Email - SPH Connect: For Alumni and Friends of UW SPH

Summer 2012

Nutrition Returns to UW SPH

Alumni and donors boost undergrad courses

They used to call it Home Economics. But courses about the science of food virtually disappeared from the UW undergraduate curriculum in the early 1980s. Nobody knew it then, but it was bad timing – a nationwide obesity epidemic was about to begin, leading to a host of health problems, from increased cardiovascular disease to diabetes. Now, three decades later, nutrition courses are again being offered to undergrads, thanks in part to money raised by alumni and donors. Read more.

Alumni Profile

Guiding UW through rapid tech change

Kelli Trosvig, MHA 1994 in Health Services, holds one of the UW’s highest positions. She was recently named vice president for information technology and chief information officer. Trosvig says her master’s in health administration taught her invaluable skills, including how to be strategic and thoughtful in management. “In the MHA program, you are exposed to so many different healthcare leaders, you see many different styles, and it’s probably what’s resulted in me being here,” she says. Read more.

Making a Difference

Creating green places in the slums of Peru

SPH faculty members and students are turning one of Peru’s mega-slums into a greener, healthier place. Joe Zunt, Susan Bolton, and Ben Spencer, all from Global Health, are leading plans to improve the lives of thousands of people in the district of Puente Piedra, near Lima. The project began in 2007. A recent effort – helped by eight students on a month-long exploration seminar and by dozens of community members – created a park with walkways, trees and shrubs on what was once a sandy dune. The team also designed and built an irrigation system using recycled water. The project has won two prestigious awards: the 2012 Great Places Design Award from the Environmental Design Research Association and a 2012 SEED International Award.

Teaching safety in Spanish language radio

Spanish language radio is a major presence in agricultural communities. The Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health (PNASH) Center has produced several stories for these radio stations. The Chaveria Family novellas focus on issues such as asthma, pesticide exposure, water quality, and workplace abuse common among immigrant farm worker families. Other stories feature first-hand accounts of ladder injuries and heat Illnesses. Listen at PNASH.

Testing a wearable artificial kidney

SPH’s Department of Health Services and UW Medicine will collaborate on the first clinical trial of a wearable artificial kidney. The 10-pound device would be worn on a belt and could improve the quality of life for kidney-disease patients who normally spend hours tethered to dialysis machines. Larry Kessler, chair of Health Services, will work with Jonathan Himmelfarb, professor of medicine and director of the UW’s Kidney Research Institute. Collaborators are the FDA, the Northwest Kidney Centers, and Victor Gura of UCLA, who invented the device.

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2012 Graduation

Arthur Kellermann, MPH '85 and 2012 Distinguished Alum, spoke on the power of public health to SPH 2012 graduates. Watch the video.

SPH Strategic Plan

Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners are working on many of the goals and strategies specified in the plan. Read more.

Take your Husky pride on the road with a UW license plate. UWAA offers free license plates to 2012 graduates!

Alumni Updates

Samantha Dyess, MPH 2012, Health Services, recently accepted a new position with Solid Ground, a Seattle nonprofit. She will collaborate with schools and community partners to educate children about nutrition and physical activity, improve policies affecting child health, and connect families to health-promoting resources.

Stefani Penn, MS 2011, DEOHS, ran the Boston Marathon in April (her third in a row). She's a doctoral student in environmental health at Boston University.

Marisa Harrison, MPH 2009, Global Health, has taken a position as a Program Manager in Timor Leste for Health Alliance International.

Pablo Monsivais, MPH 2007, Nutritional Sciences, this past September was appointed as Senior University Lecturer (tenure track) at the University of Cambridge within both the Centre for Diet and Activity Research and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care.

Gazmend Bejtja, MPH 2003, Epidemiology, is the Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Health of Albania, where he is responsible for formulating and monitoring public health policies in Albania.

David P. Lee, MPH 2001, Health Services, is working for an NGO in Lima, Peru, that does HIV prevention and treatment research. He is involved in regulatory reporting, grant writing, and training.

Dawn Fitzgibbons, MPH 1993, Health Services, International Health Program, is currently working as the Public Health Epidemiologist for the Ministry of Health in the Republic of Palau.

Jeffrey Hogue, BS 1992 and MS 1994, Environmental and Occupational Health, is transitioning from his role as Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility with Danisco A/S in Copenhagen to a role as Expert in Residence at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, CA.

James W. Hainer, MPH 1987, Epidemiology, has retired from his position as Medical Science Director for Established Cardiovascular at Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals LP.

Nancy J. Orvis, MHA 1985, Health Services, is Director of Business Architecture, Stds and Interoperability for the Department of Defense (DoD) Military Health Systems, focusing on the adoption of clinical information standards for the use of Electronic Health Records for DoD beneficiaries and their families. She is starting her third year as the DoD member of the Health Information Technology Standards Committee, a federal advisory committee for the adoption of standards criteria for EHR Meaningful Use.