Public Health News
The Syracuse Lead Study Expands Recruitment
The Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition at Syracuse University’s Falk College is expanding recruitment for the Syracuse Lead Study. Additional zip codes are 13202, 13206,13210 and 13224 in addition to the existing areas of 13203, 13204, 13205, 13207 and 13208. The study is examining environmental toxins (lead) that collect in our system and how that impacts stress response and cardiovascular health.
“Recruitment will continue until we reach our goal of 300 participants,” says Dr. Brooks Gump, principal investigator for the Syracuse Lead Study and the Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health at Syracuse University. In addition to residence in the outlined zip codes, participants need to be 9, 10 or 11 years of age and consider their race as black or white. Participants and their parents/guardians will be compensated for their time with a stipend of up to $120.00.
The study consists of two appointments which involve a blood draw, collection of hair and urine samples, body measurements, two echocardiograms, questionnaires and computer games. Appointments will occur on and off-campus and will take approximately 7 hours total.
Bringing Theory to Practice project headed to SU, other campuses
Several courses within the Falk College will benefit from a Bringing Theory to Practice grant aimed at studying the psychological and social well-being of college students. The Bringing Theory to Practice Project (BTtoP) awarded more than $700,000, including campus matching grants, to the colleges to address two key questions: How does learning on college campuses support the psychosocial development of students, and how and why does intentional commitment to the well-being of all students positively affect their learning and civic involvement?
Among the courses to be evaluated and studied are two courses offered through Falk College: SPM 101—Personal and Social Responsibility taught by associate professor of sport management, Jeff Pauline and HTW 405/HTW 605—Cognitive Behavioral Approaches to Stress Reduction, taught by assistant professor of public health, Dessa Bergen-Cico. Additionally, SOC/WGS/CFE 230—Intergroup Dialogue, which focuses on women’s issues, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, taught by Gretchen Lopez from the School of Education, is included in the project.
Syracuse University was one of 28 schools awarded funds to study and evaluate courses that have civic engagement and specific engaged learning practices in their curricula that add to the overall well-being of students.
The BTtoP campus projects began early this year and will continue through June 2015. Bringing Theory to Practice is an independent project sponsored by the Charles Engelhard Foundation of New York City and the S. Engelhard Center and developed in partnership with the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The State University of New York at Cortland, State University of New York at Geneseo and Wagner College also are part of the project.
Falk College honors faculty for excellence in teaching, research, service
Faculty members from the Departments of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition and Sport Management were honored for excellence in teaching, research and service with 2014 Falk College Faculty of the Year Awards. The honorees, who are nominated by their peers for outstanding performance and contributions to students, the Falk College, Syracuse University and beyond, were recognized during the Falk College’s Convocation for the Class of 2014 on May 10. The name of each recipient, the award received, and excerpts from the letters of nomination are noted below.
Dennis Deninger, Professor of Practice, Sport Management
Excellence in Teaching
Professor Deninger is described as having a genuine passion for teaching and mentoring students. His courses draw from 25+ years as an industry practitioner at ESPN television. Professor Deninger, a three-time Emmy Award winner at ESPN, recently wrote and produced his second documentary, “Changing Sports, Changing Lives,” which premiered on campus in April 2014 and focused on disability and sports.
In addition to service in the Falk College Department of Sport Management and Syracuse University, he has served as a national judge for the annual College Sports Media Awards. Dennis also completed teaching and administrative responsibilities in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he was the founding director of the Sports Communications graduate program.
He has written and published a book, Sports on Television: The How and Why Behind What You See, which is being translated into Chinese.
Dr. Rodney Paul, Professor, Sport Management
Excellence in Research
Most recently, Dr. Paul received the 2014 Award for Extraordinary Accomplishments in Research by the Academy of Economics and Finance, the organization that selected him as the Research Fellow in Economics in 2013.
As a sports economist, he brings a strong financial and analytical business background into the classroom, which is immeasurable in the sport management field of study. In the past year, his research has focused on attendance variables and predictability among different minor league baseball leagues; betting and wagering in college football; ticket pricing variables affecting Major League Baseball; fan satisfaction levels in the National Football League; and attendance predictability in minor league professional hockey, among other contemporary topics.
Dr. Paul serves as the faculty sponsor for honors theses, independent studies, research projects and sport practicums, and advises the Baseball Statistics Club.
Dr. Maureen Thompson, Associate Professor, Public Health
Excellence in Service
Dr. Thompson is described as someone who is never a passive participant and shoulders more than her fair share of tasks and responsibilities. As director of undergraduate programs in public health, she conducts all interviews for students seeking to declare a public health major or transfer into it.
She served on both the Falk College and departmental Promotion & Tenure Committees. She has chaired, and currently serves on, the departmental curriculum committee. She is an expert at developing curricula and has shared that expertise, via her committee work, in developing the major and minor in food studies and graduate programs in public health. She has also been instrumental in developing the Falk College’s addictions studies programs.
Her additional service includes the University Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Promotion and the University Health Professions Advisory Board. She is co-director of the Consortium from Cultural Foundations in Medicine.
Falk College honored with 2014 Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement & Scholarship
The Falk College is pleased to announce that its students representing 21 courses, student organizations, field placements/internships and community efforts, and their faculty-staff advisors, were recognized with 2014 Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement and Scholarship (CAPES) during a ceremony April 23. The Chancellor’s Awards for Public Engagement and Scholarship are given each year to Syracuse University students and groups who exemplify the highest ideal of sustained, quality engagement with citizens in our community.
Social work student, Joshua Berman ’14, received a Chancellor’s Citation. He is an active leader serving as a Falk College peer advisor, teaching assistant for the first-year social work gateway course, and co-executive director and board member of Orange Seeds first-year leadership program. He is also active with SU Collegiate Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service, and Elmcrest Children’s Center.
Over the years, many students indicated the desire to honor special faculty, staff or community partners who have been motivating to them as they made their way into the community. A 2014 Inspiration Award was presented to Bette Brown Thoreck, B.S.S.W. program director.
FST 402—Feeding the City received an honorable mention in the category of Innovation in Academic Achievement. This course investigates the relationship between food systems and cities, including a deliverable item for a community partner. The Falk College received several honors in the category of Legacy Award for Academic Achievement for meaningful and sustained engagement:
Students enrolled in the Department of Child and Family Studies’ internship courses (CFS 433, 493, and 494) were recognized for their service to the community. CFS internships place seniors in social service agencies, schools, and early childhood education facilities throughout Central New York.
Legacy awards were presented to the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition for: HTW 307—Culturally Competent Healthcare; HTW 227—Healthy You; HTW 304—Public Health: Community Health Education; HTW 311—Health Literacy and the Genesis Health Project Network; NSD 511—Nutrition Education; NSD 513—Nutrition Education Experience: Orange Wrap, and; NSD 658—Participatory Program Planning. These groups were selected for their on-going, outstanding work in improving the health of others in the University and greater Syracuse community.
Second-year students in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) were recognized for the more than 7,500 hours of individual, couple and family therapy provided. TheMFT Transgender Team, one of the largest transgender programs in upstate New York, was honored for providing access to care many clients might not otherwise be able to afford. School of Social Work students enrolled in field placement courses in the BSSW and MSW programs (SWK 435, 445, 671, 672, 771, 772) and SWK 301—Foundations of Social Work Practice received awards for their on-going, outstanding work in improving the quality of life in the greater Syracuse community.
Gump to continue leading Undergraduate Program for Trauma Research with Veterans with newly awarded NSF grant
Collaboration between SU’s Falk College, Upstate Medical University and SUNY Oswego focuses on meaningful research experiences, mentoring for students
Falk Family Professor of Public Health, Brooks Gump, Ph.D., MPH, will continue leading a program this summer for undergraduate veterans and non-veterans (five openings for each) interested in becoming trauma researchers. Gump was one of six faculty from three upstate New York universities (Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate, and SUNY Oswego) who ran this Research Education for Undergraduates (REU) program in 2012 and 2013. As one of several on-going interdisciplinary collaborations in the Falk College, the REU program includes faculty members Keith A. Alford, Ph.D., ACSW, associate professor of social work and Dessa Bergen-Cico, Ph.D., CHES, CAS, assistant professor, public health.
The $285,679 grant recently awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will support the REU program for two more years, which is now recruiting undergraduate veterans and non-veterans to participate. Students can earn $3,000 for participating in an intensive four-week summer program from June 2-27, 2014 at Syracuse University.
“During our first year, we admitted non-veterans to fill openings in the program. A serendipitous finding emerged in that we discovered a mix of veterans and non-veterans was a clear strength of our program. Veterans were able to develop a sense of belonging to a ‘traditional’ college group and were appreciated for their unique expertise on a research topic for which they had first-hand knowledge. Non-veteran undergraduates developed a sense of appreciation for the need to develop applied research in collaboration with those that were ‘on the ground.’ Consequently, in our program’s second year, we targeted enrollment to include half veterans and half non-veterans, resulting in increased recruitment for the program,” notes Gump.
The program involves coursework, mentored student-faculty interaction, and development of a research project. Following the program’s summer component, the second phase continues the next semester with research under the continued mentorship of REU faculty. Research findings are submitted for presentation at a national or international conference.
For undergraduates interested in graduate school, it can sometimes be challenging to find meaningful research experiences that offer hands-on opportunities coupled with close work and mentoring with skilled faculty researchers. The REU program is an ideal way to gain valuable research experience while increasing marketability for admission to competitive graduate programs. In addition, the program provides (at no charge to participants) the Princeton Review GRE-Prep course.
“The data from our evaluation suggest this program might serve as a model for re-integration of returning veterans, particularly for those returning to higher education. It offers a unique and valuable research lesson for all participants,” adds Gump.
Study Public Health Abroad During Summer 2014 programs
Openings are still available for the following Falk College study abroad programs this summer:
HTW 400/600—Comparative Health Policy
May 24-June 14, 2014
This six-credit undergraduate and graduate course will use a variety of modalities for students to learn about comparative health policies. Students will visit Geneva, Amsterdam, and Morocco to fully immerse themselves in settings that take different policy approaches to health problems. Taught by Dr. Lutchmie Narine, students will have the opportunity to visit important health care institutions (e.g., the World Health Organization in Geneva) and participate in discussions with health care leaders in each country which will provide first hand insight into health policy making process. Against this stimulating background, assignments and class-wide discussions will be undertaken for course topics that focus directly on different approaches to the delivery of health care and extending beyond to the social and demographic factors that shape the making and implementation of health policies across nations.
HTW 412/HTW 612—Drug Policy in Global Perspective
May 13 –May 27, 2014
For the fourth consecutive year, Drug Policy in Global Perspective (HTW 412/HTW 612) is being offered through Public Health and Addiction Studies. This is an unprecedented time of debate and change in US and international drug policy. Operating from Amsterdam, as the primary study location, this course exposes participants to effective harm reduction and pragmatic public health strategies that address alcohol, other drugs, and addictive behavior from a human rights perspective. Students will examine decriminalized drug policies of the Netherlands and learn about drug policies from around the world while attending the 2014 International Society for the Study of Drug Policy Conference in Rome, Italy. Taught by Dr. Dessa Bergen-Cico, the course is three credits and runs for two weeks.
Global Public Health Policy: Spring Break 2014 in Cambridge, England
Students interested in the short-term Global Public Health Policy Course being held at Anglia Ruskin Univ. in Cambridge, England over Spring Break 2014 should visit the SU Abroad website for complete information, including dates, costs, and lecture topics. If you are interested in participating in the course, please also submit your application per instructions on the SU Abroad website as soon as possible. During spring semester registration in November, you must also register for this course HTW 300, SEC M001 on MySlice, along with your other spring classes.
Larsen focuses research on Malaria elimination in Zambia
In the Amazon port city of Belem, Brazil, David Larsen came to understand the luxury of a few pennies.
Larsen, an assistant professor of public health in the Falk College, worked among the people living in extreme poverty in the favelas, while a missionary from 2002-04. “We’d be knocking on doors and saw very close up the devastating effects of the lack of health care, clean water and sanitation,” he says. “They literally had nothing.”
And the simplest of measures—such as an ordinary antibiotic worth a few cents—could have a profound impact.
“Seeing the things that I had taken for granted as far as health care—we’re talking Tylenol, vaccines and other similar remedies—and the huge role that health played in their lives was very forming to me,” Larsen says. “It also made me think about the way disease is transmitted.”
Larsen now pursues research in infectious diseases and is currently a co-investigator on a malaria elimination study in Zambia. He cannot contain his frustration when he speaks in terms of the children.
“About 10 million children under the age of five die every year around the world and most of those deaths occur in the first 30 days of life from infections, sepsis and tetanus, which is vaccine preventable,” Larsen says. “After 30 days of life, the leading causes are diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections and malaria—all completely treatable. Something as simple as sugar water with a little bit of salt can prevent someone from dying from diarrhea; it can rehydrate a child.”
After his work in Brazil, Larsen earned a B.A. degree in psychology, with concentrations in child and adolescent development, from Brigham Young University. He then pursued an MPH and a Ph.D. from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine—inspired by his overseas work and a National Geographic article about the impact of malaria, called “Bedlam in the Blood.”
“Malaria is such a fascinating disease because it’s completely preventable and completely treatable, and it’s been that way for many years, but it’s still one of the leading killers of people around the world,” Larsen says.
Malaria, which is marked by high fever, headache and vomiting, also causes anemia, which can be especially devastating for children.
There is no vaccine for malaria, so the remedy is to stop or kill mosquitos or keep them from biting. “Then also it’s about clearing infections quickly with a standard treatment, but one of the problems is that not all infections are linked to symptoms,” Larsen explains.
If an infected asymptomatic individual does not seek treatment, a mosquito may then bite that individual and reinfect another individual. “You can carry the parasite with you without being sick but still be a source of infection for others,” he says.
Larsen’s current three-year study involves asymptomatic infections. “I had an idea that if we could quantify the amount of transmission that would occur in a household, then we could tailor interventions to adults,” Larsen says. “When we talk about malaria control we target interventions toward children but we’re ignoring the asymptomatic infections that are more prevalent among adults. We wanted to look at if we target the source of the infection could we reduce the amount of transmission that way.”
Larsen, who has traveled to African many times, submitted the proposal to the Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA), a program of the nonprofit health organization PATH and whose funding comes primarily from the Gates Foundation, in Zambia to do a small study.
“They came back and said let’s make this bigger,” he says. “They were less interested in basic science but were more interested in applications that could be scaled and really effect the malaria burden.”
It turned into a multi-year study where they progressively scaled the group to include 100,000 individuals in 40,000 households in southern Zambia, along the shores of Lake Kariba. Individuals were screened for the infection and treated; this was done three times during the dry season.
Larsen’s Ph.D. dissertation revolved around the study’s preliminary data. “We found that one round of screening and treatment didn’t affect the parasitic prevalence, but three rounds did,” he says.
His current research includes looking at other vector control measures that could complement bed nets. He is also doing research in the areas of Dengue fever and diarrheal diseases, evaluating a sanitation campaign for nonprofit group Akros and UNICEF.
Larsen, who teaches Implementation and Evaluation this semester and will teach Epidemiology in the spring, says his students would probably say he talks way too much about malaria, but he hopes to bring them even greater meaning beyond the facts and numbers.
“On one level I want to make people aware that we live in the relative lap of luxury in the United States where we don’t think twice about these illnesses,” Larsen says. “On another level I think we can learn a lot from the ingenuity and perseverance of people in these situations.”
Brooks Gump named Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health
Brooks B. Gump, Ph.D., MPH, has been named the Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health in the Falk College at Syracuse University. Gump joined the Falk College faculty in 2010 and is currently a professor in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition, where he also serves as the graduate program director for public health.
“In consultation with the Falk family, I am pleased to name Dr. Brooks Gump as the Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health. He is a nationally recognized leader in his field and an exemplary scholar and researcher in the area of public health. The Falk College is fortunate to have him leading our graduate program in public health. He works each day collaborating with other scholars to make a difference in critical research areas within the field. The Falk College and the Falk family are privileged to support his efforts,” notes Diane Lyden Murphy, dean, Falk College.
In 2011, Syracuse University alumni David B. and Rhonda S. Falk committed $15 million to SU—one of the largest-ever single gifts to the University. As part of their visionary and purposeful commitment to academics as a path to success, which created the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, the Falks also established a series of endowed professorships. These professorships allow the Falk College to support internationally recognized faculty to enhance the research, academic and experiential components of its programs to advance its mission rich in teaching, research, scholarship, practice and service.
“I’m very appreciative of the support I’ve received from Dean Murphy and the Research Center since joining Falk College—these sorts of large research endeavors are, by necessity, team efforts from inception to completion. I also thank the Falk family for their generosity and support by the creation of these endowed positions,” says Dr. Gump.
Recognized internationally for his research on cardiovascular disease risk in children, Gump was awarded an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences earlier this year for the project, “Environmental Toxicants, Race and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Children.” The study investigates the relationship between race, socioeconomic status, blood lead levels, cardiovascular responses to acute stress and cardiovascular disease risk. To better pinpoint the early antecedents of racial disparities, the study is focused on a sample of 300 African American and European American children ages 9 to 11 in the city of Syracuse, NY area over four years.
“We know many African American children have higher levels of lead in their blood than white children,” notes Gump. “Preliminary data suggest their hearts are already showing signs of change because lead is causing vascular constriction, triggering a rise in blood pressure. We also hope to link the well-known detrimental effects of lead on cognitive functioning to this vascular constriction because reduced blood flow may have negative impact on brain function.”
In addition to his ongoing NIH-supported research with children, Gump is currently principal investigator for a grant from the National Science Foundation Research Education for Undergraduate (REU) program, entitled, “Training Veterans to Conduct Trauma Research with Fellow Veterans.” Through this grant, Gump and a team from SUNY Oswego and SUNY Upstate Medical train undergraduates who are military veterans to conduct research with other veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The recipient of numerous research awards for his work, Gump was honored most recently with the Falk College’s Faculty of the Year in Research for 2012-2013.
Previously, Gump served as an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Oswego. His work there was also supported by numerous NIH grants, including an R01, R21, and American Recovery and Reinvestment Award Supplement. With an array of research and publications, his specialties include psychosocial factors and their overall effect on health, and more recently, the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage, race, and environmental toxicants (e.g.,lead and mercury) on children and adolescents’ health. His teaching areas include introduction to epidemiology, introduction to psychology, health psychology, research methods/experimental psychology, health promotion, introductory and advanced statistics, behavioral medicine and psychophysiology.
He serves on the editorial board of two prominent journals in his field, Psychosomatic Medicine, and Health Psychology, and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other journals, including the American Journal of Epidemiology, Pediatrics, Stroke, and American Journal of Psychiatry. He is currently serving a four-year term as a member of the National Institute of Child Health and Development’s (NICHD’s) Health, Behavior, and Context Subcommittee.
Gump earned a Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, and MPH degree in epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. He holds a master in general psychology from Radford University and a bachelor of arts in philosophy from Swarthmore College.
Gump Leads NIH Study Aimed to Improve Children’s Cardiovascular Health; Currently Seeking Participants for Syracuse Lead Study
The Falk College’s Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition at Syracuse University is seeking participants for a new research study aimed to improve children’s cardiovascular health. The Syracuse Lead Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, will examine environmental toxins that collect in the human body, such as lead, to understand their impact on stress response and cardiovascular health. By identifying cardiovascular risk factors, this research study will offer valuable information to improve child and adult health in communities throughout the country.
The Syracuse Lead Study is a four-year project focused on children ages 9, 10 or 11, who live in the 13203, 13204, 13205, 13207 or 13208 zip code areas and identify their race as black or white. Participants and their parents/guardians will be compensated for their time with a stipend of up to $120. The study consists of two appointments at Syracuse University. The first appointment involves a venous blood draw to measure lead levels and questionnaires regarding stressors and support systems. The second appointment requires two echocardiograms and the completion of several computer games in a laboratory setting. Time commitment is approximately five-hours on campus.
“This is an important research study that will help us examine the impact toxins have on our health and well-being, allowing us to take part in improving the health of our nation, increasing the quality of life for individuals and families and potentially reducing the high cost of health care,” notes Dr. Brooks Gump, principal investigator for the Syracuse Lead Study and professor at Syracuse University.
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