Defining Experiences in Public Health: Volume 1

LETTER FROM THE DEAN DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF THE UNIVERSIT Y AT ALBANY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Welcome to our amazing School! We are a community of teachers and learners, researchers, scholars, and advocates working together to improve the health and well-being of all people. Our school was created more than 30 years ago as a visionary partnership between the New York State Department of Health and the University at Albany.

Scientists at the Department of Health hold faculty appointments, collaborate with full-time faculty members on a wide array of basic and applied research projects and mentor students in their labs, including the renowned Wadsworth Center. This arrangement makes us truly unique and very much on the front lines of public health.

We are nationally known for our commitment to experiential learning.

Our MPH program requires more internship hours – 720, to be precise – than any other program in the nation. And our MS, PhD, and DrPH students also gain extensive hands-on experience, including research opportunities in the Wadsworth Center. Providing students with lots of ‘real world’ learning experiences greatly accelerates their careers as practice-ready graduates who are highly sought after by employers – many of whom are themselves UAlbany alumni.

Our location in the capital of New York State provides real advantages.

As the seat of government for one of America’s largest and most diverse states, the city of Albany and its surrounding communities provide many opportunities for us to work closely with policy makers, public health professionals, non-profit organizations, and clinicians. We currently have the privilege of advising the Governor’s Administration on two major issues: halting tobacco use and drafting regulated marijuana legislation. For students, our location allows access to a wide range of internships, field placements and job opportunities. For faculty members, our location allows connections with research partners, access to culturally and economically diverse populations, and the opportunity to work collaboratively with community-based organizations and public health practitioners in a wide variety of settings.

The synergy that arises from partnering with our colleagues across the entire institution is highly energizing. Furthermore, this past April, President Havidán Rodríguez released the University’s excellent strategic plan, “Authoring our Success.” The five pillars that make up the plan are student success, research excellence, diversity and inclusion, internationalization, and engagement and service. I am pleased to say that the School has just completed an alignment plan to show how we in the UAlbany SPH will also advance “Authoring Our Success.” I am thrilled about the exciting initiatives included in our alignment plan, and I believe that they will make our already outstanding School an even more vibrant and impactful organization in the months and years ahead.

DEFINING

EXPERIENCES IN PUBLIC HEALTH.

In my relatively short time here, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the distinctive qualities of the School of Public Health. Thanks to the talent and dedication of our students, staff and faculty, the support of our community partners and alumni, and the good work of all those who have built the School over the years, we are poised to make an even greater impact as we pursue excellence and work to save lives and promote social justice. Thank you for taking time to read our new magazine, and we hope to partner with you in the future!

D avid Holtgrave, PhD Dean and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor  @HoltgraveHealth

We are proud of being a highly collaborative, warm and welcoming School. There’s a great deal of interaction across our departments – Biomedical Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Health Policy, Management & Behavior.

Faculty and students from these core areas routinely team up to solve scientific and policy-related problems and enhance the implementation of our discoveries. Our strong global connections and diverse student body further enhance our academic community.

As a School within one of the State University of New York’s four largest campuses, our students and faculty have access to the people, programs and resources of a major research university.

All the very best,

School of Public Health University at Albany State University of New York — Follow Along with UAlbany  @UAlbanySPH | @UAlbany Dean David Holtgrave, PhD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 Too Good to Waste 7 Fighting Vector-Borne Illness 3 Breastfeeding & Motor Development: 8 Stacy Pettigrew and the Radix RESEARCH STORY

RESEARCH STORY

RESEARCH STORY

ALUMNI FEATURE

Is There a Link?

4 Prioritizing Our Experiences for OUR STRATEGIC PLAN

Maximum Public Health Impact

Ecological Sustainability Center

9 A Champion for Women: ALUMNI FEATURE

Dorcey Applyrs’ Albany Legacy

6 Helping People Into Drug Treatment RESEARCH STORY

albany.edu/sph

1

TOO GOOD TO WASTE A SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH TEAM has received more than $870,000 from an agriculture non-profit and a combined effort of community partners to evaluate the food system in New York State and determine how food that would otherwise go to waste can effectively get into the hands of the residents who need it.

According to a 2016 report from ReFED, 62.5 million pounds of food goes directly into landfills or is left unharvested on farms each year in the U.S., and 42 percent of it is fruits and vegetables.

Food waste has long been associated with a host of negative environmental, health and social impacts, and, according to Environmental Health Sciences assistant professor Beth Feingold, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Feingold and fellow SPH professors Xiaobo Xue, Christine Bozlak and Akiko Hosler, along with Roni Neff of Johns Hopkins, have received $433,154 from the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR), with additional funds being provided by local non-profits and state agencies, to address the association between food waste, food insecurity and in- creased cardio-metabolic risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

In the New York State’s Capital Region, 10.7 percent of the population – approximately 130,250 people – are considered food insecure, meaning they are without reliable, regular access to nutritious food, according to Feeding America’s 2018 Mind the Meal Gap report. Feingold notes that research has shown the prevalence of obesity among the region’s low-income residents is 35 percent higher than the overall regional prevalence.

Food pantries and emergency food programs are undeniably important in serving those with food insecurity, while at the same time, food systems are linked with a range of environmental impacts, ranging from energy consumption, to global warming and water quality degradation.

Feingold, Xue and their team assert that the benefits of diverting surplus produce to food-insecure residents are likely twofold: it presents a unique solution to improving access to healthy food and associated health benefits, and it could mitigate the negative environmental impact associated with wasted food.

The research team will identify inefficiencies, barriers and opportunities for growth in the produce recovery and redistribution system, and also quantify the impacts of current and future policies and interventions on greenhouse

2

School of Public Health • University at Albany

gas emissions, access to fresh produce and subsequent health benefits in the region.

“At its core, this project is examining strategies to best incentivize a more sustainable food system that considers the health of both our neighbors and our environment,” explains Feingold. “I’m thrilled to lead such an interdisciplinary research team with deep roots in the community to help achieve this vision for our region.”

The project will also estimate how local, state and national food system policies and interventions, such as tax incentives for farmers and date-labeling education, might influence produce recovery strategies, donations, quality and access.

The FFAR grant is together being matched by the School of Public Health, the University at Albany Foundation, Bellwether Collaboratory, Capital Roots, The Food Pantries for the Capital District, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Radix Ecological Sustainability Center.

“Capital Roots is eager to work with Dr. Feingold and her team at the University’s School of Public Health,” said Amy Klein, chief executive officer at Capital Roots. “Since 2004, Capital Roots has been recovering and redistributing top-quality produce to emergency feeding programs and over the years we’ve seen the demand for healthier foods grow. This research project will provide the data and systems analysis needed to streamline regional efforts, therefore maximizing limited resources for those in need.”

“On behalf of the 59,000 people who seek food assistance annually from our coalition of more than 60 local food pantries, The Food Pantries for the Capital District is proud to collaborate on this effort,” said Natasha Pernicka, executive director of the Food Pantries for the Capital District. “We look forward to learning how we can improve our system to increase access and food to those who are struggling with food insecurity, which is more than 1 in 10 people in our community.”

FFAR, a nonprofit organization established through bipartisan congressional support in the 2014 Farm Bill, builds unique partnerships to support innovative and actionable science addressing today’s food and agriculture challenges. In May, FFAR announced five grants totaling $4.4 million for research designed to enhance community food systems.

BREASTFEEDING & MOTOR DEVELOPMENT: IS THERE A LINK? BREASTFEEDING HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN TO PROVIDE HEALTH BENEFITS TO BABIES, including improved immune strength, lowered risk for asthma and allergies, and more. A new School of Public Health study, however, found that it has no notable impact on motor development.

Breast milk provides nutrition and energy to babies in addition to providing hormones, growth factors, antibodies and long-chain fatty acids that aid in growth and development. Though these benefits are undisputed among experts, questions have remained as to what impact, if any, breast milk has on a child’s muscular development and their subsequent ability to hit milestones such as standing or walking.

Erin Bell, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences, collaborated with UAlbany alumnus and pediatrician Scott Bello, as well as Kara Michels, Akhgar Ghassabian, Sunni Mumford, Rajeshwari Sundaram and Edwina Yeung, to explore the topic as part of the larger Upstate KIDS Study, which tracks the ongoing growth, motor and social development of more than 6,000 babies born to 5,000 mothers between 2008 and 2010 in the 57 counties of Upstate New York.

The team had a particular interest in determining whether or not breastfeeding provided any motor-development advantages to pre-term babies, and because twins are often born pre-term, they also focused on twin infants.

“One question many people have had is whether or not breastfeeding, in particular for premature babies, has any effect on the time it takes to develop gross motor skills,” said Bell. “Because the Upstate KIDS cohort is large and includes many twins, it was the ideal population to help us evaluate this question.”

Research led by Erin Bell of the School of Public Health found that breastfeeding had no notable impact on a child’s motor development milestones, such as standing or walking.

COHORT AND METHOD From the Upstate KIDS cohort, the team looked at one random twin from twin sets and “singletons,” totaling 4,270 babies, and organized them into the following feeding categories: • Breastfed exclusively (control group) • Both breast and formula fed • Formula fed exclusively When age-appropriate, babies who were fed both breast milk and solid-food were also examined and infants who were exclusively breast-fed served as the reference group. Mothers reported the dates of their children’s major developmental milestones using questionnaires that were sent at 4, 8, 12, 18 and 24 months after birth.

RESULTS Feeding solid food in addition to breastfeeding was associated with slightly faster times to standing and walking in full-term infants compared to infants exclusively breast fed. However, this association was not statistically significant times and there were no clinically meaningful differences in the ages of gross motor milestone achievement across infant feeding patterns.

Breastfeeding combined with formula or with solids was associated with a slightly faster but not clinically meaningful time to standing compared to exclusive breastfeeding in late-term infants carried to 34-37 weeks gestation. There was a similar pattern in infants carried to full-term.

“Although breastfeeding does not notably speed along motor development, it’s important to note that it doesn’t slow it down either, and mothers who are able to breastfeed should still consider it because of the non-motor-development benefits,” Bell said. “Additionally, more research is warranted on the subject of feeding patterns and motor-development milestones, particularly in pre-term infants.”

albany.edu/sph

3

PRIORITIZING OUR EXPERIENCES FOR MAXIMUM PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT RESEARCH EXCELLENCE THE UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY is committed to

providing excellent educational opportunities to a diverse and inclusive community of students. As we continue to poise ourselves – and our student body – for transformative success in the field, we draw on our core, foundational priorities that shape offered experiences and continue defining futures.

STUDENT SUCCESS Our students’ success is at the heart of our community and a key driver of our environment; an investment in academic growth is an investment in the careers of the future.

WITH • Advanced in-person and online programs that balance the emerging demands of students, employers, and society • Enhanced experiences through innovative teachings and collaborative support services • Integrated teaching and experiential education through research, service-learning, internships and course-based experiences MEASURED BY

100% 93% 85% 4

of doctoral graduates are employed within six months of graduation of MPH master’s graduates are employed or continuing their education within one year of graduation of MPH master’s graduates are employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation

School of Public Health • University at Albany

Our research defines innovations and advancements around the world. We are proud and driven in this academic standing to constantly enhance our knowledge and promote university-wide discoveries.

WITH • A recruited and retained faculty, staff and graduate community who are strongly encouraged to contribute to research initiatives that drive entrepreneurship, public-private partnership and translational application • An empowered university structure where all individuals are engaged in innovative research, including streamlined pre- and post-award support practices • Identified and supported opportunities that maintain across disciplines in the research portfolio MEASURED BY

67.5

Dollars in the total extramural funding garnered by SPH affiliated faculty in fiscal year 2017

MILLION

1

Nobel Prize won by UAlbany SPH faculty and Wadsworth Labs researcher, Dr. Joachim Frank

OUR MISSION We relentlessly pursue possibilities, create connections, and open opportunities with a single-minded focus:

To empower our students, faculty, and campus communities to author their own success.

This is the University at Albany.

HOW THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORS SUCCESS

The University released in April 2018 a strategic plan, “Authoring Our Success.” The five pillars of the plan and key objectives are shown here, as well as some metrics by which our School monitors its alignment with these key pillars.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Our university’s culture of diversity – in our people and our ideas – drives a stark sense of excellence in everything we do and represents everything we are.

INTERNATIONALIZATION We strive, with every initiative, to prepare our students to be globally engaged citizens, while continuing to expand our university’s worldly impact and international visibility.

WITH • Recruitment of faculty, staff, administrators and students who better reflect the multidimensional diversity of our undergraduate students • An inclusive campus climate that consistently celebrates individual differences and encourages open and free dialogue and idea exchanges • A cultivated and holistic learning environment, which actively incorporates diversity initiatives into curricular and co-curricular activities for all to experience

WITH • An advanced curriculum that initiates students’ global engagement with intercultural learning opportunities for all disciplines • A supported institutional process that facilitates internationalization across teaching and research opportunities • Increased student access to education abroad, while still fostering a supportive campus environment for all international students and scholars

MEASURED BY

20

%

Underrepresented minority graduate students in 2017

MEASURED BY

54

%

Underrepresented minority undergraduate students in 2017

130

+

Study abroad programs offered

by UAlbany

40

+

Countries host study abroad programs

ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE We take pride in engaging with our community as we commit to servicing the common good and serving as an integral regional, national and international institution.

• A promoted participation of on-campus events, programs, and activities through the inclusion and engagement of neighbors, community members, friends, and alumni MEASURED BY

WITH • Publicly engaged scholarship and research opportunities that address societal challenges and enact collaborative work in relevant thematic areas • The facilitation of productive, mutually beneficial synergies between UAlbany and regional, state, national, and international partners

100% 720 HOURS

of SPH faculty who participate in publicly engaged scholarship and research of MPH internship requirement, the most of any School of Public Health in America

albany.edu/sph

5

HELPING PEOPLE INTO DRUG TREATMENT A PARTNERSHIP BET WEEN A UNIVERSIT Y AT ALBANY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSOR AND A LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT indicates that police-led programs to connect opioid users with resources rather than arresting them could result in more people who use drugs entering treatment facilities.

The opioid epidemic is gripping the nation. In 2016, drug overdose became the leading cause of death for U.S. adults under 50 years old, with over 60 percent of the overdoses attributed to opioids, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts believe young adults in rural areas are affected at disproportionately high rates.

In response to the growing epidemic, the Chatham Police Department launched in 2016 “Chatham Cares 4 U (CC4U)” a police-led referral program that encourages residents struggling with substance abuse to go to the police station, turn over their drugs and ask for help – no questions asked. In return, police officers in the small upstate New York village help people who use drugs get placed into drug treatment programs, obtain the insurance necessary to cover it, and transport them there.

“Addiction is a public health crisis, not a criminal justice crisis, and I was tired of people dying and no one doing anything about it except hosting forums and meetings,” said Chatham Police Chief Peter Volkmann. “Sometimes all a person who uses substances needs is a person willing to lend a hand and say, ‘I’ll help you,’ and that’s exactly what this program does.”

But does the program, based on a national model, work?

According to Tomoko Udo, associate professor of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, early findings suggest that the answer is “yes.”

Volkmann enlisted Udo’s expertise to help improve the department’s data collection and to process the data. Together Udo and Volkmann developed an online intake assessment form and Udo analyzed the initial results. Between July 2016 and December 2017: 140 individuals completed the intake assessment conducted by the Chatham police officers, with a comparatively higher number of women and young adults.

83 percent of those who completed the intake assessment accepted the referral to treatment with 86 percent placed in treatment within 24 hours.

6

School of Public Health • University at Albany

Instead of arresting people who use substances, the Chatham Police Department offers their assistance - and a School of Public Health Professor finds that it’s working.

More than half of those in the program reported they had been denied treatment in the past.

Chatham police officers transported 69 percent of participants to treatment at an average distance of 50 miles.

Udo says that besides denial of having a substance abuse problem or a lack of readiness to quit, common reasons that people who use drugs don’t seek treatment include: absence of, or inadequate insurance coverage; fear of social stigmatization; not knowing where to go; and a lack of transportation. Though Volkmann notes that some substance users used to worry that the program was a trap, he says the word is getting out to Chatham residents that “the police station is in fact a safe place to get help.”

Udo, who is being awarded a 2018 President’s Award for Exemplary Public Engagement for her work with the program, plans to do more in-depth research about CC4U’s effectiveness, but for now, she calls it a success.

“The data suggests that CC4U, and perhaps other programs like it, are successful in achieving the goal of providing immediate access to substance abuse treatment by addressing common barriers,” said Udo. “It’s also worth noting that this program may encourage women and young adults, who are historically less likely to seek substance abuse treatment, to pursue the help they need.”

CC4U is currently supported only by the faith-based community in Chatham, and Volkmann says he has officers who are volunteering their time.

“I have officers who know we can’t afford it, but they also see firsthand that there’s a critical need that they can help meet.”

The School of Public Health and the Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences partner on a $10 million initiative to address West Nile Virus and other diseases.

FIGHTING VECTOR-BORNE ILLNESS THE UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY IS PARTNERING WITH SEVEN OTHER UNIVERSITIES AND THREE STATE DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH, including the New York State Department of Health,

as part of the $10 million Northeast Center for Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases (NEVBD) at Cornell University.

UAlbany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES) and School of Public Health (SPH) are academic partners in the NEVBD, which will address the surveillance, prevention, and response to vector-borne diseases.

The NEVBD is one of only five such regional centers in the country, with Cornell University leading the team of medical entomologists, virologists, epidemiologists, ecologists, climate scientists, modelers, and molecular biologists.

A just-released CDC report concluded that disease caused by tick, mosquito and flea bites more than tripled in the U.S. between 2004 and 2016, and that 9 new diseases were either discovered or detected here for the first time during that same period. It is widely accepted that temperatures and rainfall affect the abundance of mosquitoes, spread of pathogens, and incidence of disease; indicative of the need for the NEVBD.

With seed funding from UAlbany’s Division for Research, UAlbany’s DAES and SPH have partnered with the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center on vector-borne illness-related research by forming the Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases (CCEID) working group in 2015. Together, UAlbany and NYSDOH scientists and collaborated to better understand what environmental factors increase or decrease human health risk from vector-borne pathogens in the Northeast United States and to analyze the spatial and temporal variations of West Nile virus infections. The seed funding provided the essential support for a student conduction undergraduate summer research in 2017.

Now, as part of the NEVBD project, CCEID aims to develop process-based numerical models that can be used as new predictive tools. Initially, the team is using data analytics to test how well these models can reproduce the past changes in West Nile virus prevalence in mosquitoes and associated human cases. If these models can achieve accurate prediction levels, new opportunities would be revealed to use seasonal climate forecasts and climate change scenarios to project the level of risk associated with West Nile virus and other medically important episodic vector-borne diseases, such as Eastern equine encephalitis.

albany.edu/sph

7

Dr. Stacy Pettigrew has taken her UAlbany School of Public Health Education and put it to work by launching a pioneering new center on sustainability.

Photo courtesy of The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center

THINK GLOBAL. IMPACT LOCAL.

Education with real world applications, demonstrated through our students and alumni.

STACY PETTIGREW AND THE RADIX ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY CENTER STACY PETTIGREW EARNED A BACHELOR OF ARTS IN 1997, A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN EPIDEMIOLOGY IN 2014, and a

Photo courtesy of Albany Times Union

PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the School of Public Health in 2018. Stacy and her partner, Scott Kellogg, founded The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center in Albany in 2009.

The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center is a federally recognized 501(c)3 not-for-profit educational organization. The mission of the Radix Center is to promote ecological literacy and environmental stewardship through educational programs based around demonstrations of sustainable technologies.

The Radix Center’s main educational building, a 20-by-60-foot solar greenhouse built in 2011, is located on a formerly vacant half-acre lot near downtown Albany. The greenhouse provides year- round food production as a self-sustained ecosystem, powered by renewable energy sources like affordable wind, solar and small-scale biofuels.

It is maintained through efficiencies like composting and biomediation, rainwater collection for irrigation, aquaculture for nutrient recycling and apiculture for crop pollination and microlivestock. The Center produces enough eggs, microgreens, pea shoots, and other produce items to provide local restaurants with high-end product.

Stacy and Scott, the Center’s Educational Director, promote ecological literacy through collaborative projects with the University at Albany, Albany High School, and other local institutions, as well as hands-on workshops open to interested citizens. Their most comprehensive workshop, Rust: the Regenerative Urban Sustainability Training, is a weekend-long immersion class that has hosted more than 650 people since its inception. The class gives attendees a “toolbox” of techniques to create sustainable systems in their own communities.

In 2010, the Radix Center launched the Community Compost Initiative (CCI), a weekly compost pickup service for Albany residents

8

School of Public Health • University at Albany

The Radix Center launched a collaborative “floating island” that aerates the plant roots and works to clean up sewage dumped into the Hudson River. and businesses. Organic waste is diverted from the overburdened Rapp Road Landfill and composted on-site at the Radix Center.

In July of 2018, The Radix Center in collaboration with the University at Albany, Albany High School, and others launched a “floating island” into the Hudson River. Students from UAlbany worked on building the float and incubating the plants in special ponds at the Radix Center. The island features a solar-powered air pump that aerates the plant roots and works to clean up sewage dumped into the river. The roots of the plants and bacteria that they produce eat up nitrogen and phosphorus in sewage, which are responsible for creating toxic algae and reduce oxygen in environments. The island is a pilot test with more symbolic and educational goals in mind, but the center says the plan is to measure its effectiveness and eventually make larger systems and float them in other parts of the river.

A CHAMPION FOR WOMEN: DORCEY APPLYRS’ ALBANY LEGACY THE HONORABLE DR. DORCEY APPLYRS, MPH, DRPH, A PROUD UNIVERSIT Y AT ALBANY ALUMNA , has built a

personal and professional life within the City of Albany devoted to improving the quality of life for residents in her community, Albany’s First Ward. The Washington, D.C., native tackles health disparity and environmental safety issues affecting her constituents with a persistence and passion that other city leaders have come to recognize and depend on.

Dr. Applyrs’ stark passion for improving communities only picked up steam when she first arrived in Albany in 2003. Following the completion of an undergraduate degree in psychology from Delaware State University, she then continued her focus with the pursuit of graduate-level education from our University at Albany School of Public Health. It was here that volunteerism became a true, visible tenet in her public health advocacy work – and it would only grow stronger.

In 2008, Applyrs became an advisor with Delta GEMS (Growing & Empowering Myself Successfully), a community service project of the Albany Alumnae Chapter in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Through this program, which remains ongoing, Applyrs began guiding young African-American women ages 14-18 toward achieving their dreams within the 21st century.

GEMS sessions, which were held monthly on UAlbany’s Uptown Campus, covered a rotating range of impactful topics under Applyrs’ advisement: self-esteem, body image, bullying, HIV/AIDS and mental and physical health were some of the core focal points. In one particular session that focused on multiculturalism, GEMS teens met with Burmese refugees to discuss the importance of culture and unity, which gave the students important insights into the strength of community. Applyrs would also invite professionals to speak on the significance of a college education and the best practices for climbing the career ladder, with grade-specific workshops involving resume writing, interviewing, personal statement development and college application submission assistance to follow.

On working with young women who are considered “at risk,” Applyrs shares, “It is my way of taking part in the change I want to see.” Her academic work at UAlbany was an important part of that change, as she team-taught courses with UAlbany faculty, including Social and Behavioral Aspects of Health courses. She sees this initiative as a large part of her growth as well, saying, “Throughout my life, I have been blessed with mentors, role models and kind people who have contributed to my development as a woman, wife, student, professional and productive member of society. It is my moral obligation to pay it forward.”

The Honorable Dr. Dorcey Applyrs, MPH, DrPH, council member for The City of Albany and proud University at Albany alumna, helps chart the path for women in the professional and public health space.

In many ways, it was the unwavering commitment of Applyrs’ own mentor, Professor Dwight Williams, that instilled many of her core values, which she has to this day. Williams, a fellow Washington, D.C., native, DSU graduate and Clinical Associate Professor of Health Policy, recruited Applyrs to the School of Public Health with the promise of a foundation for her “future success, academically and professionally,” said Dr. Applyrs.

It was that success that followed her since she graduated from the University at Albany’s School of Public Health. Following her studies, she sought to “pursue a position that will enable me to advocate for initiatives and policies that will improve communities’ quality of life and prevent poor health outcomes.” In 2014, Applyrs was deservedly elected to the City of Albany Common Council, was reelected in 2018, and now continues to chair the Committee on Public Safety.

In addition to her commitments to the Common Council, Applyrs is a member of the Albany County Board of Health and board member for both the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society as well as Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood. She has served as a regional health equity council member for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, and on the executive board for the Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club and Albany Democratic Committee. Applyrs’ incredible advocacy for others and strong leadership has earned her accolades including being named to the Albany Business Review’s 40 Under 40; Girls Inc. of the Capitol Region; 2017 Women and Girls Ambassador; and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s 2017 Off the Sidelines Equality Advocate Award.

All of us at the UAlbany’s School of Public Health are proud to be a part of Dr. Applyrs’ incredible story and legacy.

albany.edu/sph

9

First-Class Mail U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Albany, NY Permit No. 205

ENGAGED LEARNING • DISCOVERY • SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILIT Y • TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION • STRATEGIC IMPACT

1400 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12222 albany.edu/sph

10

School of Public Health • University at Albany