframe the day’s stressors.

“Perhaps demonstrating this latter effect, we also found that EMS workers who looked for lessons to learn from the day’s challenges experienced a 3% decrease in their daily depression symptoms,” Hruska added.

The researchers identified several actionable strategies that build upon the protective behaviors in which the EMS workers naturally engaged and could make some work events less stressful. Here are some instances noted in the study:

• Developing or refining communications strategies may be helpful for alleviating the stress associated with managing patients’ family and friends and interacting with co-workers.
• Recognizing conflicts as an opportunity for learning and growing may be a useful tactic for effectively resolving the situation with fewer negative mental health effects.
• Taking time to recharge after a particularly demanding shift offers an opportunity to let emotions cool. For example, when EMS workers respond to a critical event, scheduled downtime may offer an opportunity for recovery and processing of the day’s events.

Support for this research was provided by professional development funds from the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamic at Syracuse University.

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Finding Her Place and Purpose

Not everyone has the patience to work with adolescents who are dealing with unhealthy substance use, but Alisamarie Yiatras ’21 embraces this work. She says she’s always been interested in learning about why people choose to use substances. Growing up, she and her father would watch medical television shows every night, and she found herself fascinated by the field.

Yiatras arrived at Syracuse University as a sophomore after transferring from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Originally on a pre-med track, she found herself drawn to psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. After taking a child psychology class with Shannon Sweeney, she knew she had found her passion. “As soon as I took Professor Sweeney’s course, that solidified me wanting to work with children and adolescents,” says Yiatras.

Beyond the Classroom

Like many teenagers, Yiatras did her fair share of babysitting, and she was fascinated seeing the children move through the developmental stages of life. “Watching a child pick up on things once you teach them something is just so interesting to me.”

Yiatras is now preparing for a career as a clinical psychologist and is pursuing a minor in addiction studies through Falk College. The psychology major has held a number of internships and jobs and has conducted research designed to help her gain the valuable experience she’ll need. From her sophomore year until last spring, she worked in a psychology research lab where she and other student-researchers studied how stress affects alcohol consumption. Yiatras’ role was to recruit participants and collect and analyze the data.

She took her studies beyond the classroom and lab when she started interning at the Center for Integrated Healthcare at the Syracuse VA Medical Center, which integrates mental health and primary care services for veterans through research, education and clinical consultation. Yiatras’ work with veterans (carried out remotely during the pandemic) includes role-playing on suicide prevention, allowing her to apply techniques she learned in an addiction studies course on motivational interviewing.

“The class was specifically related to addiction,” explains Yiatras, “and we did a lot of role-playing scenarios where one person would act as the clinician and the other would act as the patient. That’s been one of my favorite classes because I’m able to see it now in the real world during my internship and in the areas of psychology.”

In addition to her internship and research, she has also served as a Be Wise peer educator, providing health and wellness education related to substance use.

Transferring to Syracuse

Yiatras, the first in her family to attend college, is grateful for all the opportunities to fulfill her passions at Syracuse University, especially since she started out at another institution where she didn’t feel quite right. Growing up in Central Square, New York, she’d always known about Syracuse University but didn’t apply there initially because it felt too close to home.

Her transition to Syracuse was eased by joining the gymnastics team. “It was difficult at first because I wasn’t living in a dorm, so I really had to figure things out for myself in terms of what I wanted to be involved with on campus,” she says. Her teammates often invited her to stay over rather than drive back up north during snowstorms. “It made me feel like I had people who were here for me and who cared.”

Eager to give back to the community that has welcomed her, Yiatras became a transfer transitions leader to mentor other students who have transferred to Syracuse University. Although the mentoring has been particularly challenging this past semester due to COVID-19, she enjoys talking with new students and answering their questions. “It’s really helpful to be in the position that I’m in because I’ve gone through the process myself,” she says. “I just love being able to connect and be a resource for them.”

Looking Toward the Future

Yiatras is already anticipating what comes after graduation. She’s been busy applying to graduate schools throughout the Northeast, including Ph.D. programs and mental health counseling programs. “Either way, I know I still want to continue on with my education. I love learning.”

She wants to go on without taking a gap year, and she credits her professors at Syracuse for instilling that enthusiasm for her chosen field. “Seeing how passionate my addiction studies professors are makes me want to pursue my career even more, especially when I hear their clinical stories and experiences. I always think, ‘Oh, I can’t wait until I can do that!’”

A Syracuse University Story by Lisa Maresca originally published on January 14, 2021.

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Healthy You Fall 2020 now available!

The latest edition of the Healthy You newsmagazine created by students for students is now available. Created by students in PHP 227–Healthy You Practicum taught by Professor Luvenia Cowart, the publication encourages healthy behaviors on the Syracuse University campus and beyond. The Fall 2020 edition includes wide-ranging news stories, from how to maintain a healthy routine during the COVID-19 pandemic and the value of eating whole grains to the sense of community that comes from volunteerism. Published each semester, Healthy You increases health awareness, initiates a dialogue about health trends and issues, promotes good health-seeking practices, and fosters healthy living routines. Below is a link to a PDF copy of the most recent magazine or read an accessible, text-based version of the Fall 2020 Magazine.

Healthy You Fall 2020 (PDF)

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Falk College exemplifies public health in action

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to escalate this past spring, graduate students in a Falk College applied epidemiology class hosted a public forum for the campus community. According to public health graduate student, Tim Bryant, when Professor David Larsen asked if students had questions regarding the virus, “it proceeded to be a 20-minute question and answer session. I made a statement that if we as public health students had so many questions, I’m sure the rest of the student body did as well. And, wasn’t it our responsibility and obligation as public health professionals to inform and educate our campus community?” added Bryant. The students scheduled the event to reach the student community.

The day after the forum was held, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus as a pandemic.

Since that time, Falk College’s Department of Public Health continues to be a leader on the Syracuse University campus, throughout the local community and beyond in educating about and addressing public health needs during the pandemic. And as it prepares future public health professionals to do the same, students continue to gain valuable hands-on, real-world experience, providing essential support and services in the process, such as contact tracing and supporting campus-wide wastewater surveillance efforts.

Recent alumni have played a large role as part of the multi-institutional team leading the Early Warning Wastewater Surveillance Platform, which continues to inform public health decision-making in Syracuse, Albany, and Buffalo. Pruthvi Kilaru ’18, G’20, a Falk public health master’s graduate, was instrumental in designing the program. This is just one of many programs public health experts on campus are using to keep the community healthy.

“I think I speak for many of my peers when I say that we all have a deep and abiding passion for the field we study. Being able to take concepts out of the classroom and apply them in a meaningful way highlights that,” says Bryant.

Community education is another important component of public health—equipping the public with the knowledge to keep themselves and others safe and healthy. In addition to exploring COVID-19 in-depth in classrooms with their students, professors have also been making themselves available to share their expertise about the pandemic. A recent U.S. News & World Report op-ed authored by Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health, Brooks Gump, addressed the importance of well-known and established disease-control approaches that have been outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The op-ed, “The Great Barrington Declaration: When Arrogance Leads to Recklessness,” can be viewed here:

U.S. News & World Report Commentary on The Great Barrington Declaration.

Search news stories with insights from Falk public health faculty on topics related to the pandemic and beyond.

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