Advances - Winter 2009

Explorer Dan Buettner to Speak at Alumni and Friends Scholarship Gala • page 12

Advances WINTER

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from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Community Partners for a Healthier Minnesota

2009

How to Fix Medicare: Pay Patients Flu Shot Record Shattered Pandemic Threatens Power Supply The Dangers of Stadiums Selling Alcohol

From the dean

Dear Friends,

Photo: Richard Anderson

This issue celebrates the School of Public Health’s partners, those individuals and organizations with whom we work to advance community health and well-being. We learn from our partners. We enjoy doing the amazing work of public health alongside them. And we like to think we add value to the work they do as well. That is why we have decided to make this “Community Partners” issue of Advances an annual one, to complement our annual autumn event that pays tribute to our partners.

In the spirit of partnership, I’m delighted to report that the University of Minnesota is one of six university teams nationally that received a grant to develop communityengaged faculty members. “Faculty for the Engaged Campus” is a national initiative of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. This award is a testament to the priority the University places on our connections to the community.

I hope you will show your true partnership colors by attending our second Alumni and Friends Scholarship Gala on May 16 (See page 12 for more information.) This promises to be a festive celebration whose aim is to support the next generation of public health leaders. Proceeds from the event go toward student scholarships, an ever-growing need in these tumultuous economic times. It is often the case that when the economy goes south, our student enrollment increases. We anticipate this, but we also expect that students will come to us with greater financial needs than ever before. In our effort to continue to develop leaders and contribute to the quality of the public health workforce, we need your support.

Finally, we have been publishing Advances for nearly six years and while I continue to receive positive feedback about the publication, it is time we take a more scientific look how we are meeting your needs for information about the school.

Please see the back cover to learn how you can take part in our online reader survey. It’s quick and easy, and you might just win a $75 Visa gift card.

Yours in health,

John R. Finnegan Jr. Assistant Vice President for Public Health Dean and Professor

School of Public Health Leadership John R. Finnegan Jr. Dean Judith Garrard Senior Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs Debra Olson Associate Dean for Education William Riley Associate Dean for Strategic Partnerships and Relations Diana Harvey Assistant Dean for External Affairs

John Connett Head, Division of Biostatistics

Advances

Editor Diana Harvey

Bernard Harlow Head, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health

Managing Editor Kristin Stouffer

Ira Moscovice Head, Division of Health Policy and Management

Contributing Writers Lindsey Heffern Toya Stewart Robyn White

William Toscano Head, Division of Environmental Health Sciences Joe Weisenburger Chief Administrative Officer/

Art Direction Todd Spichke Riverbrand Design

Contents Table of

6

Advances

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Feature: Community Partners

SPH experts are teaming up with a host of partners

WINTER 2009

across the state. While the projects are diverse, they all share the common goal of making Minnesota a healthier place.

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Research News

Vitamin D’s benefit to transplant patients; improving end-of-life care for the homeless; linking household allergens to asthma; and more.

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School News

Remembering SPH professor James Rothenberger; school gears up for film festival and public health institute; explorer Dan Buettner to speak at scholarship gala; and more.

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Student News

SPH students mentor high schoolers for PSA contest while another student authors a report on pandemic influenza’s threat to the coal supply.

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Philanthropy

Alumni support helps bring MHA program to national

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prominence.

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Alumni News

Alumni lead three decades of public health in Dakota County; SPH book club to meet again; apply to be a member of the alumni board; and class notes.

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COMMUNITY PARTNERS FOR A HEALTHIER MINNESOTA

2009

Here at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health it’s no secret that public health is a discipline rooted in the concept of collaboration. This is in no doubt due to the idea that “health” extends beyond the individual to encompass the overall health of the community. Likewise, population health is profoundly shaped by the collective beliefs, values, and behaviors of everyone who lives in the community. So it makes sense that the best public health endeavors draw upon the expertise of varied community partners.

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University of Minnesota School of Public Health

FEA T U R E S T O R Y The SPH has a long tradition of teaming up with local agencies and organizations to improve the health of Minnesotans. These partnerships play a key role in transforming scientific discoveries to community impact.

But in strained economic times, collaboration becomes essential. It pools resources, allows for best practices to be shared efficiently, and keeps the school in synch with state priorities and community needs.

Honoring Community Partners The SPH hosts an annual event to formally thank community partners for helping to enrich the school’s research, education, and outreach efforts. These partners include mentors to SPH students, adjunct faculty members, and research colleagues throughout the state.

Each year, the school’s leadership chooses up to two organizations and one individual who have shown exceptional dedication to the mission of the school for Community Partner Awards. The 2008 recipients of these awards are the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Cultural Wellness Center, and Minnesota Commissioner of Health, Sanne Magnan.

Community Partner Star awards are presented to individuals who have been nominated by SPH faculty. (See sidebar.)

While these professionals partner with the school in a variety of ways, the goal of each partnership is fundamentally the same: to guide the next generation of public health leaders and advance the cause of public health.

Community Partner Stars The following individuals received the 2008 Community Partner Star award from the SPH: Judy Beniak (M.P.H. ’82) Don Bishop Jeffrey Budd (Ph.D. ’81, M.S. ’77) Angeline Carlson Janny Dwyer Brust (M.P.H. ’87) Myron Falken (Ph.D. ’89) Erica Fishman (M.P.H. ’91) Mary Jo Graham Gary Greenfield Perry Hanson (M.H.A. ’79) Deborah Hendricks

Mary Johnson (M.P.H. ’84) Geoff Kaufmann Jerry Lovrien (M.H.A. ’84) Gary Olmstead Jason Paltzer (M.P.H. ’03) Cheryl Petersen-Kroeber Lisa Pogoff (M.P.H. ’85, ’82) John Poupart Katherine Raleigh Robert Stevens (M.H.A. ’83) Jill Wilson (M.P.H. ’92)

Photo: Paula Keller

The MPCA has a long history of interaction with the SPH. Over the past 25 years, the state agency has collaborated on studies of how chemicals in the environment affect human health, and it has been the site of SPH student internships. It was under the auspices of the MPCA that the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) was established in the school. For more than 20 years, MnTaP has served as a primary source for pollution prevention strategies for small businesses in Minnesota and has saved millions of dollars for the state.

As head of the Minnesota Department of Health, Sanne Magnan has collaborated with the SPH on a host of issues, from a joint research project to examine taconite miner health on Minnesota’s Iron Range, to improving the quality of the services delivered by public health agencies around the state, to being at the helm when SPH students and MDH staff uncovered the source of a recent foodborne disease outbreak that plagued the nation.

The school’s partnership with the Cultural Wellness Center (formerly known as the Powderhorn Phillips Cultural Wellness Center) has provided an invaluable connection to the community for several years. Students who intern at the nonprofit have found it to be an eye-opening, life-changing experience. The center also has helped to educate SPH faculty on how to ethically and effectively work with community members on research and do so in a culturally sensitive manner.

Award winners gather at the Community Partners recognition event.

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FEATU RE S TO R Y Making Over a Minnesota Town Albert Lea, Minn. is the focus of an intense 10-month pilot makeover project designed to improve the health and longevity of the city’s residents. The goal is to add two years of projected life expectancy to each participant—or up to 10,000 years of life to the city—through community and individual changes. The Minnesota-based United Health Foundation is sponsoring the work.

Longevity expert Dan Buettner developed the research-backed project with SPH professors Leslie Lytle and Robert Kane. The city seeks to change the habits of its 18,359 inhabitants.

Instead of focusing simply on a diet and exercise program, the makeover will encourage the best practices of the world’s longest-lived populations. The first step will be making it easier for people to walk or bike to work, school, stores, and social events. The second phase will encourage people to make healthy changes at the individual level.

As co-director of the project, Lytle is charged with engaging schools, worksites, and community agencies to transform their environments. She will also focus on supporting families—helping them find ways to offer healthy foods, be physically active, and create mealtimes that foster connectedness and healthy habits. “This project applies well-established public health approaches in an innovative and creative way,” says Lytle.

The Minnesota makeover comes on the heels of Buettner’s bestselling book, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from People Who’ve Lived the Longest. The famed explorer has made a series of television appearances, including CNN and Oprah, discussing his findings. “Dan Buettner brings not only creativity but sophisticated media visibility to the project,” says Lytle. “I see this as an opportunity for public health professionals to show that communities can come together to make their physical and social environments healthier and that, in supportive environments, people can change their health behaviors.”

Dan Buettner will discuss his work at the SPH Alumni and Friends Scholarship Gala on May 16. More on page 12.

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University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Community Clinic Care SPH researchers are working with the Neighborhood Health Care Network on a three-year project designed to improve clinic-based care for chronic conditions. The work is part of the network’s initiative to provide culturally competent care for communities that typically face health disparities.

SPH associate professor Kathleen Thiede Call and research fellow Kelli Johnson are evaluating programs at two network locations: West Side Community Health Services, which has a high proportion of Latino patients, and the NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center, which is located in the primarily African American neighborhoods of North Minneapolis.

Both clinics chose diabetes as the chronic condition they wanted to help their patients manage with more success.

The program teams community health care workers with patients to set goals for monthly appointments and healthy choices about eating and exercise. “Trying to make sure the care is consistent is key,” says Johnson. “So is having caregivers from the communities served by the clinics.”

The SPH team is in the early stages of analyzing the data but Johnson says the preliminary results are positive.

The team also hopes to track emergency room visits to Hennepin County Medical Center and Regions Hospital to determine if the enhanced clinic-based care is helping to curb emergency room visits for this group of patients.

Workplace Health and Safety School researchers are teaming up with Carver County public health officials to help small manufacturing businesses develop a worksite health and safety initiative.

Funded by ClearWay Minnesota, the pilot program aims to reduce tobacco use and improve workplace safety among manufacturing workers—a group with smoking rates estimated to be near 30 percent.

A second component of the project will be to create payment methods that support these practices. “We know these preventive and restorative services work,” says Moen.

“Yet they aren’t currently reimbursed in the system.”

Medica is supporting the research as part of a larger Fairview initiative announced in 2008. The insurer is participating both financially and programmatically with Fairview to study how it delivers care.

Carver County public health staff, led by Rae Jean Madsen, and SPH associate professor Deborah Hennrikus have conducted focus groups and individual interviews with managers and employees of small manufacturing sites on what they see as barriers to and benefits of smoking cessation. SPH associate professor Lisa Brosseau is helping develop the occupational safety initiative. “We felt there was synergy in combining the goals of a workplace safety program and a smoking cessation program,” says Brosseau.

The team is piloting the dual program at two worksites and will next evaluate it to test its effectiveness. Allison Ishizaki says the hope is that the project can be used as the basis for a larger initiative that would provide workplace health and safety programs to a variety of small- to mid-sized manufacturing businesses. “Small businesses typically don’t have the resources to offer these programs to employees,” says the Carver County public health planner and SPH alumna. “This is a good opportunity to provide needed information and resources to worksites.”

Ishizaki says the project is also a benefit to her colleagues at the health department. “Being involved with research furthers the knowledge base and helps us know what works in the implementation process,” she says. “We see the University as one of our partners.”

Clinical Best Practices When Fairview Health Services set out on an initiative to improve quality of care among its nearly 100 clinics, the Minnesota-based provider contacted SPH professors Bryan Dowd and John Kralewski. “They have a national reputation for this kind of work,” says David Moen, leader of clinical innovation at Fairview. “It doesn’t happen often that the real experts are right across the street. It’s a wonderful thing.”

Reducing costs and improving quality are the goals of a “care model innovation” project that aims to identify the clinical practices that best prevent or reduce the burden of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Dowd and Kralewski will analyze Fairview’s patient population, care practices, and claims data to determine which practices provide the most value.

Lung Health Trials SPH professor John Connett heads the data coordinating center for a national network of researchers who are improving the prevention and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The network, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, has launched four major clinical trials on COPD, with two still underway.

One of the network’s 10 clinical centers is located at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA), which primarily serves male patients. The principal investigator is Dennis Niewoehner, who holds a joint appointment at the VA and the University. To ensure that the trial’s participant mix adequately draws from groups of gender, ethnicity, and race, Niewoehner and his fellow researchers partnered with the Mayo Clinic and the HealthPartners Research Foundation.

“The VA and both of the satellite centers have done excellent work. We’ve had high follow-up rates and low error rates,” says Connett, who notes that the school’s work with the Mayo Clinic on COPD dates back to 1986.

Niewoehner is grateful for the expertise that Connett brings to the trial and for the other collaborations that have arisen.

“We’ve been able to have discussions about other research areas and have co-mentored a junior faculty member,” says the physician.

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FEATU RE S TO R Y Workforce Training Each year, faculty members from the SPH’s Centers for Public Health Education and Outreach (CPHEO), train tens of thousands of public health workers—from hospital care teams, to first-responders, to agency administrators. As part of CPHEO, the Midwest Center for Lifelong Learning in Public Health (MCLPH) partners with health departments in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin to provide workforce training that is tailored to the needs of each agency.

Over the last year, MCLPH has worked with colleagues in Chisago County to create new training opportunities for its public health professionals. The first step included a competency-based assessment that determined the

learning needs of the workers. Then MCLPH offered a training course on one of the county’s self-identified needs: gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and using data. MCLPH and Chisago County plan to create another customized course in the coming months.

“The program offerings of MCLPH are a critical component of my staff development planning,” says Mary Sheehan, health and human services director of Chisago County.

Sheehan’s ties to the school also include serving as a board member for the SPH Alumni Society.

“We’re excited about the success of our partnership with Chisago County,” says SPH associate dean Debra Olson, primary investigator of MCLPH. “We hope to use this partnership as a model to develop similar relationships with other public health groups in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.”

Breaking ground for the Mayo Memorial Building, the School of Public Health’s first home, in 1950. From left, the wives of Charles and William Mayo, Edith and Hattie, respectfully, University Of Minnesota president James Lewis Morrill, Carolyn Christenson, who supported cancer care at the University, and Donald Cowling, former president of Carleton College and head of development for the Mayo building.

health. The Mayo group also pledged $10,000 each year toward the salary of a Mayo Professorship in Public Health, a title that continues to rotate throughout the school’s top faculty.

Mayo Properties—along with family and friends of the Mayo brothers—donated funds in 1950 to erect the Mayo Memorial Building, which is still home to the school’s dean’s office, as well as many classrooms, research laboratories, and faculty and staff offices.

Photo: University of Minnesota Archives

Mayo Momentum The SPH is built on a foundation of strong community partnerships. Literally. Public health at the University of Minnesota has roots dating back to 1874. But the school was officially established in 1944, thanks to two of Minnesota’s most famous public health advocates—Charles and William Mayo.

The Mayo brothers were actively involved in public health education throughout their lives. When they both died in 1939, the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Properties Associates provided an endowment to establish the SPH as a way to memorialize the brothers’ dedication to public 6

University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Today, the SPH maintains strong ties to the Mayo Clinic.

Researchers from both institutions collaborate on a host of projects. Faculty from both the SPH and Mayo divisions of biostatistics have created an M.S. program tailored to Mayo employees. Last fall, the SPH’s Master of Healthcare Administration program launched a degree program to serve physicians and other health care professionals in the Rochester area. And a dozen or so Mayo physicians are either current students or graduates of the school’s Executive Program in Public Health Practice. Plans are in place to soon offer M.P.H. degrees to those in the new Mayo Aerospace Medicine Fellowship.

RESEARCH NEWS

Stadiums Sell Alcohol to Drunk or Underage Fans People who are underage or visibly intoxicated can often buy alcohol at athletic events with ease, especially from vendors in the stands, according to an SPH study based on visits to 16 stadiums in five states.

The research team, led by SPH associate professor Traci Toomey, sent young-looking people and actors who feigned drunkenness to stadiums that are home to professional hockey, baseball, basketball, and football games. The drunken behavior included stumbling, slurring words, repeating questions, and fumbling with money.

The young-looking fans were able to purchase beer 18 percent of the time without showing age identification.

The actors who played drunk were served 73 percent of the time. And a sale was nearly three times more likely to happen by vendors roaming through the stands than at a concession booth.

Toomey says the dismal results could be due to lax oversight, the frenetic pace of serving large crowds, and a culture that has placed far more emphasis on keeping alcohol from minors than on cutting off the intoxicated.

“A lot of servers know there might be consequences for serving underage drinkers,” says Toomey. “But it’s likely that the vendors don’t feel that there are consequences for serving an obviously intoxicated person.”

In the study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, the researchers suggest that stadiums consider banning alcohol sales in the stands, as some stadiums have already done.

“If banning sales in the stands is not politically feasible, vendors may need to receive additional training on how to better recognize intoxication and check age identification in the stands,” says Toomey. “Additionally, increased monitoring and enforcement may be needed in the seats to WEB EXTRAprevent these WEB EXTRA illegal alcohol sales.”

To hear a Public Health Moment about this WEB EXTRA research, go to www.sph.umn.edu/moment.

U Group Improves End-Of-Life Care for Homeless Homeless people in America die at three to four times the rate than those with stable housing. They also die much younger—at an average age of 45. Despite these stark numbers, little has been done to improve end-of-life (EOL) care for this growing and vulnerable population.

In the first study of its kind, University of Minnesota researchers are looking for ways to engage homeless individuals with the aim of improving their end-of-life preparations. Medical School faculty member John Song is leading the project and SPH associate professor Melanie Wall is directing study design and statistical analysis.

The research team recruited 59 people from Listening House, a drop-in center located in St. Paul, Minn. Half of the group was provided with an advance directive (AD).

The other half received both the AD and the opportunity to receive guidance to complete it.

Thirty percent of the non-guided group completed the AD. That number nearly doubled for the group that received help in filling out the living will. These numbers are significantly higher than the general population’s rate of completing ADs, which typically hovers around 20 percent.

Perhaps most striking are findings showing that just discussing EOL care can help to alleviate the fears homeless people have about death and dying. Prevalence of worry about death went from 50 percent to 13 percent among those who filled out an AD and from 25 to 13 percent among those who didn’t.

The success of this pilot study has led to a new initiative, currently underway, involving 10 community sites and some 300 participants. The hope is to expand the reach of improved end-of-life care for homeless individuals and to serve as a resource for the social workers and other professionals who work directly with the homeless.

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WEB EXTRA

WEB EXTRA

RESEARCH NEWS Feldman on Medicare: Let’s Pay Patients, Not Physicians Should Medicare pay for patient expenses the way automobile insurers pay for car-repair bills?

In How to Fix Medicare: Let’s Pay Patients, Not Physicians, SPH professor Roger Feldman contends that such a radical shift in Medicare policy is not only possible but necessary.

Under a “medical indemnity” system, Medicare would pay each patient a fixed amount of money, reserving larger subsidies for sicker people. Patients, in turn, could select their own medical providers and services at competitive prices. “Empowering consumers would simplify the Medicare program, expand consumer choice, and improve program efficiency,” says Feldman.

Medicare’s current method of paying physicians sets fees for more than 8,000 procedures and services, totaling more than $60 billion annually. Critics contend that Medicare formulas overpay for some services, underpay for others, and discourage the use of primary care in favor of more expensive specialty services. They also charge that patients have access to medical care at low or no cost, and, therefore, have little incentive to consider competitive alternatives to traditional Medicare.

Feldman proposes to replace Medicare’s payment formulas and regulations with medical indemnities. The idea is that given a fixed amount of money to spend on medical care, patients would have strong incentives to spend wisely and, similarly, physicians would be incented to set competitive prices and take on more patients.

Medical indemnities have already been tested in the Medicaid program for some patients needing long-term care services. Feldman calls for a similar large-scale test of his medical indemnity proposal.

“This is a proposal for smarter Medicare payments,” says Feldman. “It’s time to give it a try.”

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University of Minnesota School of Public Health

SPH to Study Benefits of Vitamin D in Blood and Marrow Transplants A University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center team is embarking on the first comprehensive investigation of how the genetic makeup of patients affects the way they metabolize vitamin D and, consequently, how they respond to blood and marrow transplantation.

The researchers think that maintaining adequate vitamin D levels throughout the course of treatment may decrease some of the problems associated with blood and marrow transplantation and improve patients’ survival.

“We’re looking to determine whether a particular genetic profile is linked with an adverse outcome,” says SPH assistant professor and study lead Kim Robien. “Then it would be possible to identify patients who are at that higher risk for blood and marrow transplantation and follow them closely to monitor their vitamin D levels.”

Blood and marrow transplantation is one of the most significant advances in the past 40 years for treatment of patients diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, and other cancers. But the lifesaving treatment is strenuous and not without risks. It is associated with prolonged hospitalizations, long-term health problems, and a death rate of approximately 25 percent.

Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the two-year study will analyze treatment data as well as DNA isolated from blood specimens of 750 patients and donors. The patients received blood and marrow transplants at the University between 1995 and 2005.

The University’s Masonic Cancer Center is one of the world’s leading research sites on blood and marrow transplantation.

RESEARCH NEWS

U Team to Study Best Practices for Care of Heart Failure Patients Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and School of Nursing, along with colleagues at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, have been awarded a $300,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study better ways to care for heart failure patients. The grant is part of a $19 million national program to study the link between nursing and patient care.

SPH professor Doug Wholey and School of Nursing professor Joanne Disch will serve as primary investigators for the interdisciplinary study, which will focus on care for veterans. The researchers will look at how health care teams can best work together.

Five million people in the United States suffer from chronic heart failure and 500,000 patients develop heart failure every year. The financial burden to society is estimated to be more than $40 billion in direct and indirect costs.

“There is a significant need for cost-effective therapy and coordinated management of heart failure patients to decrease the rate of re-hospitalization, chronic illness, and death,” says Wholey.

The study will focus on collaborative leadership and how it affects team member performance and satisfaction. The researchers will examine how teams make decisions, handle problems, and what factors help or hinder them.

“Nurses account for more than half of all health care providers in the United States,” says Disch. “But little research exists to demonstrate the link between what nurses do and the effect of those interventions on patient care and safety. Our work will help fill the gap by applying rigorous science to explore that link.”

Linking Indoor Allergens to Asthma Asthma is on the rise in America, especially among children in urban low-income and minority households. Dust mites, cockroaches, cat allergens, and fungi are known to be risk factors for asthma. But scientific evidence linking these agents to the medical condition has been inconsistent.

Part of the problem is that the level of these agents in a given household varies from season to season. Researchers who want to understand the connection between asthma and indoor environments have been uncertain as to how many samples must be taken annually to produce an accurate level of exposure.

A School of Public Health team has looked at how many samples, over a year, are needed to estimate long-term household exposure to cat allergens and fungi. The group includes SPH graduate Sook Ja Cho and faculty members John Adgate, Lynn Eberly, and Gurumurthy Ramachandran.

Researchers analyzed samples of floor dust from 47 Minneapolis homes taken six times over the course of a year. The team concluded that even with seasonal variability only a single sample of cat allergens is needed to estimate long-term exposure. But to capture an accurate long-term exposure to total cultural fungi, samples must be collected at least nine times annually.

The findings suggest that linking asthma to the home environment calls for more innovative methods.

“If we want to make the connection between asthma and household air quality, then we must have accurate scientific methods,” says Adgate. “We are helping to identify what those methods should be.”

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SCHOOL NEWS

Photo: Patrick O’Leary

One of four temporary flu shot dispensing sites on campus.

Interdisciplinary Programs SPH Helps U Break Flu Shot Record Celebrate 10 Years

The University of Minnesota has shattered the Guinness World Record for the most flu shots given in a single day.

By dispensing 11,538 flu vaccines at four campus locations, the University easily eclipsed the previous Guinness World Record of 3,271. That record was set in November of 2006 in Sanford, Florida.

Boynton Health Service organized the event, with help from other University groups, including the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). Of the 95 MRC members deployed that day, 17 were staff and students from the School of Public Health.

The drive helped raise awareness about immunizations among students and served as an exercise for the MRC to determine how many people can be inoculated in a short period of time.

Being a part of history was what prompted SPH postdoctoral associate Carrie Rigdon to sign up with the MRC to dispense the free vaccinations. But she was also interested in learning more about how to mobilize a team that could potentially be called upon to deal with a disease outbreak or other emergency.

“It was interesting to see the chain of command,” says Rigdon, who was charged with keeping medical supplies stocked for runners who would bring them to injection stations.

Rigdon says the experience also helped inform her own work, which helps to determine ways to improve local and national responses to food-borne disease outbreaks.

“It’s cool to have been part of a world record,” says Rigdon. “But it was also nice be able to contribute to an important test-run for preparedness.”

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University of Minnesota School of Public Health

In 1998 the Human Genome Project was underway, stem cell controversies were just emerging, and the reality of global warming was still in debate. It was clear that 21st century problems would cross traditional disciplinary lines and demand a new kind of thinker.

In 1999 the University of Minnesota rose to the challenge by being the first public research institution to create a Joint Degree Program in Law, Health, and the Life Sciences. The following year, the University-wide Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences was established.

In the past decade, 16 students have completed the joint degree program, with five of them coming from the SPH. Over the years, the number of public health students in the program has steadily grown. This academic year, 17 of the 39 degree program students hail from the SPH. Faculty from the SPH have leadership roles in some of the consortium’s 17 member centers.

“Public health is at its best when it encompasses an interdisciplinary approach,” says SPH dean John Finnegan.

“I’m proud of how our school has contributed to these trailblazing programs and I look forward to their continued success.”

“The consortium and the joint degree program remain unique in the nation and have grown into top national programs,” says University of Minnesota professor Susan Wolf, who founded and heads both programs. “We have accomplished a huge amount in the past 10 years.”

The programs will host a 10th anniversary conference on March 6. Presentations will address emerging issues in genomic, neuroscience, health care, environmental research, and science oversight. To learn more go to lifesci.consortium.umn.edu/conferences.

SCHOOL NEWS

SPH Leads Way on National Accreditation and Certification Efforts As public health issues grow in number, complexity, and potential impact, so does the need of health departments to keep up-to-speed. Public health professionals must also stay current on the competencies their jobs demand.

To help ensure that health departments are operating effectively and efficiently, the public health field is developing voluntary accreditation standards that will be implemented in 2011. SPH associate dean William Riley was recently named interim director of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), a non-profit consortium of

Getting Certified: What You Need to Know Registration is already underway for the Certified in Public Health exam, which will run Aug. 8-29. Here’s some basic information: •A ny graduate of a school accredited by the Council on Education of Public Health is eligible for testing.

•T he half-day exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions rooted in five core areas: biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health policy and management, and social and behavioral sciences.

heads of local public health agencies whose mission is to advance quality standards for public health agencies.

“Public health departments are concerned with everything from bioterrorism and disease outbreaks to clean drinking water and seatbelt laws,” says Riley. “Ensuring the departments’ efficiency and effectiveness is critical to protecting the health and safety of the public, and that’s where PHAB comes in.”

PHAB is planning a three-month vetting period of a proposed set of standards and measures, beginning in February. The public health community is encouraged to comment at www.phaboard.org.

Establishing a national certification process is another way to ramp up quality improvement efforts in the field of public health. In the coming months, professionals will be able to take the Certified in Public Heath exam.

Administered by the National Board of Public Health Examiners, the exam is rooted in the core competencies of public health. (See sidebar.)

Certification of public health professionals is one topic on the agenda of the education committee of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), chaired by SPH dean John Finnegan. More broadly, the committee is concerned with continuously improving learning and training in schools of public health.

“Accrediting agencies and certifying workers can only help to improve the field, practice, and reputation of public health,” says Finnegan. “These initiatives will set a high standard of knowledge and skills and foster a professional environment focused on quality and lifelong learning.”

• Registration before April 30 is $400. Late registration runs until May 31 and is $475.

•Y ou can take the exam at one of the 300 testing centers nationwide.

•W hen you pass the exam, you will be Certified in Public Health, and can add the initials C.P.H. to your name and degree.

•T he University of Minnesota Public Health Institute is offering a preparation course for the exam. More on the institute at www.sph.umn.edu/institute09. Scholarships are available. Information on online test prep is available at the URL below.

To register or to learn more go to www.publichealthexam.org.

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SCHOOL NEWS

Bestselling Author and World Explorer to Speak at SPH Gala Internationally known explorer Dan Buettner will keynote the second annual Alumni and Friends Scholarship Gala on May 16. The gala celebrates SPH alumni and raises scholarship funds for SPH students.

Buettner is the bestselling author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from People Who’ve Lived the Longest. The book details Buettner’s five-year exploration to the places in the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. He has appeared as a longevity expert on Oprah, CNN, and ABC’s Good Morning America. Buettner also has ties to the SPH through his collaboration with faculty members on research about healthy living.

“We’re honored to welcome one of public health’s most fascinating champions to this year’s gala,” says Cynthia Kenyon (M.P.H. ’03) SPH Alumni Society Board member and gala committee chair. “We’re also excited to bring together alumni and friends of the school for an evening that celebrates public health and supports its future leaders.”

Proceeds from gala ticket sales will support scholarships for top SPH students. The 2008 inaugural gala drew an attendance of close to 300 and significantly added to the SPH Alumni Scholarship Endowment Fund. The University’s President Scholarship Match program will double the awards of the scholarship each year.

This year’s gala will take place at Coffman Memorial Union’s Great Hall. Tickets are $55 but attendees are encouraged to donate more. To purchase tickets or to learn more about the gala, go to www.mmf.umn.edu/sph.

To learn about table or event sponsorship, contact Adam Buhr, director of development, at 612-626-2391 or a.buhr@mmf.umn.edu.

12

University of Minnesota School of Public Health

SPH Remembers James Rothenberger The School of Public Health lost a beloved faculty member on Dec. 8 when James Rothenberger passed away due to complications from kidney disease and an James Rothenberger infection. He was 61.

Despite the health challenges he faced, Rothenberger was a tireless and devoted instructor, teaching an average of 15 courses a year. He taught more than 100,000 students throughout his career.

“Jim was an amazing man and remarkable teacher,” says SPH dean John Finnegan. “As I have traveled around the state representing the school, I would almost inevitably hear these words from someone: ‘Do you know Jim Rothenberger? I took a course from him once. He was one of the best teachers I ever had.’”

Rothenberger received many honors throughout the years, including the title Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Instructor of Public Health, one of the highest honors the University bestows on its educators. He was also a nationally recognized expert in a broad range of fields, such as HIV/AIDS prevention, death and dying education, community health, and alcohol and drug abuse prevention.

Rothenberger was one of the field’s earliest champions of Web-based education. He developed pioneering curriculum on the dangers of alcohol for college students, and he taught a freshman alcohol awareness course used online by six Minnesota colleges.

“I think it’s challenging for a good teacher to constantly be trying out better ways to get your message across,” Rothenberger once said in a University magazine that profiled his innovative methods.

While Rothenberger was one of the University of Minnesota’s great educators, he was also a celebrated alumnus. He earned a bachelor’s degree and masters of public health from the institution.

To post a written remembrance about Rothenberger, support public health education in his name, or view an on-campus memorial service that took place on Feb. 12, go to www.sph.umn.edu/rothenberger.

Photo: Richard Anderson

Dan Buettner

SCHOOL NEWS

Start Planning for the Public Health Institute The 2009 University of Minnesota Public Health Institute will take place May 26 to June 12. The three-week offering provides professionals with a unique opportunity to create their own educational experience.

Participants can take any number of courses for a single day up to three weeks. Classes are organized around 10 focus areas: • Applied Biostatistics and Research Methods • Culturally Responsive Public Health Practice • Environmental Health Sciences • Food Protection • Global Health • Infectious Disease Epidemiology • Public Health Leadership • Public Health Nursing Practice • Public Health Preparedness, Response, and Recovery • Women and Child Health Nutrition The institute, now in its eighth year, attracts a wide range of participants, from current students to recent graduates to seasoned professionals. The opportunity to network is one of the event’s strengths. Last year’s institute drew students and instructors from 24 states and 6 countries.

Educational opportunities are just as varied as the student base. Courses offer hands-on exercises, field trips, group work, and lectures from the leaders of some of public health’s top community, government, and private-sector organizations.

New global health-themed courses at this year’s institute include Food Safety Systems in Global Food Markets, Reducing Infectious Diseases in Poor Countries, and Environmental Justice. Popular returning courses cover topics such as genomics, child obesity, leadership, disease surveillance, and risk communication.

The University of Minnesota Public Health Institute is presented by the SPH, School of Nursing, and College of Veterinary Medicine. For more information, including a course list and information on student scholarships, go to www.sph.umn.edu/institute09.

SPH Gears Up for Fifth Annual Film Festival War and public health, the powerful role of corn in the U.S. food system, and the world’s water crisis are some of the themes of the School of Public Health’s fifth annual film festival.

Hosted in celebration of National Public Health Week, the festival begins April 6 and concludes April 11. Showings begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Mayo Memorial Auditorium on the East Bank of the University’s Twin Cities campus.

Expert speakers will be on hand to facilitate discussions of the films.

This year a special family fun day has been added to the mix. Deb Girdwood and Isabelle Harder, curators of the Hennepin County Public Library’s Childish Films, will host Saturday’s films and festivities, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Mayo auditorium.

The festival opens with a selection of short films that feature a variety of public health issues. Other films include Flow, which examines the state of water in the world, War Dance, a documentary about schoolchildren in the war-torn country of Uganda, and King Korn, a documentary about two friends who grow an acre of corn and track its path into the food system. As in past years, Friday night will feature a series of vintage, often humorous, sex ed films.

Winners of the school’s third annual “It’s Global” Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest will be screened on opening night of the festival. The contest invites filmmakers to create a 30-second message on a global public health topic. For more on the PSA contest see page 14.

The film festival is free and open to the public. For more information, including film times and directions to the theater, visit www.sph.umn.edu/filmfest09. City Pages and the Minnesota Public Health Association are festival sponsors.

13

STUDENT NEWS

An influenza pandemic could disrupt the coal industry, which generates nearly half of the nation’s Nicholas Kelley electricity, according to a new report from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).

The report—which is the first scientific analysis of how a pandemic would affect the fuel supply chain—is based on the master’s thesis of SPH student Nicholas Kelley, CIDRAP research assistant. “Federal preparedness plans have overlooked coal’s important role in national security,” says Kelley.

Kelley and co-author Michael Osterholm, CIDRAP director, worked directly with leaders in the power industry to create recommendations addressing the planning gap.

Among them are increasing coal stockpiles and placing coal workers in high priority for pandemic vaccines.

Since its release in November the report has been downloaded by hundreds of worldwide visitors to the CIDRAP website and distributed to military, power industry, public health, and homeland security groups.

“Nick created a brilliant piece of work,” says Osterholm, an SPH professor and internationally noted authority on infectious disease. “It is incredibly well researched and fully vetted by some of the best minds within the electricity generation industry. “ Kelley plans to continue researching pandemics and supply chains, as he moves on to complete a doctorate degree at the SPH. He and CIDRAP colleagues are in the early stages of a similar analysis of the pharmaceutical industry.

“This is a new discipline for public health,” says Kelley.

WEB EXTRA WEB EXTRA “It’s exciting to be working in an emerging field. And I’m grateful that my work as a student gives me access to so EXTRA many WEB public health experts.”

To hear a Public Health Moment about this WEB EXTRA research, WEBgo EXTRA to www.sph.umn.edu/moment.

14

University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Sarah Ekerholm, center, discusses storyboards with students from Arlington Senior High.

SPH Students Mentor High Schoolers for PSA Contest School of Public Health students are teaming up with Twin Cities high school students to create a 30-second health message of their choice. The aim is to learn about filmmaking and public health—and win a $250 prize in the process.

The teams will be competing in the SPH’s third annual public service announcement (PSA) contest. Top entries are viewed during the school’s National Public Health Week Film Festival (see page 13).

SPH students were matched with students from Arlington Senior High. The St. Paul magnet school specializes in science, math, and technology. The teams meet about once a week and plan to create about 15 PSAs. Their work is supported by an IDEA (Innovation, Diversity, Equity, and Achievement) grant from the University of Minnesota.

Sarah Ekerholm says she volunteered to work on the project because as a first-year student in the SPH’s Community Health Education program, she’s interested in crafting public health messages. She and her three teammates are making a PSA on gang violence. “It’s something that affects these students and other kids at their school,” she says.

Ekerholm has learned the benefits of mentoring through her own experiences in the SPH mentor program. “I have a mentor, so I wanted to be a mentor,” she says. “That kind of relationship is so important to developing interests and skills.”

Make Your Statement: Create a PSA Entries to the “It’s Global” PSA contest are being accepted until March 6. Youth prize is $250. Adult prize is $500.

Learn more at www.sph.umn.edu/psa.

Photo: Tim Rummelhoff

Photo: Tim Rummelhoff

Student Authors First Report on Pandemic’s Threat to Power Supplies

Photo: Scott Streble

PHILANTHROPY Bright Dornblaser (M.H.A. ’52) was on the program’s faculty for 28 years and its director for 13. A donor to the scholarship fund himself, he says alumni are proud to be affiliated with the 60-year-old program because it attracts top talent and produces some of the most dynamic professional leaders in the health care industry.

Tim Hanson

The School of Public Health’s Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program has a valuable asset that’s helped launch it into national prominence: the support of devoted alumni.

As both the program’s director and a faculty member, Sandra Potthoff, has watched MHA alumni go all out to ensure the program’s success. “Our alumni will do anything for us,” she says. “They are our partners in educating future health-care leaders.”

And it’s paying off. U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2008” ranked the School of Public Health’s MHA program second in the nation. Now, alumni are hoping to help nudge it into the top spot through philanthropy.

Partnering with the Minnesota Medical Foundation, the program’s alumni association/foundation is embarking on a new scholarship campaign to ensure that it continues to attract top-notch students. To jump-start the campaign, the group gave the MHA program $901,000 in April 2008 to establish 14 endowed scholarships. The gift received the President’s Scholarship Match, which will double the payout.

“Alumni have played a key part in supporting students through scholarships,” Potthoff says. “My hope is that we can eventually give a scholarship to every student in the program.”

MHA alumni also share their time and expertise by serving as mentors to current students, providing summer residencies and fellowships for students, and assisting with strategic planning for the program.

The curriculum is continually reflecting the changes in the marketplace and the health system’s need for different skills.

Photo: Tim Rummelhoff

Alumni Support Brings MHA Program to the Top

Bright Dornblaser

In turn, the success of its alumni helps build the program’s reputation. Locally, for example, several MHA alumni have had leadership roles in creating the Fairview, Allina, HealthEast, and Park Nicollet health systems.

Nationally, a number of alumni have served as board chairs of organizations such as the American Hospital Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Others have won prestigious national awards, another indicator of the program’s success, says alumnus Tim Hanson (M.H.A. ’73), president and CEO of HealthEast Care System and the MHA alumni association/foundation’s president.

“We are very proud of the program’s excellence and confident that it will continue to provide outstanding leadership in health care,” Hanson says.

Proponents say the program’s ability to adapt to real-world changes in the health care arena sets it apart from the competition. “The MHA program has continually grown in quality,” Dornblaser says. “The curriculum is continually reflecting the changes in the marketplace and the health system’s needs for different skills.

“Giving is important,” he continues, “because of the vital contribution it can make to the education of wellqualified students. These [new] scholarship funds are being used to develop a high-quality graduate program that is making a difference.”

15

ALUMNI NEWS

SPH associate professor Ian Greaves, at right takes a question from a call-in participant. James Voita at left. Greaves, along with SPH assistant professor Ruby Nguyen, facilitated the discussion.

Class Notes Megan Alavi (M.P.H. ’07) began work as a public health analyst at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in Rockville, Md. Hired as a HRSA scholar, she will complete a year of rotation before being placed in a permanent position at the federal agency.

Sandra Giovinazzo-Yates (M.P.H. ’04) began work as a physician assistant with the Aspen Digestive Health Clinic in St. Paul, Minn. Giovinazzo-Yates is also an instructor with the physician assistant program at Augsburg College.

Photos: Paula Keller

Rachel Kossover (M.P.H. ’05) is on a field assignment with the Environmental Public Health Program in Anchorage, Alaska. She is there as a fellow of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kossover completed the first year of the two-year fellowship at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

Deb McKinley (M.P.H. ’00) was one of several SPH alumni to discuss Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder.

SPH Book Club Underway SPH alumni and faculty members came to campus for the inaugural meeting of a book club focused on public health issues. Several participants from outside the Twin Cities joined the conversion by phone.

SPH alumni and friends are invited to join (in person or by phone) the next meeting on April 25 at 11 a.m. (Central Time) when The Jungle by Upton Sinclair will be discussed.

The group will meet in the Heritage Gallery of the McNamara Alumni Center on the East Bank of the Twin Cities campus.

To sign up, go to www.sph.umn.edu/bookclub. The group plans to meet quarterly in the coming year.

More Alumni Events

Check out the back cover of Advances for a full listing of alumni events.

16

University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Daniel La Fontaine (M.P.H. ’73), assistant director of the Clemson Livestock and Poultry Health Division, received the 2008 American Veterinary Medical Association Public Service Award. La Fontaine was recognized for his work in public health, food safety, and regulatory veterinary medicine.

Taimur Malik (M.P.H. ’03) began work as a physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis. His area of specialty is pediatric and adolescent psychiatry.

Bankole Olatosi (M.P.H. ’04) has accepted the position of assistant professor of health care management in the Tillman School of Business at Mount Olive College in North Carolina.

His research interests include HIV/AIDS and rural health.

Nancy Omondi (M.S. ’07) has been appointed to the board of directors of ClearWay Minnesota, a nonprofit organization that works to reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Omondi is a health services research coordinator at the National Donor Marrow Program.

Dianna Rivers (M.P.H. ’81) delivered the 2008 Distinguished Faculty Lecture at Lamar University where she is an associate professor in the department of nursing. Rivers is an expert on issues surrounding universal health care.

Starr Sage (Ph.D. ’06) and Quintin Williams (Ph.D. ’08) are co-winners of the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section (ICEHS) student paper competition award.

They were recognized at an ICEHS event at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in San Diego.

To share your news and subscribe to Alumni News e-mails, go to www.sph.umn.edu/alumni.

ALUMNI NEWS

From left, Bonnie Brueshoff, Donna Anderson, and Patricia Adams

Photo: Tim Rummelhoff

Three Decades of Leadership at Dakota County When Donna Anderson (M.P.H. ’71), Patricia Adams (M.P.H. ’85), and Bonnie Brueshoff sit down to talk about 30 years leading the Dakota County Public Health Department, they share a comfortable familiarity. They ask about family, laugh often, and chime in with details to help each other relay stories about past projects.

It’s this easygoing but efficient style of teamwork that has no doubt helped to make Dakota County one of the top public health departments in the state. It also explains why programs put in place by Anderson, who served as director from 1979 to 2001, continued to grow under Adams, director from 2001 to 2008, and are still going strong today under Brueshoff.

The three have worked well together because rather than merely being successors, each woman was hired by and served as deputy director under her predecessor. They have all faced significant challenges over the years.

As Dakota County’s first public health director, Anderson drew on an established nursing services program to create a full-spectrum agency during a time of tremendous growth.

Between 1990 and 2000, the southeastern metro county’s population grew by 30 percent.

All the directors have learned to deal with issues such as drug and alcohol use and family planning in a politically conservative county. “The programs weren’t always accepted. You had to build your base,” says Anderson.

Over the years, the department has steadily risen in reputation and is often looked to as a model. Technology, grant support, outcomes measurement, and emergency preparedness are just some areas of success. “I’m proud that we helped to build an agency that is seen as outstanding in the state,” says Adams, who was appointed Minnesota’s assistant commissioner of health in early 2008. “We really changed the culture and raised the bar on performance standards.”

Reaching out to community partners—another department strength—has kept the women engaged with the SPH. The department has been the site of many student field experiences. Adams has served in the SPH mentor program.

Brueshoff has taken courses at the school’s Public Health Institute. And Anderson is an adjunct instructor and a past president of the SPH Alumni Society Board.

As her first year as director comes to a close, Brueshoff is grateful to draw on the expertise of her colleagues. “To tap into the wisdom of past leaders is really critical,” she says. “There may be new issues to face but how you effectively deal with those issues is to learn from what’s happened before.”

Apply Now to Become an SPH Alumni Board Member If becoming a member of the SPH Alumni Society Board is a way you’d like to contribute to the SPH and its community, consider applying for a board position. Applications are being accepted until March 9. Three-year terms for new members will begin in July.

Members of the board are asked to attend regular bi-monthly meetings and serve on a committee of the board. Members are also encouraged to serve as mentors to current SPH students.

After applications for the board are received, a committee of the board will review them and select the new members.

The selection process will seek to ensure that the board continues to feature diversity in public health expertise, board experience and skills, and years since graduation.

New board members will be announced April 8.

To access an application, learn about current board members, and review the board’s goals and by-laws, visit www.sph.umn.edu/alumni/board.

17

UPCOMING EVENTS

SPH Book Club April 25 • McNamara Alumni Center See page 16 for more information.

Health Leadership Academy This event is a joint effort of the SPH and Arizona State University. Speakers include SPH faculty member Dan Zismer, director of ISP Executive Study Programs.

March 6 • Phoenix, Ariz. www.sph.umn.edu/hla

SPH Alumni and Friends Scholarship Gala

Minne-College

SPH Commencement

Learn from some of Minnesota’s top researchers at this event, sponsored by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and co-sponsored by the SPH. March 7 • Phoenix, Ariz. www.alumni.umn.edu/Minne-College

May 18, 5 p.m. • Northrop Auditorium

National Public Health Week Film Festival April 6-11 • Mayo Memorial Auditorium See page 13 for more information.

Keynote Speaker: bestselling author and explorer Dan Buettner May 16 • Great Hall, Coffman Memorial Union See page 12 for more information.

University of Minnesota Public Health Institute May 26-June 12 • Minneapolis, Minn.

See page 13 for more information.

Next Issue

Global Health

Earth Day/Environmental Health Discussion Featuring SPH professor Bill Toscano Sponsored by the SPH Alumni Engagement Committee April 24, 5:30 p.m. • Minneapolis www.sph.umn.edu/earthday

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