Author: scanyatonwu

Dear APHA International Health Section members,

It is time again to solicit your nominations for awards to be presented at the next annual APHA convention, hopefully this October 24-28 in San Francisco, CA. The deadline for submission of nominations is May 15, 2020.   This is how we can recognize our colleagues who have made significant contributions to international health and our Section.

We encourage you to think about who in APHA and our Section might merit public recognition through an award. It really doesn’t take a long time to nominate someone. We ask for only a page or so that describes how the nominee meets the award criteria (listed below), plus the C.V. of the proposed awardee. If you have an idea of someone who might merit an award and you desire some feedback, or need to verify whether they are APHA or IH Section members, please contact us at ihsection.awards@gmail.com.

Instructions for submitting nominations are found below. You can also access the award descriptions and criteria, along with the names of past awardees as compiled by IH Historian Ray Martin, on the IH website, https://aphaih.org/ih-section-awards-2/

The IH Section Awards Committee consists of Laura Altobelli, Elvira Beracochea, Paul Freeman, Omar Khan, Ray Martin, Mini Murthy, Henry Perry, Gopal Sankaran, Rose Schneider, Curtiss Swezy, and Sarah Shannon, IH Section Chair ex officio.

Many thanks for your timely nominations! Self-nominations are permitted.

Sincerely,

APHA IH Section Awards Committee

 

American Public Health Association
International Health Section

Annual Awards Guidance

The International Health (IH) Section recognizes each year outstanding individuals who have contributed in an important way to the field of international health and/or to the IH Section. Guidance is provided here on the process and criteria for nominating and selecting the individuals to receive the five major awards:

• Carl Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award,
• Gordon-Wyon Award for Community-Oriented Public Health, Epidemiology, and Practice,
• Mid-Career Award in International Health,
• Distinguished Section Service Award,
• Young Professional Award.

 

Process for award nominations and selection

The Awards Committee of the IH Section is entrusted with the awards process, with collaboration and input from IH Section leadership when needed.

The annual request for nominations for IH Section awards is prepared by the IH Section Awards Committee.   This request is sent out to all IH Section members on multiple virtual platforms managed by the IH Section Communications Committee.

A nomination can be made by submitting to ihsection.awards@gmail.com two items[1]:  (1) a letter of nomination of about one page that specifies the name of the nominee, the title of the award, and how the nominee meets the specific criteria for the award (listed below); and (2) the nominee’s current curriculum vitae.

Nominations are reviewed by the IH Section Awards Committee and a short list of candidates for each award is developed.  The committee then votes on short-listed candidates. The nominee who gets the highest number of votes in the award category is selected to receive the award.

Awardees are honored at the following Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Awards Criteria

Carl TaylorLifetime Achievement Award in International Health

The Carl TaylorLifetime Achievement Award in International Health honors the visionaries and leaders who have shaped or continue to shape the direction of International Health. Carl E. Taylor was the founder of the APHA International Health Section and a pioneer in and global champion of international health in the 20^th century. The evaluation criteria for the Lifetime Achievement Award include: (1) Quality, creativity, and innovativeness of the individual’s contributions to the field of international health; (2) Application of the individual’s work to international health practice (as opposed to primarily theoretical value); (3) The individual’s contributions as a leader, visionary, and role model in international health; and (4) Current membership in APHA, and preferably membership in the IH Section.

Gordon-Wyon Award for Community-Oriented Public Health, Epidemiology, and Practice

The Gordon-Wyon Award for Community-Oriented Public Health, Epidemiology, and Practice recognizes outstanding achievement in international community-oriented public health, epidemiology, and/or practice. This award was established in 2006 by the IH Section. John Gordon and John Wyon were pioneer epidemiologists and mentors in this field, so encouraging and recognizing others in this field is one important way of remembering and honoring them. The evaluation criteria include: (1) Outstanding achievement in international community-oriented public health, epidemiology, and/or practice; (2) Demonstrated creativity in expanding the concepts pertinent to the practice of international community-oriented public health; and (3) Current membership in the APHA IH Section.

Mid-Career Award in International Health

The Mid-Career Award in International Health  recognizes an outstanding mid-career professional in the IH Section. Evaluation criteria include: (1) Demonstrated achievement and commitment to international health promotion and development over a suggested period of seven to 20 years; (2) Demonstrated creativity in expanding the concepts pertinent to the practice of public health with an international focus; and (3) Current membership in the APHA IH Section.

Distinguished Section Service Award

The Distinguished Section Service Award honors outstanding service to the IH Section. The evaluation criteria include: (1) Dedication to the IH Section mission and goals as demonstrated by exceptional contribution to its activities; (2) Serving in IH Section elected positions or chairing its committees with outstanding or unusual effort and achievements; (3) Excellence in team work with peers in the IH Section and the APHA; and (4) Current membership in the APHA IH Section.

Young Professional Award

The International Health Section recognizes the important contribution of young professionals for their leadership, innovation, and demonstrated contribution to international health with its annual Young Professional Award instituted in 2018. The evaluation criteria include: (1) Demonstrated contribution to the field of international health through leadership, innovation, and impactful practice ; (2) Age younger than 35 years at the time of application; and (3) Current membership in the APHA IH Section.

– Updated and approved by the IH Section Awards Committee, April 2020

[1] Please submit files in PDF with filenames showing:  (1) which award, (2) first initial and last name of nominee, and (3) which item {nomination letter or curriculum vitae}.  Example nomination of Mary Smith for the Carl Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award:  carltaylor-msmith-letter.pdf  and carltaylor-msmith-cv.pdf

Dear Colleague,

We need to strengthen the US’ response to COVID-19, and we are mobilizing the CUGH network to do just that. If you are in the US, please call and write to your local Congresspersons’ offices and ask that they use their powers to call on the White House to:

Fully utilize the Defense Production Act to enable health care facilities and public health workers to access urgently needed PPE, ventilators and other medical supplies.

Use FEMA to coordinate and deliver these supplies with the assistance of the US military based on states’ requests.

Fully mobilize the US military and National Guard to support the human resources needs of medical institutions.

Your US elected officials’ contact information is below.

• US Representatives’ contact information is here.
• US Senators’ contact information is here.

Please complete this short-post engagement form.

Thank you so much for helping us to: strengthen the US’ response to the pandemic; and protect workers on the frontline!

Best wishes,

Keith Martin, MD, PC
Executive Director
Consortium of Universities for Global Health

Please note that this is an unpaid volunteer opportunity.

Social Media Associates:

• Routinely share relevant content on social media and engage followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
• Participate in social media subcommittee meetings
• Assist with special projects as needed

Seeking individuals with social media skills for urgent communications related to the COVID-19 response. These individuals should be able to share content from Social Media Subcommittee leadership within 2-4 hours or receiving it (and during the hours of 8 am-5 pm in a U.S. time zone). Please keep in mind that content may have to be changed to an appropriate format in order to share effectively to social media pages.

*Those who can serve as an associate for 4 months or more will have priority.

Universal approaches to promoting healthy development
A Princeton-Brookings Future of Children event

Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. EDT

The Brookings Institution, Saul/Zilkha Room
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036

RSVP to attend in person
RSVP to watch the webcast
On Wednesday, May 29, Princeton University and the Brookings Institution will release the latest volume of The Future of Children—a journal that promotes effective, evidence-based policies and programs for children, along with a policy brief, “Achieving Broad-Scale Impacts for Social Programs.” This volume, titled “Universal Approaches to Promoting Healthy Development,” explores universal social programs designed to serve entire communities as they move toward achieving population impact in reducing child maltreatment, strengthening parental capacity, and improving infant health and development.

Following an overview of the volume and the accompanying policy brief, Cynthia Osborne, associate dean for academic strategies at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, will give keynote remarks and provide an overview of the home visiting landscape. Presentations will then highlight the Family Connects program and give an overview of the First 5 LA program in Los Angeles County. The event will conclude with an expert panel discussion moderated by Ron Haskins, a senior editor of the volume and the co-director of the Center on Children and Families at Brookings.

This event will be live webcast. Join the conversation on Twitter at #FutureofChildren.

Welcome and overview of volume

Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center on Children and Families, The Brookings Institution

Keynote address

Cynthia Osborne, Associate Dean for Academic Strategies, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Overview of ‘Family Connects’

Kenneth A. Dodge, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies, Duke University

Overview of home visiting in Los Angeles County

Deborah Daro, Senior Research Fellow, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago

Panel discussion

Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center on Children and Families, The Brookings Institution
Deborah Daro, Senior Research Fellow, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago
Kenneth A. Dodge, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies, Duke University
Cynthia Osborne, Associate Dean for Academic Strategies, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

 

I just returned from participating in a Disease Control Strategies and Policies short course at the University of Heidelberg’s Institute of Global Health. It was a great opportunity for me to spend some time learning about high-level disease control and prevention efforts that have been made on a global scale to tackle communicable and non-communicable diseases. Additionally, it was a different experience for me to have to take a step back and reflect on the amount of work and time that is required to build public health infrastructure, strengthen health systems, and empower communities across the globe. At times, I have to admit, I was a bit discouraged as I listened to how easily politics, corruption, misinformation, poor communication, and a lack of cultural awareness can so easily reverse significant progress that has been made toward eradicating high-impact diseases. Overall, however, I came away with a deep understanding that there will always be work that needs to be done by versatile public health professionals. I would recommend this course to passionate individuals who are considering leadership roles in global health or have been practicing full-time in the field of public health (or at least a health-related field) for at least 3 years.

It was very stimulating to participate in this course with professionals from all over the world. One thing that was especially satisfying was that many participants were able to speak about how public health (we also had some pharmaceutical and economics/policy development perspectives) is practiced in their specific countries/regions. I found myself constantly learning as I compared and contemplated how different interventions mentioned by my peers could (or could not) be applied to my setting- I even gained better perspective on some of the public health activities that are undertaken and sustained even though they don’t appear to be very effective at preventing or limiting disease. Of course, I took time to acknowledge the different cultural and political factors that come into play and influence public health policies in different countries. Something I did not expect was that I would have the opportunity to represent the U.S., Texas (the state I worked in as an epidemiologist before taking my fellow position), and Zambia (a little knowledge goes a long way) on various topics. There were 3 or 4 of our lecturers that are doing work in Zambia so I also had the opportunity to learn more about their projects and see whether or not they were connected to any of the partners that our CDC office works with.

On to the highlights! My favorite part of this course was an interactive lecture where we got to role play that we were members of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization deciding why we should or should not recommend a Dengue vaccine (there was also a group that had to role play being a country that had to decide on whether to introduce the vaccine). Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith (WHO Advisor and Consultant) led the activity. This vaccine had caused many political, social, and public health challenges in the Philippines that made my jaw drop and emphasized how delicate public health support from the public is (especially during an election year). Ultimately, we learned that there are many different factors that are considered before a vaccine is recommended for public health use and that ministries of health have to use all available information to choose whether or not to introduce certain vaccines into their communities. The process we went through was very full-circle for me because it answered questions that I have had about where to find the most comprehensive information on public health vaccines so that I can serve as a better resource to those in my spheres of influence. Another assignment we had was to give presentations on Hepatitis A, B, C, and E. In my group, I focused on the epidemiology and global burden of Hepatitis E. This was an interesting topic for me because I had started seeing a few Hepatitis E lab reports being submitted to the health department I worked at in Texas. As a result of this assignment, I learned that the risk factors differ between developed vs. developing countries (undercooked meat consumptions vs poor sanitation) and that there are also different genotypes seen in developing vs. developed countries. Our last main assignment was to choose a prompt to write an essay on. I debated between The large Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been controlled by an effective vaccine and The HIV/AIDS pandemic will be ended by 2030. I was tempted to write on the first topic but then I decided that, since the majority of my office focuses on HIV (and my current role focuses on other diseases), this would be a great opportunity to better understand the work that they do. I was not disappointed! Overall, I concluded that the HIV/AIDS pandemic will not end by 2030 because, even though there is knowledge about how to protect against HIV and an effective treatment exists, cases continue to increase by millions each year. Additionally, men are underrepresented in the data and there are many community-level interventions that need to be implemented in diverse cultural settings (particularly in sub-Saharan Africa) in order to see the 90-90-90 goals reached by 2030.

Other lectures that stood out to me included presentations on Tobacco Control (Presented by Dr. Volker Winkler), Vector Control/Control of Arboviruses (Presented by Dr. Norbert Becker and Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith, respectively), Global Diabetes Control (Presented by Dr. Florian Neuhann), and an exercise focused on ranking an individual’s risk of getting infected with Ebola virus based on varying exposures to an Ebola Virus Disease patient (Presented/Facilitated by Dr. Sabine Geis).

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and hope that I can attend another course in the future! Feel free to see if there are some courses you may be interested in as well
Short Courses at Heidelberg Institute of Global Health!

Sophia Anyatonwu, MPH, CPH, CIC
Epidemiologist
Global Epidemiology Fellow | PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program