Newsmakers: September 2013

Natalie McGill

Braunstein, Gosliner chosen for fellows program

APHA members Nadine Braunstein, PhD, RD, and Wendi Gosliner, PhD, MPH, RD, in July were two of six people selected for the 2013-2014 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows Program at the Institute of Medicine. The yearlong fellowship gives health professionals the opportunity to work in the executive and legislative branches of federal government on health policy. Braunstein is director of allied health at Towson University’s College of Health Professions. Gosliner is a nutrition specialist at the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

Eight APHA members named new NACCHO officers

APHA member Swannie Jett, DrPH, MSc, in June was one of eight Association members elected to positions on the National Association of County and City Health Official’s board of directors. Jett, health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Seminole County, was elected NACCHO’s new vice president. Georgia Heise, DrPH, director of the Three Rivers District Health Department in Owenton, Ky., will remain as president-elect. Lillian Shirley, MPH, MPA, RN, director of Multnomah County Health Department in Portland, Ore., will remain as NACCHO’s immediate-past president. The following APHA members are among NACCHO’s new regional and at-large members: Claudia Blackburn, MPH, RN, CPM, of the Sedgwick County Health Department in Wichita, Kan.; Bob England, MD, MPH, of the Maricopa County Department of Health in Phoenix; Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, of the Boston Public Health Commission in Boston; Kevin Sumner, MPH, of the Middle-Brook Regional Health Commission in Green Brook, N.J., and Richard Vogt, MD, of the Tri-County Health Department in Greenwood Village, Colo.

Gold named Institute of Medicine fellow

APHA member Katherine Gold, MD, MSW, MS, in July was one of four people selected as a 2013 Institute of Medicine Anniversary Fellow. Gold was named the James C. Puffer, MD/American Board of Family Medicine Fellow. She will receive a $25,000 research stipend and work part-time over a two-year span on Institute of Medicine policy work. Gold is an assistant professor in the University of Michigan Health Systems Departments of Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Three APHA members named to new advisory group

APHA members Lynn Goldman, MD, MPH, Bernard Goldstein, MD, and Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, in June were among more than 20 people appointed to a new advisory group of the National Academy of Sciences’ New Gulf of Mexico program. The group will create program goals and measure progress in its continued efforts to promote environmental and human health safety following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Goldman is dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Goldstein is professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. McCauley is dean and professor at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

Public health programs, schools association launches

The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health debuted in August as a revamp of the previous Association of Schools of Public Health to include not only Council on Education for Public Health-accredited schools, but also CEPH-accredited public health programs. For more information, visit www.aspph.org.

Hait elected to Research!America board of directors

William Hait, MD, PhD, in June was elected to Research!America’s board of directors. Hait is the global head of Janssen Research and Development LLC and was the founding director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Research!America is a nonprofit research organization.

Halverson is founding dean of new public health school

Paul Halverson, DrPH, FACHE, in February was named the founding dean of the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Halverson previously served as the Arkansas Department of Health’s director and state health officer. Halverson, who began his appointment in May, previously served as a professor at the University of Arkansas’ College of Medicine and its Fay W. Boozman School of Public Health.

Jackson, former EPA director, named to environment commission

Lisa Jackson, MS, the former Environmental Protection Agency director, was named in July to the Commission to Engage African Americans on Energy, Climate Change and the Environment. The commission, run under the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, is meant to inform and engage black professionals on environmental issues.

Mackenzie named assistant dean at Washington state school

Sara Mackenzie, MD, MPH, in July was named assistant dean for undergraduate public health at the University of Washington School of Public Health. The position is a new one for the Washington state school. Mackenzie is a clinical assistant professor in both family medicine and health services.

Medzhitov receives annual National Institutes of Health prize

Ruslan Medzhitov, PhD, in May received the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health’s first Lurie Prize. Medzhitov, Yale University School of Medicine’s David W. Wallace Professor of Immunobiology, received the award for his immune system research. Named for Ann Lurie, a foundation board member and adjunct assistant professor in preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the prize is geared toward a health professional younger than 52 who has made advances in biomedical research.

Walter named board chair of behavioral health organization

Jeffrey Walter, MHSA, in July was named the new board chair of the National Council for Behavioral Health. Walter is the president and CEO of Rushford, a Connecticut-based organization that provides substance abuse and mental health treatment services for state residents.