Spring 2, 2020 Newsletter
I am hoping that our newsletter finds you safe and well during these stressful times.

I want to express heartfelt thanks to our staff and faculty for all that you have done and are doing to keep department operations running smoothly and to maintain our teaching and support for our students, even as we have shifted to working remotely. While we all remain connected through technology, let us never forget that our most important connection is as a supportive community. Accordingly, please be in touch with any ideas about things that we can do better or issues important to you that need to be addressed.

To our alumni who are working on the frontlines, we are very proud of you and we would like you to capture and share the important work related to Covid-19 that you are doing. So please send us the stories about your work related to the current COVID-19 crisis to Daniel Choi (danielchoi@hpsh.harvard.edu).

Our nation and the world needs the public health expertise that we have to share more than ever. COVID-19 is a stark reminder that larger societal inequities affect every aspect of this pandemic -- who gets the virus, who gets tested, who has easy access to care and can be confident about receiving quality care, who recovers and who dies and who has the reserves to survive the severe economic shocks that our societies are facing. So let us never forget the needs of the socially marginalized and stigmatized and those suffering from preexisting illness. And let us redouble our commitment to affirm the dignity of all and seek to combat the racist and xenophobic rhetoric and behavior that some are employing as they respond to the pandemic. 

Even the most basic advice to wash our hands is beyond the reach of many in our world. A recent UNICEF fact sheet reminds us that only 3 out of 5 people worldwide have basic handwashing facilities. Some 40% of the world’s population, or 3 billion people, lack a handwashing facility with water and soap at home. And some 47% of schools globally (serving 900 million children) do not have a handwashing facility with water and soap. I want to acknowledge and thank our colleague, Nancy Krieger, who developed and continues to lead the Spirit of 1848 listserv which has arguably become the premier source of information on the health equity dimensions of the pandemic.
In the midst of these difficult times of uncertainty and stress, it is important to remember to make taking care of ourselves a priority. So, stay healthy, stay safe and stay engaged.


With appreciation and warm regards,

David R. Williams
Engagement Opportunity
Academic public health schools and programs in MA, state agencies, and nonprofit organizations are collaborating to link public health students, faculty, staff, and alumni with the 351 municipalities, as they request.

This form is being circulated to affiliates of Massachusetts' schools of public health, seeking volunteers "to assist the staff and volunteers at the local public health offices who are overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic". The following are identified as the top three "critical needs of local boards of public health":

  • Phone-banking to respond to COVID-19 questions
  • Case tracing
  • Administrative support, including monitoring/posting social media and translating/interpreting information

Please note, there will an online training (2-3 hours) required training to orient volunteers.

Career Updates
Congratulations to the SBS staff, faculty, and academic appointees who have reached a key milestone at Harvard in calendar year 2019:

5 Years
James Greene Daly
Jennifer Reiner
Alberta F. Zoummar

10 Years
Alan Charles Geller
Karestan Koenen

15 Years
Rebekka M. Lee
Vaughan Wallis Rees

20 Years
Pamela Waterman

30 Years
Rima E. Rudd
Amy Bolton  joined the SBS department on March 25 as Research Assistant for the CHOICES Project at the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity. Some of her main duties include reviewing articles, preparing reports, and supporting the production of presentations and briefs. 

Amy interest's include children's nutrition and physical activity, behavioral economics, and applied research. She received her Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from Colorado College.
James Daly was recently promoted to Research Project Manager at the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity and the newly funded Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity. He will be conducting and overseeing research involving interviews, observations, and surveys with health department and community health center staff.
Ria Golecha joined the SBS department on March 9 as Project Coordinator at the India Research Center. She joins the Center with over three years of public health consulting work experience at Global Health Strategies, IQVIA Consulting and World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office in New Delhi, India.

Since 2015, Ria has also been running a non-profit organization that leverages the traditional Indian art form of puppetry as a means of behavior change communication and empowers underprivileged puppeteers living in peri-urban slums of Kathputli Colony, New Delhi.
Rebekka Lee was recently named Director of the Community Engagement Program at Harvard Catalyst where she’ll be working with Faculty Lead, Karen Emmons, to increase the pace of adoption of evidence-based programs and policies to promote health, prevent disease, and eliminate disparities through capacity building of researchers and community partners.

Rebecca Mozaffarian has begun a new position as Project Manager in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH. Rebecca joined SBS in 2006, and since then had worked in a variety of research roles at the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Jennifer Reiner has been promoted to Project Manager at the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity. She will be managing partnerships with state and local health agencies to develop local cost-effectiveness models to promote increased implementation of policies and strategies that promote a healthy weight among children.  
COVID-19 Publications
Bassett MT, Gonzalez E, Walker D. Andrew Cuomo, Stop a Coronavirus Disaster: Release People From Prison . The New York Times, March 30, 2020.

Bassett MT mentioned in Senne S. Will inequality worsen the toll of the pandemic in the U.S.? . The Harvard Gazette, March 24, 2020.

Killam K . How to Prevent Loneliness in a Time of Social Distancing . Scientific American, March 12, 2020.

Kim JJ, Koenen KC. Physical Distance and Social Solidarity: Not Social Distancing! Thrive Global, March 20, 2020.

Koenen KC, Lincoln AK, Smoller JW. Battling the Pandemic of Fear.Thrive Global, March 26, 2020.

Basu A, Koenen KC. Talking To Your Kids About Coronavirus. WBUR Cognoscenti, March 17, 2020.

Williams MA, Viswanath K. Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, Misinformation Puts Public Health at Risk . Thrive Global, March 27, 2020.
Other Publications
Katz-Wise SL . Co-parent adoption: A critical protection for LGBTQ+ families . Harvard Health Blog, February 25, 2020.

Rajpal S, Kim R, Sankar R, Kumar A, Joe W, Subramanian S V. Frequently asked questions on child anthropometric failures in India .  Economic & Political Weekly  2020, 55, 8: 59-64.
Bekalu MA, McCloud RF, Viswanath K .  Association of Social Media Use with Social Well-Being, Positive Mental Health, and Self-Rated Health: Disentangling Routine Use From Emotional Connection to Use .  Health Education & Behavior,  Dec. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1090198119863768

Bhatia A , Krieger N , Victora C, Tuladhar S, Bhabha J, Beckfield J. Analyzing and improving national and local child protection data in Nepal: a mixed methods study using the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and interviews with 18 organizations . Child Abuse & Neglect 2020 (March); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104292

Jahn JL, Chen JT , Agénor M, Krieger N .  County-level jail incarceration and preterm birth among non-Hispanic Black and White U.S. Women, 1999-2015 .   Social Science & Medicine.   (in press)

Krieger N . Climate crisis, health equity, & democratic governance: the need to act together . J Public Health Policy , Vol. 41, pp. 4-10, March 2020. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-019-00209-x

White, K., Lawrence, J.A. , Tchangalova, N.  et al.   Socially-assigned race and health: a scoping review with global implications for population health equity .  Int J Equity Health, Vol.  19, February, 2020.

Lee H-E , Kim I, Kim H-R,  Kawachi I .  Association of long working hours with accidents and suicide mortality in Korea . Scand J Work Environ Health (in press) doi:10.5271/sjweh.3890

Nagler EM , Aghi M, Rathore A, Lando H, Pednekar MS, Gupta PC, Stoddard AM, Kenwood C, Penningroth B, Sinha DN, Sorensen G . Factors associated with successful tobacco use cessation among teachers in Bihar state, India: a mixed-method study . Health Educ. Res , Vol. 35, pp. 60-73, February 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyz035

Lee H-Y, Oh J , Kim R, Subramanian S V . Long-term trend in inequalities by socioeconomic status and residence type and geographic variation in the utilization of antenatal care service in India: Results from the National Family Health Survey 1998-2015 . Health Services Research Journal 2019, 00: 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13277 (epub ahead of print)

Roncarati JS , O’Connell JJ, Hwang SW, Baggett TP, Cook EF, Krieger N , Sorenson G . The use of high-risk criteria to assess mortality risk among unsheltered homeless persons . J Health Care Poor and Underserved, Vol 31, pp. 441-454, February, 2020.

Schwartz, GL, Jahn JL. Mapping fatal police violence across U.S. metropolitan areas: overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017 .  PLOS ONE (in press)

Li Z, Patton, G, Sabet F, Zhou Z, Subramanian S V , Lu C. Contraceptive use in adolescent girls and adult women in low- and middle- income countries . JAMA Netw Open 2020, 3, 2: e1921437.

Sethi V, de Wagt A, Bhanot A, Singh KD, Agarwal P, Murira Z, Bhatia S, Baswal D, Unisa S and  Subramanian SV .  Levels and determinants of malnutrition among India’s urban poor women: An analysis of Demographic Health Surveys 2006 and 2016 .  Matern Child Nutr 2019, e12978. http://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12978 (epub ahead of print)

Goss E, Iyer S, Arnsten J, Wang L, Smith CL .   Liberation Medicine: a Community Partnership and Health Advocacy Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents .  J Gen Intern Med  (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05518-1

Smith CL . Sobre el terror sistémico, su historia y resistencias: hacer Norte América bella, como Harriet Tubman / On Trump’s New Call to Terror and Resistance Like Harriet Tubman . Revista de Medicine Social , Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 141-143 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05518-1

VanderWeele TJ,  Trudel-Fitzgerald C , Allin P, Farrelly C, Fletcher G, Frederick DE, Hall J, Helliwell JF, Kim ES, Lauinger WA, Lee MT, Lyubomirsky S, Margolis S, McNeely E, Messer N, Tay L, Viswanath V, Węziak-Białowolska D, Kubzansky LD.   Current recommendations on the selection of measures for well-being .  Preventive Medicine, Vol. 220, Epub ahead of print, April, 2020.

Toussaint, L, Gall, A, Cheadle, A, Williams, DR . Let it rest: Sleep and health as positive correlates of forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness . Psychology & Health, Vol. 35(3): pp. 302-317, March 2020.

Van Dyke, ME, Baumhofer, NK, Slopen, N, Mujahid, MS, Clark, CR, Williams, DR, Lewis, TT (in press) Pervasive Discrimination and Allostatic Load in African-American and White Adults . Psychosomatic Medicine.

Cressman, AE, Howe, CJ, Nunn, AS, Adimora, AA,  Williams, DR,  Kempf, M-J, Chandran, A, Wentz, EL, Blackstock, OJ, Kassaye, SG, Cohen, J, Cohen, MH, Wingood, GM, Metsch, LR, Wilson, TE.  The relationship between discrimination and missed HIV care appointments among women living with HIV . AIDS and Behavior, Vol. 24(1), pp. 151-164, January 2020.
Awards and Honors
Jill Roncarati has received the 2019 Zhu Family Trainee Travel Award to present her research, Housing Boston’s Chronically Homeless Rough Sleepers: Ten Years Later, during the 2019 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo.
Presentations
Bekalu MA, Gundersen DA, Viswanath K . "Socioeconomic- and Residence-based Disparities in Health Risk Perceptions of Smoking: How do Public Health Communications Help?" 44th Annual American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) Conference: Tucson, Arizona.  

Jahn JL ,  Chen JT , Agénor M, Krieger N . "County-level jail incarceration and preterm birth among non-Hispanic Black and White U.S. Women, 1999-2015.” Population Association of America Annual Conference: Washington, DC.

Krieger N , Coull N, Chen JT , Nethery R, Waterman PD , Wright E , Rushovich T . "US census data, differential privacy, and spatial uncertainty: implications for using census tract data to quantify health inequities." Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI), “The Smart, Equitable Commonwealth: Co-Creating the Society We Want” (BARI Spring Conference): Cambridge, MA.

Krieger N , Coull N, Chen JT , Nethery R, Waterman PD , Wright E , Rushovich T . "US census data, differential privacy, and spatial uncertainty: implications for using census tract data to quantify health inequities." Invited presentation at: Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis “From Geospatial Research to Health Solutions” (CGA Spring Conference): Cambridge, MA.

Krieger N . "Structural racism, history, and current health inequities. Invited presentation at: Boston Harvard Club and 1913 Society, “Separate and Unequal: Understanding Inequalities in America’s Health System”: Boston, MA.

Nagler E,   Pednekar M , Sinha D , Adhikari K, Vriniotis M , Gupta PC , Sorensen G . "Disseminating an Evidence-Based Tobacco Control intervention for School Teachers in India: Overview and Preliminary Findings." 8th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research: Creative approaches to global cancer research and control: Washington, DC.

Nagler E .  "Fostering health and wellbeing among low-wage food service workers: Using formative research to guide intervention design."  Society of Behavioral Medicine, 41 st  Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions: San Francisco, CA.

Nagler E.   "Working conditions are key to “whole health”: An analysis of focus group discussions with Veterans Affairs employees." Society of Behavioral Medicine, 41 st  Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions: San Francisco, CA.

Roncarati JS , Sullivan MA. “Homelessness 101.” FXB Center on Health and Human Rights: Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Roncarati JS , Swanson K, Koh KA, Tachick B. “Street Medicine: Caring for unsheltered homeless adults in the U.S.” Initiative for Health and Homelessness Seminar. Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Roncarati JS , Sullivan MA. “Homelessness in the U.S.” Nano-course offered at Harvard Medical School and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Schwartz, GL, Jahn JL. " Mapping fatal police violence across U.S. metropolitan areas: overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017." Population Association of America Annual Conference: Washington, DC. 
Events and Seminars
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, many SBS and other HSPH events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to an online format. For the most current information, visit SBS's Events Calendar and HSPH's Master Events Calendar.
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
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