Public Health News
Future medical doctors devoted to health equity
Mohamed Khan ’22 is preparing for medical school by integrating natural and social sciences as a double major in public health and history. “As a first-generation college student and student of color, the most important thing I want to do with my public health knowledge is increase the health quality for people from all walks of life in my long career in medicine,” says Khan. He first enrolled at Syracuse University as a biomedical engineering major, but after taking a Falk College course on health disparities, he switched his major to public health. “I wanted to learn more about the social determinants of health.”
One of Khan’s public health professors, Luvenia Cowart, Ed.D., RN is an expert in minority health, and directs initiatives to develop academic and community partnerships to reduce health disparities and promote health and healthy lifestyles among minority communities. “Many people from racial and ethnic minority groups are at higher risk for various diseases due to historical health and social inequities,” says Cowart. “Social determinants of health, such as poverty and access to healthcare have prevented them having equal opportunities for total health. To achieve health equity, barriers must be removed so that everyone has an equal opportunity to be healthy.”
In her course, “Promoting Health through Literacy and Cultural Competence,” students like Khan learn how and why limited health literacy and the lack of culturally competent healthcare fuel health disparities, resulting in poor health outcomes. “The course explores the multilayered linkages between culturally competent healthcare, health and literacy and health outcomes,” says Cowart. “Literacy, health literacy and cultural competence are all factors that impact quality of healthcare delivery and health outcomes among all populations.”
Among the requirements of the course, students gain exposure to different cultures throughout the community as part of a 25-hour academic service-learning course requirement. In Fall 2021, Khan and his classmates tutored with RISE (Refugee and Immigrants Self-Empowerment) in the city of Syracuse. In addition, every student in the course registers for the Conversations About Race and Ethnicity (CARE) program, a six-week dialogue space for community members of Syracuse University to engage in meaningful, challenging, and vital conversations about race and ethnicity. “Both of these experiences reinforced the learning objectives of the course, as well as emphasized the need for more culturally competent physicians, which is what I hope to become,” says Khan.
He has big plans for life after Syracuse, including medical school to become a doctor of allopathic or osteopathic medicine. “I am also planning to work as a graduate medical officer for the Navy for 7 years, active duty, right after medical school,” he says.
“I believe public health at a population level is the key to my personal and professional goals,” Khan adds. And he’s not the only one.
Public health alumna Bijal Patel ’20 says the skills she gained at Falk translated directly into her work as a health educator in a local nonprofit family planning clinic. “Professor Cowart’s course taught me about the importance of sharing accurate, accessible, and reliable health information,” says Patel. “This was especially relevant to my work as a health educator teaching reproductive health in Syracuse after graduation. In this role, I developed health messaging for our social media, website, and clinics and the lessons I learned in her course have been so useful!”
Patel chose public health to pursue her interest in communities, environmental health, and disparities. “I wanted to learn about health and illness beyond biology,” she says. She completed degrees in both biology and public health. “I’m glad I was able to study health all the way from cells to populations!”
In Summer 2022, she starts medical school, where she looks forward to learning more about the intersection between public health and medicine. “I am most excited to apply what I’ve learned to a clinical setting and emphasize prevention and equity in my work,” says Patel. “My biggest goal as a physician is to provide equitable, inclusive care to all patients.”
Her public health education, she says, will help her reach that goal. “One thing that stuck with me from my public health education is the importance of meeting people where they are at in healthcare. People are coming from various cultural backgrounds, literacy levels, and life experiences.”
Students in Cowart’s classroom benefit from her professional and academic experience, as well as her personal passion for health equity. “The prevalence of health disparities and increasing evidence of inequities in social determinants of health among African Americans in underserved communities compels a ‘call to action,’” says Cowart reflecting on her own interest in public health. “As a public health professional, it is needful to respond to the identified health and social needs, as well as social injustices, in your community. If not me, then who will answer the call to work in non-traditional settings, such as churches and barbershops, to engage, educate and promote healthier lifestyles among African Americans in underserved communities.”
Among her academic research and community work, Cowart leads community-driven, culturally competent interventions to reduce health disparities among African Americans, who are at higher risk for chronic diseases and health problems, and to adopt healthier lifestyles across the lifespan. One example of her work is The Genesis Health Project Network, a collaborative effort with faith-based communities and other health related agencies to develop a culturally appropriate program church members want, need, and will sustain. “The approach to the work is simple; recognize, respect and integrate,” Cowart explains. “We must recognize cultural differences, values, traditions and health beliefs, and respect and integrate those differences into our healthcare and healthcare delivery system. Our theme is: Community First. That is, working to address the health and social needs identified by the community, for the community and with the community.”
Future physicians Khan and Patel are keeping issues of health equity at the forefront of their careers in medicine. “Low health literacy along racial and socioeconomic lines is not only a direct consequence of health disparities, but it is evident of institutionalized racism in our nation,” says Khan.
“Health should not be a consequence of race, geographic location, gender, socioeconomic status, or sexuality. Health disparities are deeply rooted in systemic inequities, but we can and should work towards a solution,” says Patel. “Equity is possible!”
October 28 event features alumni in disability advocacy
Falk College Career Services will host the “Falk College Alumni Speaker Series: Improving Access for People with Disabilities” on October 28, 2021, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. in Grant Auditorium, followed by a networking reception with refreshments from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The panel discussion will focus on current issues surrounding accessibility in a range of environments, and will be of particular interest to students seeking internships or careers in healthcare, mental health, education, policy and advocacy, and sport and recreation.
This is the fourth event in a series of Falk College alumni panels, which bring alumni back to campus to discuss current industry trends of interest to Falk students and share valuable career experiences and insights. Previous alumni panels have focused on topics such as community health and wellness; promoting exercise and nutrition as natural approaches to health, and; sport, health and social activism.
“For students, this is an exceptional opportunity to learn more about how they can be an advocate in whatever field they pursue,” says David Sly, director of Falk College Career Services. “In addition to learning about the specific careers of our panelists, students, faculty, and staff can leave this event with ideas for better serving people with a range of disabilities in any setting.”
The “Improving Access for People with Disabilities” panel will include four Falk College alumni:
Scott Ebner, MSW ’97
Scott Ebner is the Executive Director at CIRCARE, a local agency that supports people with behavioral health disabilities, including family and employment support. He has also worked with Provisions Bakery in Armory Square, a work transition site for people with mental illness.
Jeremy French-Lawyer, BS Public Health ’14Jeremy French-Lawyer is the Assistant Director of Evaluation, Assessment and Research at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Jeremy also has previous experience as a Disability Integration Fellow with SUNY Upstate, integrating disability-relevant information into medical school and continuing medical education curriculum. Other previous roles include working with children and at-risk parents in education and healthcare settings. Jeremy holds a master of public health (MPH) degree jointly awarded from Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University.
Ocesa Keaton, MSW ’15Ocesa Keaton is the Central New York Regional Director for New York Civil Liberties Union and has previously served as the ADA Coordinator for the City of Syracuse. Ocesa has extensive experience in youth and advocacy programs, with a focus on at-risk pregnant and parenting teens, youth violence prevention, and poverty.
Eileen May-West, BS Sport Management ’10Eileen May-West is the Program Director at Wasatch Adaptive Sports and leads outdoor adaptive recreation operations for over 500 individuals with disabilities each year. Eileen holds a master’s degree in therapeutic recreation from the University of New Hampshire.
For Syracuse University students, registration is appreciated, though not required, through Handshake. For faculty, staff and community attendees, please RSVP to falkcareers@syr.edu. CART and ASL services will be provided. To request other accommodations, please contact Falk Career Services at falkcareers@syr.edu or 315.443.3144. For event information, visit the event page.
Bee Orange
In their first year on campus, the bees harvested enough nectar from campus plants and trees to create over 300 pounds of honey. The honey is harvested twice a year and has been bottled for sale on campus. A small initial offering of campus honey in early 2021 proved immensely popular, with the honey quickly selling out across campus.
In the next few weeks, University community members will be able to purchase the honey in the Campus Store in the Schine Student Center, as well as in campus convenience stores.
The product for sale is raw honey, meaning it is not processed and contains only one ingredient: honey. Raw honey retains beneficial nutrients, pollen and antioxidants that processed honey does not. The honey has a distinctive Syracuse University flavor due to the unique plants in the area of the hives. A jar of honey costs $12, with all proceeds of its sale going back to support the honeybee hives overseen by Sustainability Management.
Currently, the University has 965 acres, of which 624 acres are green space, supplying bountiful habitats for pollinator species that encourage their critical existence. The establishment of honeybee hives in an area helps to support pollinator-dependent plants, including native plantings and agriculture-producing plants.
The campus hives are part of a Campus as a Lab for Sustainability (CALS) project run by Sustainability Management and awarded to associate teaching professors Lisa Olson-Gugerty and Mary Kiernan of Falk College. Their proposal, titled “Bee Orange,” coincided with the aim of the CALS grant, which strives to seamlessly integrate the academic and research mission of Syracuse University within the facilities and operations of the campus. “Bee Orange” supports the University’s efforts as a Bee Campus USA affiliate, including boundless opportunities for research around the honeybees and pollinator plant species, no matter the area of expertise of faculty and students.
To learn more about the University’s sustainability efforts and to become involved with these initiatives, visit the Sustainability Management website.
Read a related article about the bees in the Daily Orange.
A Syracuse University News story by Jennifer Horvath originally published on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.
Welcome Class of 2025!
Falk College welcomes the Class of 2025, a talented group from 37 states and 33 global countries. The Class of 2025 includes 373 first-year students, 13 transfer students, 163 new graduate students, and 156 new online graduate students. Fall 2021 Syracuse Welcome is scheduled for Aug. 26-29, 2021, with new student move-in beginning Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. The entire welcome week schedule for new students can be found by visiting the Syracuse Welcome website.
Falk College Syracuse Welcome Events:
Center for Disability Resources Honors Falk College Faculty
Every year, the Syracuse University Center for Disability Resources (CDR) recognizes faculty and staff members who are nominated for their work in advocating for students and supporting the center in its mission to empower students, enhance equity and provide a platform for innovation and inclusion.
In a year of a pandemic that created challenges for access, nominations were at an all-time high for faculty and staff who went above and beyond to ensure the success of students needing accommodations. This year the center received 67 nominations—the highest ever—from students who wanted to acknowledge the faculty or staff member who made a difference in their academic lives.
These campus community members exemplify what it means to create a sense of community and inclusivity—especially in a time when everyone was stressed and had to be flexible in the time of COVID, says Paula Possenti-Perez, director of the Center for Disability Resources.
“This is a way of highlighting practices of inclusivity and diversity around disability. By elevating that recognition, it has meaning not only to the individual being recognized and the student but also to their department and the University about what’s important,” says Possenti-Perez.
The center, which began the recognition awards in 2015, typically hosts an annual in-person event but was unable to hold the event in 2020 and again this year. But the important work being done is always a reason to recognize those exemplary faculty and staff.
Kala Rounds and Christina Papaleo, both access coordinators with CDR, organize the annual recognition celebration and select the recipients from the nominees.
“When we review the nominations, we look for community members who support the mission and vision of our office and our focus on the social justice model—and emulate those values in their classroom or in their offices,” says Papaleo. “The center’s staff advocate for students on a day-to-day basis, but these campus members go above and beyond their regular duties, carrying the mission throughout campus.”
For example, some students mentioned in their nominations how a faculty or staff member checked in on them and followed up. Others who were nominated checked in with CDR staff to ask about the accommodation process to learn what the office does.
“Many students shared that faculty and staff really practiced empathy, and they took the time with students, recognizing this year in particular was really traumatic in many ways for students,” Papaleo says.
Many of the nominations had recurring themes: faculty and staff nominees were flexible during such a stressful time, were understanding and went above and beyond expectations to be accommodative, Rounds says.
“When I was reading through these nominations, I was really proud that the students were able to share their voices and proud of the faculty and staff as they are open to engaging and working with the student,” Rounds says. “That says a lot about the campus culture change on campus.”
The CDR staff hopes the awards are affirming and motivational to the rest of the community—and expand on the understanding that accessibility is the responsibility of the entire campus and goes beyond compliance.
“This event is helping to share that framework,” Rounds says. “This is our community, and we are all collaborators in this work.”
Falk College faculty and staff members being recognized this year are:
For more information, visit CDR’s 7th Annual Faculty and Staff Recognition page.
2021 Student Research Winners
The Falk College Student Research Celebration is an annual event that takes place to highlight undergraduate and graduate student research projects Students submit posters for display and are judged by a committee of faculty, staff, and peers. Participants compete for educational funds to present their posters on a larger stage, to attend a conference to gain further insights into their respective fields, or for other educational endeavors. This year’s celebration took place virtually.
Undergraduate Winners
How to Allocate the NFL Salary Cap with a Highly Paid Quarterback
Name: Zachary Koeppel
Program/Major: Sport Analytics
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Rodney Paul
The Association that Gender Roles have with Health Seeking Behavior for Women in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda
Name: Gloria Nabbosa, Professor Sandra Lane, and Professor Brittany Kmush
Program/Major: Public Health
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Brittany Kmush
EAT-26 Effectiveness in Detecting Eating Disorders in College Students
Name: Rose Noterman, Sivan Avramovich, and Professor Jessica Garay
Program/Major: Nutrition Science
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Jessica Garay
Under the Radar: An NBA/NCAA Player Similarity Model Utilizing a Factor Analysis & Radar Plots
Name: Dominic Samangy
Program/Major: Sport Analytics
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Justin Ehrlich
Malaria Control with Pyrethroids and Cognitive Deficits in Pre-School Aged Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional Surveys
Name: Megan Willkens
Program/Major: Public Health and Policy Studies
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor David Larsen
Graduate Winners
Associations Between Physical Activity, Body Mass Index and Carotid Extra-Medial Thickness in Children
Name: Danielle Arcidiacono, Wesley Lefferts, Professor Brooks Gump, and Professor Kevin Heffernan
Program/Major: Exercise Science, M.S.
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Kevin Heffernan
Parental Autonomy Support and College Students’ Well-being
Name: Xiaoyu Fu, Woosang Wang, and Professor Eunjoo Jung
Program/Major: Human Development and Family Science, Ph.D.
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Eunjoo Jung
Working Mothers’ Job Demands, Work-family Conflict, and Job Satisfaction in East Asia: A Comparison of China, Taiwan, and Japan with National Sample
Name: Rui Tian and Professor Kamala Ramadoss
Program/Major: Human Development and Family Science, Ph.D.
Faculty Research Mentor: Professor Kamala Ramadoss
Falk College honors faculty excellence in teaching, research, service
Three faculty members from Falk College’s Departments of Nutrition and Food Studies and Public Health and the School of Social Work were honored for excellence in teaching, research, and service with 2021 Falk College Faculty of the Year Awards. The honorees, who are nominated by their peers for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and internal and professional service contributions, were recognized by the Falk Faculty Council with awards at the end of the Spring 2021 semester.
Kay Stearns Bruening
Dr. Stearns Bruening is an associate professor of Nutrition and Food Studies, and director of the Nutrition Assessment, Consultation and Education Center. She was honored with the Evan Weissman Memorial Faculty of the Year Award for Teaching Excellence. By attending numerous training sessions and mastering new technologies, she reworked courses to meet distanced and hybrid learning demands due to the pandemic. To provide formats that best met student learning needs and outcomes, she recorded 76 short lecture videos for the Medical Nutrition Therapy course she taught in the fall semester.
Professor Stearns Bruening is a leader in dietetics education and accreditation, sharing new ideas and pedagogical advances with colleagues regularly. She is an active community collaborator, including ongoing efforts with Upstate University Medical College where she co-taught a Food as Medicine Course, creatively delivering the culinary medicine cooking event and demonstration from her own home kitchen.
The inaugural Evan Weissman Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence honors the lifetime commitment of the late associate professor of food studies who engaged students in community-based work to advance social change. Professor Weissman received this same award for teaching excellence in 2016 in addition to numerous other teaching awards.
Xiafei Wang
Dr. Wang is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work. She received the Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Research. In 2020, she published seven peer-reviewed journal articles, submitted two book chapters and three articles, and presented two posters and one paper. One of her co-authored papers, “Measuring the predictability of life outcomes with a scientific mass collaboration,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The research findings, which demonstrate her significant commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, reveal the complexities of child development and encourage researchers to rethink computational predictions’ effectiveness. An active grant writer, Professor Wang received funding through several external grants. She is dedicated to mentoring students to embrace research, creating two undergraduate research positions through the SOURCE RA program. Thanks to her mentorship, the students secured $5,000 SOURCE grant funding.
Brittany Kmush
Dr. Kmush is an assistant professor of Public Health. She received the Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Service. Since the start of the pandemic, she continues to apply her understanding of infectious disease epidemiology to benefit the Syracuse University pandemic response as a member of the Vice Chancellor’s Public Health Advisory Council. She coordinated the University’s mass testing efforts instrumental in the fall reopening plan, creating and overseeing the pooling lab with students and other volunteers. She oversaw the information and technology needs of the mass testing operations, working with colleagues from institutional research to ensure a data collection and test reporting system that followed students’ tests from collection, through pooling, and onto the result. An often-sought after expert for media interviews, Professor Kmush continues to be a source of insight into infectious disease dynamics, and strategies needed to undertake them.
June PTSD Awareness Month
Falk College, National Science Foundation(NSF) REU Program Host Discussion Series for PTSD Awareness Month in June
To educate the local community about issues related to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Syracuse University’s Falk College, is offering a discussion series during the month of June, which is designated as National PTSD Awareness Month. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events, such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault.
The discussion series to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments is free and open to the public. It takes place in conjunction with the Trauma Research Education for Undergraduates program, a joint effort by Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Oswego to improve access to research experiences for groups typically underrepresented in research.
The project, “Training Diverse Undergraduate Teams of Veterans and Non-Veterans to Conduct Trauma Research with Veterans,” is directed by Brooks B. Gump, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health and co-directed by Professor Karen Wolford, who also coordinates the interdisciplinary graduate certificate program in trauma studies at SUNY Oswego.
The discussion series includes:
Wednesday, May 26 at 2:00, Virtual
Scott Aubin, U.S. Air Force veteran, PTSD awareness instructor, “Dealing with unrecognized PTSD”.
Wednesday, June 2 at 2:00 pm, Virtual
Kyle Possemato, clinical research psychologist, Syracuse VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, “Novel Interventions to Engage Veterans with Unmet Mental Health Needs in Care”.
Monday June 9 at 2:00 pm, Virtual
Thom DeLara, Professor of Practice and Chair of the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy at Syracuse University “Systems Theory, Trauma and Research”.
Wednesday, June 16 at 2:00 pm, Virtual
Keith Alford PhD, Syracuse University Chief Diversity Officer, “Racial, cultural and ethnic response differences to PTSD”.
Wednesday June 23 at 2:00, Virtual
Lt Col. Ian Stewart MD, FACP, FASN, U.S Air Force, Medical Corps, Bethesda, MD. “Long-term mental and physical health after combat trauma”.
Wednesday June 23 at 3:00, Virtual
Jeffrey T. Howard, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, College for Health, Community and Policy, University of Texas at San Antonio, “Military Exposures and Accelerated Aging: Understanding Trauma as a Chronic Disease.”
Supported by a National Science Foundation Research Education for Undergraduates grant and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), this REU program spans one year, including an intensive six-week summer program in June. This program provides research training to increase skills in conducting trauma research while increasing a student’s ability to gain admission to competitive graduate programs.
“Through a competitive national review process, we have selected a group of student-Veterans and traditional students to complete this research training this summer,” says Wolford. “The students will be paired on teams with mentors to research PTSD and will later present their research at national conferences”.
“As part of this research training, we invite guest speakers who have expertise in the area of PTSD to inform our research trainees on cutting edge developments on traumatic stress research. We open these expert talks to the community as part of the June Posttraumatic Stress awareness month, which is an ongoing national effort to educate about PTSD,” Wolford adds.
For more information about the speakers or REU program, contact Moise Laub at mplaub@syr.edu or visit traumaresearch.syr.edu.
Falk students, faculty, staff honored at One University celebration
The One University Awards event is a daylong celebration of excellence by members of the Syracuse University community in academics, scholarship, creative work, leadership, and dedicated service. It was held on May 7, 2021. View the ceremony.
Several members of the Falk College community were recognized for excellence, including Professor Margaret Voss who was named a 2021-24 Meredith Professor. Learn more about her project. Professors Brooks Gump and Merril Silverstein received the Chancellor’s Citation for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction. Dean Diane Lyden Murphy received the Forever Orange Award that honors individuals who embody the spirit of Syracuse University through academic excellence, exemplary leadership, and selfless service to the entire Orange community, on campus and beyond. Claire Cooke ’21, human development and family science major and a member of the field hockey team received the Student-Athlete Scholar Award, and; public health graduate student Pruthvi Kilaru ’18, G’20 and Professors Brittany Kmush and David Larsen, along with other members of the Public Health Team, received the Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Group Contributions to the Student Experience and University Initiatives
Also recognized from Falk College were emeriti faculty, faculty and staff with years of service milestones, University Scholars, Class and School and College Marshals and Remembrance Scholars. Read the full list of honorees and details about these awards.
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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