News | College of Public Health

A machine-learning approach to controlling blood pressure

Machine learning, a branch of computer artificial intelligence, has been put to use in a range of healthcare fields, from identifying promising drugs to recognizing changes in medical images that can catch health issues early. A new project at the College of Public Health aims to apply machine learning techniques to the everyday health of millions of people who have hypertension, a main risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Gabriel Tajeu, assistant professor of Health Services Administration and Policy, has been awarded a five-year, $748,000 grant from the National In...

Health Services Administration and Policy

Data

Study explores COVID-19's impact on persons with substance use disorder

While COVID-19 has challenged every organization and population, its effects have disproportionately affected more vulnerable groups, such as individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). More than 23 million Americans experience SUD, but even in the absence of a pandemic only around 10 percent receive treatment. They are more likely to be unstably housed, have chronic health conditions, and may not have easy access to bathrooms or other resources with running water to wash hands. They may have few financial resources to obtain masks and sanitizers. The facilities that offer...

Doctoral research on sickle cell in Saudi Arabia earns national recognition

Mohammed Alhajji’s doctoral research has won him two national awards, returned him to his native Saudi Arabia to continue his work, and led him to become, he thinks, “the first PhD student ever to defend their dissertation in a hallway in an empty building.” Alhajji, who graduated in spring 2020 with a PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences, studied pre-med in the United States before switching to public health, and his PhD research combines his biomedical training with interests in policy and behavioral health. It presents an intervention to prevent the spread of sickle c...

Alumni

Research

Social and Behavioral Sciences

MLK Day teach-in to explore intersection of race, poverty, and policy

The College of Public Health has received a grant from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to facilitate a college-wide “teach-in” event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2021. Faculty, staff, students and community members will be invited for discussions that focus on policy-level interventions that address the effects of the intersection of race and poverty. The grant also funds development of a webpage focused on these issues with corresponding resources and information. Laurie Friedman, associate professor of instruction in the School of Social Work, noted tha...

School of Social Work

Racism

Health Services Administration and Policy

What can professional sports teach us about COVID containment?

Krys Johnson, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Temple’s College of Public Health, has become a voice on the COVID pandemic. She also is a diehard sports fan—with the NFL season and some school sports around the country about to begin, we spoke with Johnson about the COVID containment strategies that professional sports leagues are taking and how their experiences might be instructive. NBA players are together in a "bubble" in Orlando. Hockey players are semi-isolated in designated hotels and arenas in two Canadian cities. Major League Baseball ha...

Coronavirus

People judged to be more attractive when wearing a mask, study finds

COVID-19 is changing our appearance in public, and researchers are beginning to examine the social implications of a world where we interact with our faces partly covered by masks. Now a new study shows that people are judged to be more attractive when wearing face masks covering their nose and mouth. In the study, by researchers from Temple University's College of Public Health and the Center for Human Appearance at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, photographs of 60 faces with and without wearing surgical-style masks were rated on attractiveness. T...

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Coronavirus

Q&A: How social network analysis can help us understand COVID-19

Abby Rudolph is an infectious disease epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Her research examines how social relationships influence risk behaviors and health service use. In July, she was named the 2020 recipient of the Freeman Award for her work in the field. The International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) grants the award “for significant contributions to the scientific study of social structure,” to scholars who are under 40 years old or who have received their PhD within the past 10 years. Rudolph’s examinations of social...

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Faculty

Coronavirus

A look at hybrid education during the coronavirus pandemic

Summer lab sessions for Human Dynamics in Occupational Therapy, a first-year graduate course, demonstrated how essential classes—those where educational objectives can't be fully met online, such as hands-on clinical courses—can safely blend in-person instruction with stay-home online lectures. Students wore surgical masks and plastic face shields. They fanned out into four classrooms to avoid crowding together. “Luckily, we have the whole first floor of STAR [the Aramark Student Training and Recreation Complex],” says Kimberly Gargin, interim program director for o...

Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Occupational therapy

Coronavirus

'Game On Philly' collaboration goes virtual

With its playbook revised by COVID-19, the Game On Philly program launched its virtual program earlier this month, delivering free sports equipment, healthy foods, and online coaching to Philadelphia middle school students. The program, now called "Game On Philly: Camp From Home," is a collaborative effort between the College of Public Health, the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, nutrition education organization Eat Right Philly, the School District of Philadelphia’s Department of Athletics, and Temple's School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management. The progra...

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Nutrition

Community

College welcomes new chairs and senior leadership

The College of Public Health has added new senior leadership to its faculty, welcoming new chairs in the Department of Kinesiology and Department of Health Services Administration and Policy, as well as an associate dean for clinical affairs and interprofessional practice, a position new to the college. “We are tremendously fortunate to have attracted a stellar group of new colleagues who are joining us this summer and fall," said Laura A. Siminoff, dean of the College of Public Health. Susan VonNessen-Scanlin, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Interprofessional Prac...

Faculty

Nursing

Health Services Administration and Policy

Kinesiology

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