The US Capitol Building

CDC-funded project to strengthen public health decision making with legal epidemiology

Researchers from the College of Public Health and the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law (CPHLR) are among the recipients of a $3.89 million grant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. College of Public Health researchers Pricila Mullachery, Recai Yucel, and Lindsay Cloud join collaborators from CPHLR, Stony Brook University, and Drexel University to begin the first part of this two-component, five-year project to strengthen the ability of decision...
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Health Services Administration and Policy
Research
a young student carries a tray of food in a school cafeteria

Study will help schools maximize student meal programs

Federal nutrition policies that provide free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch to low-income students can reduce child hunger and food insecurity. The nutrition-rich meals can help counter risks for childhood overweight and obesity. School meals are a truly frontline public health program, and they’re well funded at a national level. But some schoolchildren aren’t accessing food they’re entitled to. Some schools face key barriers to successful implementation, and public schools often don’t have resources to get a big picture view of what’s working and what isn’t....
Nutrition
Kinesiology
Research
three mile island

Lessons of Three Mile Island accident remain important for public health researchers

The partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear reactor in March 1979 near Harrisburg, Pa., was the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, exposing around two million people to radioactive fallout. A combination of equipment malfunctions and operator errors led to the accident. Workers in the control room as well as plant and government officials were caught off guard by the unprecedented event and forced to make quick decisions.  At the time of the accident there were no township evacuation plans, and Pennsylvania’s emergency plan had not been approved by the U...
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Environment
Research
A clinician working with a patient points at a handheld tablet

Hollin awarded grant to build decision-making tool on lung transplants

Lung transplantation, first performed in 1963, has become a viable option for patients with end-stage lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis. The procedure to replace one or both lungs can extend a patient’s life, but it’s considered a treatment of last resort, as it brings a different set of health challenges.  “It can be a difficult procedure and a difficult recovery period,” says Ilene Hollin, assistant professor in health services administration and policy. “You're trading one condition for another, because you...
Health Services Administration and Policy
Research

Shared decision making can help IBD patients feel at ease with treatment choices

Inflammatory bowel disease (either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis) affects an estimated 3 million Americans. Evidence has shown that patients have better health outcomes when they begin intensive treatment early, in particular starting with a combination therapy that uses at least two drugs. But treatment may have serious risks, including life-threatening infections and an association with lymphoma. Fearing adverse effects from these strong medications, patients may be hesitant to begin using them and adhere to treatment guidelines until they believe their disease is se...
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Research
belltower on temples main campus

Scholarly activities and accolades: November 2022

Every month, faculty in the College of Public Health take part in a range of scholarly activities; below are the activities for the month of Nov. 2022. For news on research publications and grants, please see the college's news feed for in-depth stories and reports. If you are a faculty member and would like your activities included, please contact Lisa Litzinger-Drayton, director of communications and marketing, at lisalitzinger@temple.edu. Presentations and Speaking Engagements David Sarwer presented “Mindfully Complicated Obesity” as part of the TOS/TOPS Joint Sym...
College of Public Health
Faculty
Research

How effective are gun restrictions in curbing intimate partner violence?

Lindsay K. Cloud, a College of Public Health doctoral candidate in health policy and health services research, is bringing a technique called legal epidemiology to an analysis of federal and state laws around intimate partner violence and firearms. The goal of her dissertation study is to identify what types of civil restraining-order restrictions on firearm access have made an impact in mitigating firearm-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. “Are the laws on the books working?  If not, why?” Cloud asks. “We’re creating legal data that can be used to a...
Health Services Administration and Policy
Students
Research
a woman points to a computer screen with 3d data models on it.

HIV education study seeks to reach transgender women via social media influencers

Transgender women are significantly more likely to have HIV than the general population, while studies show they are less likely to engage in HIV prevention strategies. The disconnect may exist because they receive insufficient information about prevention medicine, possibly due to systemic bias. Transgender women have reported challenges receiving support from healthcare providers. And pharmaceutical companies, though they devote large budgets to advertising Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs that can help prevent HIV, tend to leave transgender women out of their campaigns....
Social and Behavioral Sciences
LGBTQ Health
Research
a courtroom with a judge overseeing a case

CDC-funded study examines problem-solving court interventions for drug offenders

Some criminal offenders with drug and other charges may have an option that allows them to participate in a problem-solving court program—a pretrial diversionary program that treats the underlying problems that contribute to criminal behavior and improves outcomes for victims, litigants and communities. Although the mission of problem-solving courts is fairly uniform, the strategies they use to keep drug misusers alive and healthy vary tremendously. Elizabeth Van Nostrand, a legal epidemiologist and associate professor in the College of Public Health’s Department of Healt...
Health Services Administration and Policy
Research
a woman receives a covid-19 test

$8.7 million CDC-funded study will explore post COVID-19 conditions using hospitalization and testing data

The College of Public Health has been awarded $8.7 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor post COVID-19 conditions (PCCs), the new or persisting health effects that COVID-19 patients experience months or years after infection. Post COVID-19 conditions, also called long COVID, can include difficulty with thinking and concentration (“brain fog”), depression, muscle pain, headache, heart palpitations, and serious complications such as inflammation of the heart muscle, lung function abnormalities, and psychiatric issues. A recent study found one in...
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Coronavirus
Research

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