UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2017-18

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The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Magazine

WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD A HEALTHIER WORLD

DEAN’S MESSAGE

ALTHOUGH THERE’S ALWAYS MORE TO LEARN, we already know a great deal about what it takes to promote health among individuals and in communities. We know that education, equality and economic opportunity are critical determinants of health. We know the necessity of clean and safe environments. We know about the importance of diet, regular exercise, and obtaining appropriate immunizations and screenings.

But knowledge doesn’t automatically mean impact. Worldwide, 15,000 children under the age of 5 die each day, more than half of them from conditions that could be prevented or treated with simple, affordable interventions. Among adults, the majority of deaths are linked to chronic diseases, fueled by addressable factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and physical inactivity. In the U.S., one of the world’s wealthiest countries, millions continue to lack access to quality, affordable health care.

In public health, our focus is not just on discovering what can improve health, but on collaborating with partners to develop and implement programs and policies that will help people lead healthier lives. At the Fielding School, moving from evidence to impact at scale is core to our mission, priorities and efforts. In this issue you will read about some of the many ways that we are succeeding.

Jody Heymann, MD, PhD Dean

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Magazine

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CONTENTS 04

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FEATURES

STUDENT CHANGE AGENTS

04 Making the Case Preparing students for careers as effective public health advocates

Q&A

08 Ensuring Impact Michael Prelip on going beyond traditional scholarship

LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER

10 Peer Perspectives Students develop and facilitate courses on timely social issues

NUMBERS THAT COUNT

12 Democratizing Data FSPH-based center disseminates its findings for maximum impact

ALUMNI PROFILE

15 Holistic Hospital Under Elaine Batchlor’s leadership, the new MLK facility is improving the health of South L.A.

TRANSPARENCY DRIVING CHANGE

16 From Evidence to Impact Data from FSPH’s WORLD Policy Analysis Center is used to advance policies that improve lives globally

INFORMING POLICY

18 Breathing Easier The clearing of the air in L.A. is an environmental success story to which FSPH has contributed

Visit us online: ph.ucla.edu

FSPH AND LACDPH

20 Perfect Pairing The close relationship between FSPH and the L.A. County Department of Public Health benefits both sides, and county residents

LEADERSHIP BEYOND GOVERNMENT

22 “What's Important Is Impact” Through wide-ranging activities, Jonathan Fielding is making a difference

EDUCATION LEGACY

ALUMNI PROFILE

24 Strength Training The Fielding School builds public health capacity at home and internationally 27 Legacy of Learning Vonthanak Saphonn oversees the education of Cambodia’s future health professionals

DEPARTMENTS

ALUMNI PROFILE

23 In Pursuit of Environmental Justice Ana Mascareñas leads the largest residential cleanup in California history

28 School Work 30 Grants & Contracts 32 Transformative Investments

PHOTOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION Margaret Molloy: cover, p. 12. Betsy Winchell: Dean’s Message. CHLA Department of Government, Business and Community Relations: TOC: photo for article on p. 4; p. 4. ©iStockPhoto: TOC: photo for article on p. 18; pp. 18-19; back cover. REUTERS / JOSHUA ROBERTS: TOC: photo for article on p. 28; p. 29: Black Lives Matter. Jane Houle Photography: pp. 2-3; pp. 5-7: change agents; pp. 20, 22; p. 28: Fall Fest, Fielding; p. 29: MOU. Las Fotos Project: p. 7: student high-fiving. Lisa Rau: pp. 8; p. 28: Gorbach. Konstantin Christian/Shutterstock: p. 17.

Todd Cheney, UCLA Photography: p. 21. California Department of Toxic Substances Control: p. 23. Amy Chai: p. 24. Owen Lei: p. 29: Mascareñas. COURTESY OF: WORLD Policy Analysis Center: TOC: map for article on p. 16; p. 16. Vonthanak Saphonn: TOC: photo for article on p. 27; p. 27. Maria-Elena Young: p. 10: students at border wall. Sarah Jane Smith: p. 10: students in classroom; p. 11. UCLA Center for Health Policy Research: pp. 13-14. MLK Community Health Foundation: p. 15. UCLA-DRC Health and Research Training Program: p. 25. UCLA/Fogarty Cambodia Program: p. 26. Kenneth Wells: p. 29: Wells. Krisianna Bock: p. 32. Dirna Mayasari: inside back cover.

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BUILDING A HEALTHIER WORLD Daunting public health challenges at home and around the world also represent enormous opportunities: So much of what leads to poor health and premature death can be prevented through evidence-based public health policies and programs.

The Fielding School is resolute in its commitment to maximizing the impact of its work through its research, education and partnerships with communities, policymakers and colleagues in public health as well as other professions. This commitment can be seen in faculty who regularly spend time in communities and legislative arenas to ensure that evidence of what works is translated to effective public health strategies, and devote considerable time to educating the next generation of public health leaders. It can be seen in the contributions of thousands of Fielding School alumni who apply their education in wide-ranging positions of importance all over the globe. It can be seen in the passion and devotion of FSPH students, drawn to the school to obtain the education and experience that will enable them to bring about muchneeded change in communities that need it most.

By focusing on the core issues that affect health — issues such as income, education, discrimination and access to essential health services, as well as policies promoting healthy communities and environments — public health can be a potent force for far-reaching change that dramatically improves lives. The pages that follow illustrate some of the ways the Fielding School is contributing to that change, and building a healthier world.

MAGAZINE STAFF

Carla Denly Executive Editor & Assistant Dean for Communications Dan Gordon Editor & Writer

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Rent Control Creative Design Direction

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Website: www.ph.ucla.edu

Mikkel Allison Writer & Contributing Editor

Email for Student Application Requests: app-request@admin.ph.ucla.edu

Jody Heymann, MD, PhD Dean

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

UCLA Public Health magazine is published by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health for the alumni, faculty, students, staff and friends of the school. Copyright 2017 by The Regents of the University of California.

Permission to reprint any portion must be obtained from the school.

Please send requests to communications@ph.ucla.edu.

EDITORIAL BOARD Haroutune K. Armenian, MD, DrPH Professor in Residence, Epidemiology; Thomas R. Belin, PhD Professor, Biostatistics; Hilary Godwin, PhD Associate Dean for Academic Programs; Professor, Environmental Health Sciences; Pamina Gorbach, DrPH Professor, Epidemiology; Moira Inkelas, PhD Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management; Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, PhD, MN Professor Emerita, Community Health Sciences; Michael Prelip, DPA Professor and Chair, Community Health Sciences; Beate Ritz, PhD Professor, Epidemiology; May C. Wang, DrPH Professor, Community Health Sciences; Elizabeth Yzquierdo, MPH, EdD Assistant Dean for Student Affairs; Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD Associate Dean for Research; Professor, Epidemiology; Frederick Zimmerman, PhD Professor, Health Policy and Management; Hajar Ahmed and Rajia Ragab Co-Presidents, Public Health Student Association; Neil Sehgal, MPH ’05 President, Public Health Alumni Association

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STUDENT CHANGE AGENTS

MAKING

the

CASE

AT CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES, WHERE FSPH ADVOCACY FELLOW KATY WANG IS TRAINING, PHYSICIANS AND RESIDENTS ADVOCATED FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTH ON THE NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION.

The Fielding School’s Public Health Training Program on Population Health Advocacy is preparing students for careers as effective change agents.

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PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTITIONERS KNOW WHAT IT TAKES to effect positive change, but the high rates of preventable diseases and persistence of health inequities, among other public health concerns, signal that much remains to be done.

“People being healthy often has to do with larger systems or conditions of their environment,” says Dr. Michael Prelip, professor and chair of FSPH’s Department of Community Health Sciences. “By taking on a greater leadership role in advocating for the big-picture changes that are needed in communities, we in public health have an opportunity to be much more successful in advancing our goals.”

Traditionally, the opportunities for future public health leaders to learn about and engage in advocacy during their academic training have been limited. But the Fielding

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School takes a proactive approach to training and engagement, and Prelip heads an initiative that is equipping FSPH students with the skills and experiences that will help them become effective advocates as public health professionals.

The UCLA Public Health Training Program on Population Health Advocacy, now in its second year, embeds students in community-based organizations for sustained on-the-ground training designed to build their advocacy skills. With initial funding from The California Endowment, the program started in 2016 with six advocacy fellows; in 2017, thanks to additional funding from the Max Factor Family Foundation, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and the Fielding School, 25 advocacy fellows received support. Most students contribute 650 hours

each toward advocacy in Los Angeles County over the course of nine months, receiving a stipend to ease any financial burdens.

In addition to this field experience, the advocacy fellows are engaged in a variety of activities at the Fielding School. Monthly workshops bring in experts to highlight advocacy-related topics. Advocacy Club provides students with peer support through the sharing of experiences about their field placements.

And with generous support from Jerry and Lorraine Factor, the advocacy fellows are design-

“Our goal is to raise awareness and mobilize students to start conversations and take action to influence others.”

— Marisol Frausto, 2017 Public Health Advocacy Fellow ing and leading the first FSPH Public Health Advocacy Campaign, a yearlong, school-wide effort focusing on violence prevention.

FSPH’s Public Health Advocacy Fellows are engaged in wide-ranging activities in the field. “We define advocacy broadly, as creating change to positively influence health,” explains Sarah Blenner, the program’s project manager. “People most commonly think of promoting legislation and influencing elected officials, but advocacy can also take place in the court systems, through institutional policies and practices, in health care institutions, in the media and through engagement at the community level.”

For advocacy fellows such as Joyce Thung, the field placement has provided a chance to immediately apply lessons from the classroom. The second-year MPH student in FSPH’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences has spent her ninemonth fellowship at Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), a nonprofit advocacy group dedicated to promoting an economy rooted in good jobs, thriving communities and a healthy environment.

Thung is assessing the health, environmental and economic impact of LAANE’s waste and recycling campaign in Long Beach by

Change Agents

FSPH’s Public Health Advocacy Fellows share lessons from their training experiences in L.A.

Alein Haro 2017 PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY FELLOW Growing up, I spent most of my doctor’s visits in the emergency room of our local hospital. Because of cultural and societal barriers, I never visited a physician for preventive reasons. My health care experiences drive me to advocate for access to preventive care while improving the conditions in which marginalized communities live, work, age and grow. At Community Health Councils (CHC), I am leading a community-based participatory research project with insurance enrollers to understand barriers. Through this project, I engage with South L.A. residents to share success stories of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion and to provide policy recommendations to improve such programs. I monitor policies and legislation related to the ACA and safety net programs and communicate changes to stakeholders. I further advocate for health equity of under-resourced populations through legislative visits. CHC shares my perspective that population health status is indelibly connected to the structural and institutional policies that influence a community’s social determinants of health.

Saul Garcia 2017 PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY FELLOW For individuals immigrating to the U.S., leaving their homes and coming to a new country provides an opportunity for a better life. But life in the U.S. can be an uphill battle.

My family experienced this — all four of us lived in one room within a house that my grandparents rented. Growing up in that crowded environment and the challenges that came with it are what drew me to Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE). At SAJE, I am addressing housing’s influence on health and developing a healthy housing policy on the use of dangerous pesticides for pest infestations. It is important to me to advocate for tenants because of my experiences with similar issues. To truly advocate for a community, one has to understand the community. By understanding a community and advocating for their rights, I hope to speak for those who have no voice. ph.ucla.edu

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STUDENT CHANGE AGENTS

conducting a health impact assessment — an approach that was introduced to her in a Fielding School course when she began her work at the organization. “It occurred to me that what I was learning in class might fit well with what LAANE needed,” Thung says.

Beyond the experiences Thung and the other Public Health Advocacy Fellows are gaining, the program is bringing benefits to the partner organizations by bolstering their capacity to engage in advocacy work. Public Health Advocacy Fellows will have cumulatively contributed approximately 17,000 hours working at nearly two dozen community-based organizations and government agencies throughout Los Angeles County by December 2017.

At The Wall Las Memorias Project, a community health and wellness organization dedicated to serving Latino, LGBTQ and other underserved populations, a 2016 fellow contributed to developing a curriculum designed to assist the organization’s leadership in its ability to advocate for LGBTQ mental health services in Los Angeles County, and a 2017 fellow worked on strategic planning, outreach to government officials and community mobilization for a hepatitis C screening campaign targeting the Latino population. “We feel like this is a great opportunity to show future public health professionals how a community operates,” says Andres Magaña, director of community engagement for The Wall Las Memorias Project.

The organization MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger has also taken in two Public Health Advocacy Fellows who, between them, have taken part in the development, implementation and analysis of food bank policies and practices through a national survey. “These students have been instrumental to the process,” says Marla Feldman, the national anti-hunger advocacy organization’s senior program director. For her part, Feldman adds, “I’m trying to expose them to the breadth of what MAZON is doing, the complex factors that go into ensuring that sustainable systems are in place and the importance of advocacy in making long-term change.”

At Peace Over Violence, a Los Angelesbased organization dedicated to building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence, Public Health Advocacy Fellows have contributed to evaluating and developing advocacy efforts, including a 6

Uyen Hoang 2017 PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY FELLOW As a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, advocacy has been interwoven intimately in my family’s life. My father organized multiple boat trips to help others flee the war, continuing even as he was in jail. My mother fought to stay educated, attending night classes with men from the new communist regime who knew her father was a political prisoner in the re-education camps. There is a legacy of beautiful resistance in my blood, and I am proud to continue it through my internship at Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network. To me, advocacy is both the swelling up of community power against oppressive systems and the subtle persistence to survive each day. The world that we want to see can be built, but it takes work. It takes embracing what we don’t know and transgressing past what we do in order to find health, justice and equity for all. It takes advocacy.

Laureen Masai, MPH ’17 2016 PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY FELLOW I worked with the organization Peace Over Violence to evaluate a violence-prevention advocacy initiative that equips local youth with tools to prevent teen dating violence in their communities. As an epidemiology student new to advocacy, dating violence and working with teens, I didn’t know where to start — most of my training focused on study methodology and data collection. I was surprised at how sparse and old the data were on dating violence, especially among this very vulnerable group. The experience brought home the importance of research and proper data collection, and motivated me to develop evaluation materials to adequately capture the needs of these young people. The enthusiasm of the youth participants was inspiring, and the connections I made with them gave meaning to the results. I realized that data can be a powerful tool in advocacy, especially on highly stigmatized topics, by illuminating areas that need increased attention.

Katy Wang 2017 PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY FELLOW FSPH ADVOCACY FELLOW ANNA-MICHELLE MCSORLEY

While participating as an under-

(CENTER) AT A CALIFORNIA LATINAS FOR REPRODUCTIVE

graduate in the University of Cal-

JUSTICE ADVOCACY EVENT.

youth advocacy training program on violence and intimate partner violence. “When I first started working in domestic violence and sexual assault as an MPH student more than 20 years ago, no one talked about violence as a public health issue,” says Cathy Friedman, the organization’s associate director. “Thankfully, we have seen a shift in the field, but we still need more people in public health who can be effective advocates on these issues.

One of our goals at Peace Over Violence is to contribute to that next generation of leaders.”

Peace Over Violence is also a collaborator on the yearlong FSPH Public Health Advocacy Campaign, which is led by two fellows and second-year MPH students, Bernadett Leggis and Marisol Frausto. “As fellows in this program we wanted to create a peerled campaign, so we all brainstormed and decided on interpersonal violence prevention,” Frausto says. “Our goal is to raise awareness and mobilize students to start conversations and take action to influence others. We want to show how violence can be viewed through a public health lens, and how advocacy can be a tool to help prevent it.”

Leggis says she decided to apply to the UCLA Public Health Training Program on Population Health Advocacy after concluding that she could make the most difference in improving health by learning how to effectively engage policymakers and empower others to advocate for themselves and their communities. Her motivation is not unlike the other Public Health Advocacy Fellows — many of whom, Prelip notes, are from under-resourced communities and, as a result, especially motivated to make a difference.

“Most of our students are drawn to public health because they want to have a significant impact on systems, organizations and communities,” Prelip says. “Through this training, both in the classroom and in the field, the students will leave FSPH with the tools to achieve what they came here to do.”

ifornia system’s UCDC academic internship program in Washington, D.C., I became captivated by the application of statistics in policy work. Now at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), I use biostatistics as a tool to support advocacy work that influences public policy for children’s health. As part of this work, I analyze trends in health policy; participate in visits by local, state and elected officials to the hospital; and assist in formulating study designs and analytical plans for research that will advance evidence-based modeling and programming. I have developed an Immigration Task Force charter for CHLA to respond to inquiries by immigration and customs enforcement agents and am currently evaluating the impact of Camp CHLA, a high school health career exploration program, on future career decisions. Through this fellowship, I have enhanced my professional knowledge and skills and am continuing to appreciate the importance of public health advocacy.

James Huynh 2017 PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY FELLOW I’m pursuing my MPH in Community Health Sciences/MA in Asian American Studies in order to meaningfully address health inequities in LGBTQ communities of color. At APAIT, a division of Special Service for Groups, I participate in three projects: writing grants to sustain our HIV/AIDS advocacy, working with HIV-positive elders to increase their self-advocacy capacities, and evaluating our housing program to determine its impact on viral suppression. I’ve learned that in order to even think about advocacy for HIV-positive individuals we need to ensure that they have stable housing, which remains a great unmet need. Stability is essential for clients to adhere to their treatment and have the capacity to advocate for themselves. Although the stigma of HIV is insidious, especially in alienating LGBTQ people of color, I have also been privileged to witness how our clients continue to thrive and live with an abundance of joy and laughter. ph.ucla.edu

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Ensuring Impact FSPH professor and chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences Michael Prelip discusses how the school goes beyond traditional academic scholarship to effect change.

THROUGH HIS RESEARCH IN COMMUNITIES and his 15 years overseeing the placement of FSPH students with partners in public health settings, Dr. Michael Prelip’s focus during his more than two decades on the Fielding School faculty has been on making an impact in areas of need. The professor and chair of the school’s Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS) has led numerous National Institutes of Health-funded research and training programs aiming to reduce health disparities, particularly through improved nutrition and health promotion. He has also directed the field component of the CHS department’s MPH degree and the school’s MPH for Health Professionals Program. Prelip spoke with FSPH’s Public Health Magazine on ways the school maximizes its impact.

Q: What is the obligation of FSPH faculty members to go beyond the traditional role of academics when it comes to seeking impact outside the university?

A: I see it as more than an obligation; it’s who we are, what we want and why we’re here. More than many academic disciplines, we aren’t in this position only to create new knowledge, but also to make a difference. And to do that, we have to think about the implications of our research and how we train public health students.

Q: Much is already known about policies and programs that would make people healthier, yet in many cases there’s a gap between what’s known and what’s done.

A: Right, and this isn’t a unique issue for public health. So we need to effectively communicate the problems and conditions, but also the solutions to public health professionals, community-based organizations, community members

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and policymakers in order to help them better understand what we need to do to bridge the gap. It’s one thing to publish research in an academic journal, but there is then a responsibility to make sure the right people are getting that information and understanding how it can be applied.

Q: What are some of the ways of doing that?

A: The traditional way that investigators have done this would be the classic scientific manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal or presentation at a scientific meeting, which we do, and which continues to be important. But we can also create other usable communication pieces. For example, in our project aiming to change the food environment in East Los Angeles through home and corner store makeovers, we published about a dozen scientific manuscripts on the work, but we also created a toolkit — both in English and Spanish and digitally accessible — that communities, local governments and nonprofits could use if they were interested in doing similar work. Our school does things like creating policy briefs, providing testimony and meeting with public officials to communicate important research findings and recommendations. It’s also critical to establish relationships with public health practitioners, policymakers and community groups to make sure not only that people understand the evidence, but that they know what to do with it and how to implement potential solutions.

Q: You have also spoken about the value of community-based research that involves the impacted population from the beginning, as well as making sure that after the funding ends, the work is sustainable.

A: Absolutely. Historically, the dissemination piece comes at the end: We’ve collected our data, finished our analyses, and now we’re going to write a manuscript for a peer-reviewed publication. But it’s clear that there is much greater impact when you work with the community throughout the process. When stakeholders are involved all along, it helps to ensure that the final product will be disseminated in a way that makes sense. And more than that, it ensures that the research questions and approach are grounded in the real issues of the community.

Q: In addition to its community partnerships, the Fielding School has close ties with public health practice, particularly the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Why is that so valuable?

A: It makes a difference in so many ways. One of our school’s greatest impacts is in training the public health workforce. We continue to see large numbers of our alumni working at the county public health department. We also have quite a bit of cross-fertilization with faculty here who are involved in collaborative research projects involving the county, as well as professionals at the county who are part of our faculty here. It’s a productive relationship

“We need to effectively communicate the problems and conditions, but also the solutions to public health professionals, communitybased organizations, community members and policymakers.”

that benefits the county as well as our school, by keeping our curriculum and research focused on everyday public health practice.

Q: FSPH has an incredibly diverse student body, many of whom are from communities that are deeply affected by health disparities, or from other countries where there is a great public health need. How does that make a difference?

A: Many of our students are passionate and committed to using their education at the Fielding School to make a difference in their community. That’s especially important in a state as diverse as California. We have to constantly work to improve the support we can offer to our students so that they have the resources not only to be here, but also to graduate without a debt burden that could prevent them from doing the great work they are passionate about.

Q: How does the school maximize the impact of its teaching?

A: We have come to appreciate that for all we can do on campus, our MPH students are here to be trained as public health professionals, and so it is critical that we create learning experiences that bridge the important classroom learning with the field. We want our students to be effective in applying their knowledge and skills in a real-world setting, so we place a great deal of emphasis on the fieldwork our students participate in both in our backyard and around the world, in a wide range of settings. Beyond the practicum requirement, we are constantly looking for new opportunities for students to gain real-world experience, whether it’s through volunteer work, independent studies, activities that are part of particular courses, or bringing in people from the community to interact with and mentor our students. ph.ucla.edu

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LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER

PEER PERSPECTIVES FSPH students develop and facilitate courses on timely social issues.

ABOVE: FSPH STUDENTS IN "IMMIGRATION HEALTH IN AN ERA OF MASS DEPORTATION" STAND AT THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER DURING A FIELD TRIP TO TIJUANA, MEXICO. RIGHT: STUDENTS IN "WE GON' BE ALRIGHT: ADDRESSING RACISM AND ANTI-BLACK VIOLENCE AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS."

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A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THAT HAS PRIORITIZED THE INCREASE OF DEPORTATION of undocumented immigrants has thrust immigrant health into the forefront as a public health issue. “What used to be a simple traffic stop is now more likely to result in immigrants being apprehended, detained and possibly deported,” says Maria-Elena Young, a doctoral candidate in FSPH’s Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS). “This is a major health concern not just for individuals who are apprehended and their family members, but also for immigrants whose distrust and feelings of insecurity weigh on their mental and physical health.”

Last June, students in the class CHS 296, “Immigrant Health in an Era of Mass Deportation,” explored the impact of the U.S. immigration

“There was something magical about this peer-centered learning and teaching approach.

Students were given space to bring in their own lived experiences.”

— Saron Selassie, MPH ’17 detention and deportation systems on health inequities among immigrant communities, with a focus on better understanding their role as future public health professionals. In addition to learning about and discussing the issues, the students took field trips to a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico and a detention center in Adelanto, California. They met guest speakers representing immigrant-rights advocacy groups — potential partners in their future public health work.

Beyond the highly topical nature of the material, what made CHS 296 especially notable was that it was student-driven. Young, whose doctoral research focuses on how immigrants’ health is affected by their legal status and the policies related to detention and deportation, facilitated the course under the supervision of Dr. Steven P. Wallace, professor of CHS. Because of her research, Young was approached by a group of MPH students that included those who had developed and facilitated the first offering of CHS 296 in the spring of 2016, “We Gon’ Be Alright: Addressing Racism and Anti-black Violence as a Public Health Crisis,” under the supervision of Dr. Gilbert Gee, CHS professor.

During the 2014-15 academic year, against the backdrop of a series of controversial deaths of black people at the hands of police and the civil unrest that was unfolding around the issues of anti-black violence and racism, a group of FSPH students began to explore how timely social issues might connect to

their public health curriculum. “Prior to coming in as students, some of us had participated in activist work and had been tackling health disparities in different contexts,” says Sarah Jane Smith (MPH ’17), part of the student group. “We were looking for a forum to discuss it and grapple with our role in addressing these issues as aspiring public health professionals.”

The students approached Wallace, then chair of the CHS department, and the result was a current events-related student-led course — specifically, for the first year, on anti-black violence and racism. Seven MPH students, in consultation with Gee, developed a syllabus for the course and served as facilitators. In addition to guest lecturers who brought in their expertise, students in the course shared their own perspectives and led discussions.

“There was something magical about this peer-centered learning and teaching approach,” says Saron Selassie (MPH ’17), one of the course facilitators. “Students were given space to bring in their own lived experiences. They came prepared to engage in the material and speak honestly, and after every class we all stayed late, just unpacking what we had discussed and hanging out.” By the end, Selassie says, students demonstrated much more confidence in their ability to explain why racism is a public health issue, as well as a commitment to ensuring that others in their future workplace are aware of its importance and the need to address it.

A similar focus on raising awareness and providing tools for social action guided the 2017 version of CHS 296, on mass deportation. “This was somewhat different from what we usually do in public health, in that we were focusing on the U.S. immigration system as a way to understand the public health impact,” Young says. “I wanted to connect that understanding of the immigration system with where the students would be working, so that they will be able to educate others and serve as catalyzing forces for change.”

For Young, facilitating the course was an opportunity to synthesize topics she has studied for several years

and to think about ways to convey not only foundational information, but also skills and strategies that the students can use to be effective advocates in the future. “All of the students came in with a strong commitment to immigrant health — many were immigrants themselves, and had personal stories to share,” she says. “It was a beautiful mesh of the personal, political and academic.”

Four of the student facilitators of the course on racism and anti-black violence — Smith and Selassie, along with Sally Saleh (MPH ’16) and Amelia Fay-Berquist (MPH ’16) — spoke on their experience to a packed session at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. They were later contacted by students at other schools of public health seeking guidance on student-led

STUDENTS PRESENTED AT THE 2016 AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING.

courses and other potential actions to address structural inequities and racism as a public health issue. The FSPH students also worked with the Department of Community Health Sciences and the FSPH Diversity Committee to support Young’s mass deportation course and institutionalize a studentinitiated topics course each year.

“We are excited to see students lead courses that are both about deep learning and how that learning can be applied to action in the field,” says Dr. Jody Heymann, dean of the Fielding School. “Beyond the skills gained by the students who are teaching, when these courses are successful, they markedly increase the ability of all participating to address some of the most critical issues of our time.” ph.ucla.edu

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D E M O C R AT I Z I N G

DATA

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s detailed surveys of the health status and coverage of California’s diverse population make it an indispensable resource. The accessibility of the center’s findings and analyses ensures maximum impact.

DR. GERALD F. KOMINSKI, DIRECTOR OF THE FSPH-BASED UCLA CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY RESEARCH, IS FREQUENTLY CALLED ON FOR HIS HEALTH POLICY EXPERTISE.

AMID THE VOLUMINOUS COVERAGE OF EFFORTS to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the first half of 2017, the demand for data and analysis on issues related to the ACA, the alternatives under consideration and the health implications of it all reached a fever pitch. For many media outlets, that meant turning to the FSPH-based UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

In the eight-plus months between November 19, 2016, and the end of July 2017, the center was referenced by news outlets more than 1,300 times, 12

with the vast majority of the mentions related to ACA repeal-and-replace efforts. “On average, I was spending up to two hours a day talking with media,” says Dr. Gerald F. Kominski, FSPH professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the center’s director. But Kominski isn’t complaining. “I see it as an extension of our role as educators,” he says. “Helping to illuminate these issues is an essential function and helps to make our work more influential.”

Even at times when health care reform isn’t at the top of the news, the demand for information and insights

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from Kominski and other UCLA Center for Health Policy Research experts is consistently high, and not only from members of the news media. Health officials, legislators and public health advocacy groups are among those who regularly rely on the center for everything from decisions on resource allocation to making the evidence-based case for new policies that improve access to care or take aim at health disparities.

“The Center for Health Policy Research continues to play an important role in crossing the bridge from knowledge and research to meaningful and impactful health policy and

systems change — and by impactful, I mean beneficial to real lives in real communities,” says Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation dedicated to improving access to affordable, quality health care for underserved populations.

The center was founded at the Fielding School in 1994 on the premise that without reliable and detailed data on the health status and concerns of specific communities — particularly in California, where the center’s work is primarily focused — their needs were less likely to be addressed. “We had national surveys with state-level estimates of the rates of conditions such as obesity, asthma and diabetes, but what was missing was a level of detail that could help local health officials understand what was going on with their populations,” Kominski says. By introducing the widely cited California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the center has contributed to an understanding of the health status of Californians at a much more refined level — not only by county and in some cases ZIP code, but also broken down by race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, social class, disability and other characteristics.

The center’s founder, the late Dr. E. Richard “Rick” Brown, was a pioneering leader in quantifying and describing the impact of lacking health insurance and in promoting policies that would increase the accessibility and affordability of health care. From the start, the center’s work included a strong focus on understanding who lacked access in California and how those deficiencies could be addressed. That focus continues to drive much of the center’s work, with implications throughout California and well beyond. In the debate leading up to the ACA’s passage, the state’s congressional delegation relied heavily on the center’s estimates of the number of Californians who would be eligible for health insurance exchange subsidies and expanded Medicaid under the proposed legislation. A 2010 study estimating that 8.2 million Californians were uninsured — nearly one-fourth

THE CALIFORNIA HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY, LED BY DR. NINEZ PONCE (ABOVE RIGHT), CONTRIBUTES TO A REFINED UNDERSTANDING OF HEALTH STATUS, IN SOME CASES BY ZIP CODE.

of the state’s population — sparked widespread coverage that helped propel passage of the law.

As the ACA was being implemented, the center played an important role in the state through its California Simulation of Insurance Markets (CalSIM) program, a microsimulation model to estimate eligibility and enrollment under the new law. At a time of great uncertainty about the volume of people who would enroll, CalSIM provided what proved to be accurate projections that assisted Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, in properly preparing during the first three enrollment seasons. More recently, CalSIM has provided data on who and where the remaining uninsured Californians are, and how many of them are potentially eligible for Medicaid and Covered California benefits.

“Since our early days planning for Covered California’s launch, the work of the CalSIM team has provided a valuable yardstick for us to measure our performance in increasing the number of insured Californians,” says

Peter V. Lee, Covered California’s executive director. “It has been an invaluable partnership.”

The center’s influence has been widely felt in California policy circles.

In 2008, a group of center researchers headed by Dr. Steven P. Wallace, FSPH professor of community health sciences and associate director of the center, was asked to calculate the true cost of living for California seniors as part of a larger national movement to replace outdated federal poverty guidelines. The resulting California Elder Economic Security Standard Index — which calculates costs by county, taking into account what elders need for rent, food, transportation, health care and other basic items — contributed to the passage of the Elder Economic Planning Act of 2011, which requires the state’s Area Agencies on Aging to use the Elder Index in their strategic planning calculations of the true cost of living for low-income seniors.

“The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research enabled policymakers to understand just how hard it is for ph.ucla.edu

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NUMBERS THAT COUNT

To ensure that a wide range of audiences can access and easily understand the survey’s results, the center launched AskCHIS, a user-friendly online tool that gives anyone the ability to obtain CHIS data. More than 1.1 million queries have been made since AskCHIS debuted in 2003. In 2014, the center launched AskCHIS Neighborhood Edition in response to local health officials and others who sought estimates by ZIP code and city.

THE LATE DR. E. RICHARD "RICK" BROWN, THE CENTER'S FOUNDER, WAS A PIONEER ON THE ISSUE OF UNINSURANCE AND POLICIES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM.

seniors to make ends meet in California,” says State Senator Jim Beall, who authored the legislation. “It’s one thing to say it and another thing to show it, and the center’s data showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that seniors were struggling to survive, especially in high-cost areas. It is important to have the latest accurate data from a credible source that is presented in a clear and easy way to comprehend. The center makes that happen.”

The center’s position as a critical data source is based to a considerable extent on its administration of CHIS, the nation’s largest population-based state health survey. The survey is valued for both its local-level breakdowns and its rich and representative racial and ethnic data. “CHIS captures the diversity of Californians across the state, and is a policy tool to direct resources to people and places where they are most needed,” says Dr. Ninez Ponce, FSPH professor of health policy and management and principal investigator of CHIS. “And because it’s conducted every year, it provides a surveillance infrastructure that not only points to where the needs are, but also shows the impact of policies and programs.”

14

“The Center for Health Policy Research continues to play an important role in crossing the bridge from knowledge and research to meaningful and impactful health policy and systems change.”

— Dr. Robert K. Ross, President and CEO, The California Endowment This ability to present health information in accessible ways and to assist various audiences in putting it to use is

a distinguishing feature of the center.

Researchers at the center regularly meet with legislative and community contacts and conduct quick-turnaround studies to help advance policy initiatives. The center’s Health DATA program has trained nearly 5,000 representatives from community-based organizations in how to find, use and communicate health data. The policy briefs produced by the center, which provide data and analysis on complex issues using clear, concise language and graphics, help to bring important health issues to a broad audience.

The determination to reach key groups in ways that will generate progress in health policy is a legacy of Brown’s original vision for the center.

“Rick was always asking what we could do to be even more responsive, to make the data even fresher,” says Ponce, who was recruited to the Fielding School and mentored by Brown. “He was a champion for reducing social inequities, and he knew that you couldn’t move policy without good populationbased data.”

“As an academic-based research center, we’ve never been satisfied to do high-quality research that only ends up in the hands of other academics,” Kominski says. “Democratizing data is in our DNA. It’s what this center has done for the last 23 years, and it’s what we will be doing when we celebrate our 30th, 40th and 50th anniversaries.”

DR. STEVEN P. WALLACE ADDRESSES NEWS MEDIA ON EFFORTS TO PROTECT APARTMENT DWELLERS FROM SECONDHAND TOBACCO SMOKE.

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ALUMNI PROFILE

Holistic Hospital Under Elaine Batchlor’s leadership, the new MLK facility in L.A. is focusing on the overall health of a long-underserved community.

Batchlor’s team set out to engage and earn the trust of the community. The Know Your Basics Community Wellness Campaign, launched in 2014, has provided health screenings and health education to thousands of people at settings that include shopping centers, farmers markets, beauty salons, barbershops, senior centers and churches, as well as assisting participants who lack a primary care provider in finding a medical home. A partnership with local K-12 schools offers health education and mentoring, as

THE 2007 CLOSURE of Martin

well as introducing students to

and administrators, with the

Luther King, Jr. Harbor Hospital

health-related careers.

majority of staff coming from

after a failed federal inspection

To address the community’s

the community and surround-

BATCHLOR AT THE RIBBONCUTTING FOR

hit the South Los Angeles com-

continuing physician shortage

ing areas. Despite its small size,

MARTIN LUTHER

munity especially hard. A needs

and recruit high-quality pro-

MLKCH has one of the busiest

KING, JR.

assessment conducted shortly

viders to practice in South Los

emergency departments in

after the hospital closed found

Angeles, MLKCH in 2016 started

the county, Batchlor adds — a

that in addition to lacking an

the nonprofit Martin Luther

reflection of both the need and

acute-care facility, the commu-

King Jr. Community Medical

the community’s satisfaction

nity faced a shortage of 1,700

Group. The group’s first outpa-

with the care.

physicians — significantly limiting

tient care site has opened, and

access to primary and specialty

the hospital is working with the

services, Batchlor’s aim is to

care for a population with high

county to develop a medical

address the overall health of

chronic disease rates.

office building on the MLKCH

South Los Angeles residents —

campus to provide additional

a holistic approach she derived

is a leader in the effort to trans-

space for the practitioners who

from her FSPH education.

form the health of the tradition-

are being recruited to practice

“Through the outpatient care

ally underserved community as

in the community.

being provided by the Martin

Dr. Elaine Batchlor (MPH ’90)

chief executive officer of Martin

Luther King Jr. Community Med-

Luther King, Jr. Community Hos-

has earned the community’s

ical Group and programs such as

pital (MLKCH), which opened

confidence since its 2015 open-

Know Your Basics, we’re seeking

in 2015. Batchlor’s involvement

ing through its performance.

to improve the overall health of

began when she was appointed

“It boils down to taking good

the community as opposed to

to a seven-member board

care of patients when they

only treating people when they

formed to plan a replacement

come in, and treating them with

happen to land in the hospital,”

shortly after the original MLK

compassion and respect,” she

she says. “We can see that we

hospital closed; she was hired as

says. “When you do that, over

are making a difference with

CEO of MLKCH in 2012.

time people learn they can trust

every individual we care for, but

you.” She notes that MLKCH has

the ultimate goal is to make a

attracted top physicians, nurses

difference for the population.”

the new hospital commenced,

HOSPITAL, WHICH OPENED IN 2015.

Beyond high-quality hospital

Batchlor believes MLKCH

Even before construction of

COMMUNITY

ph.ucla.edu

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TR ANSPARENCY DRIVING CHANGE

FROM EVIDENCE TO IMPACT

Data from FSPH’s WORLD Policy Analysis Center, which identifies gaps in countries’ laws and rights, is used in the U.S. and around the world to advance policies that improve people’s lives.

WORLD’S MAPS SHINE A SPOTLIGHT ON WHICH COUNTRIES LEAD AND WHICH LAG ON KEY POLICIES, SUCH AS PARENTAL LEAVE.

THROUGH ITS RESEARCH on the state of constitutional rights, laws and public policies pertaining to education, health, labor, poverty, equal rights and other outcomes in nearly 200 countries, the FSPH-based WORLD Policy Analysis Center produces data with the potential to inform policies that can change the odds for millions of people. But data alone isn’t necessarily sufficient. For the policymakers, civil society groups and intergovernmental organizations that have turned WORLD’s evidence into impact, the 16

quality of WORLD’s research is only one aspect of the center’s value.

WORLD’s comparative data on global policies is highly user-friendly — shining a spotlight on gaps, on which countries lead and which ones lag, and how these relate to public health outcomes. Through visually powerful and easily accessible global maps, WORLD’s reports aim to increase transparency and accountability while providing information on what comparable countries have accomplished, along with a range of policy options for addressing

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particular issues. WORLD also works closely with partners interested in using the center’s findings to bring about positive changes.

“When universities are funded to conduct research on social conditions, the public that’s paying for these studies deserves to know that they will make a positive impact,” says Dr. Jody Heymann, WORLD founding director and FSPH dean. “For that to occur, we need to go beyond generating the data — ensuring that what we produce is useful, and working with citizen

“When universities are funded to conduct research on social conditions, the public that’s paying for these studies deserves to know that they will make a positive impact.”

— Dr. Jody Heymann groups and decision-makers to advance evidence-based policies that improve people’s lives.”

The success of WORLD’s approach is illustrated by developments over recent years on the issue of paid parental leave, which has been found to yield substantial health, social and economic benefits to children and parents. In the Philippines, as part of successful efforts to double the duration of paid maternity leave from 60 to 120 days, the senators advancing the legislation cited WORLD evidence that the country’s maternal leave policy lagged behind much of the global community, along with research from WORLD and McGill University showing that longer paid leave reduces infant mortality.

After the organization Equality Now issued a report that used WORLD data to show that Ireland discriminated on the basis of sex in its exclusion of paternity leave from employment law, the Irish government passed two weeks of paid time off for new fathers. “WORLD brought to our attention that not allowing paternity leave hurts mothers by giving families fewer options,” says Jacqui Hunt, director of the European office of Equality Now. Beyond highlighting the law and its impact, the international organization has worked with governments listed in its report to review all discrimination in their legislation and remind them of their international obligations with respect to women’s and girls’ rights.

Cape Town, South Africa-based Sonke Gender Justice has cited WORLD

data on countries’ paternity leave policies to impress on members of South Africa’s parliament that they are behind on the issue. “One of the levers we have as activists is to show where we stand in comparison with other countries,” says Wessel van den Berg, who manages the organization’s Children’s Rights and Positive Parenting Unit. “South Africa likes to position itself as an economic and policy leader on the continent, and showing where we are behind, as well as how families have responded in countries where these policies have been implemented, is very powerful.”

During the United Nations General Assembly 2017, UNICEF released Early Moments Matter for Every Child, a new global early childhood development report that presents the latest scientific evidence on how experiences and environments during the earliest years of life have a profound and lasting impact on children’s present and future health.

In the report, UNICEF used WORLD data on country-level policies, including those that guarantee two years of free pre-primary education, paid breastfeeding breaks for new mothers for the first six months, and adequate parental leave. The analysis revealed that only 15 countries worldwide have these three basic national policies; 32 countries — home to one in eight of the world’s children under 5 — have none of these policies in place.

“There is no time as critical for brain development as the earliest years of life. Yet, as we can see from this analysis, across the world, parents of 85 million children under the age of 5 are missing out on even the most basic support during this opportune moment of brain development,” says Dr. Pia Britto, UNICEF chief of early childhood development. UNICEF is urging governments and the private sector to push for national policies in support of early childhood development while tracking progress in reaching the most vulnerable children and families.

WORLD is also equipping students and postdoctoral fellows with skills in creating and employing evidence for impact. The Hilton Scholars Program aims to prepare a generation of leaders

who will help to implement the ambitious UN Sustainable Development Goals, which tackle poverty, discrimination and other societal problems fundamental to health.

WORLD is training postdoctoral scholars such as Dr. Alissa Koski, who is conducting studies that are bringing attention to the issue of child marriage, which is associated with a host of public health problems. Although she studies the issue globally, Koski has recently focused on the United States after finding that approximately 58,000 married minors were living in the U.S. between 2010 and 2014.

As states have begun considering legislation to raise the earliest age at which persons can legally marry, Koski has used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and state vital statistics offices to produce state-by-state estimates of how many minors are marrying. She was invited to speak to members of the California Legislature about her findings in May 2017 as they considered a bill that would have prevented

WORLD EVIDENCE HAS BEEN USED TO INFLUENCE PAID PATERNAL LEAVE POLICIES.

any person under 18 from obtaining a marriage license.

“WORLD is one of the few academic centers focusing on the critical impact of social policy on public health,” Koski says. “To have so much policy information from around the globe available in one place is truly phenomenal. It facilitates the kind of analysis and information that can bring about important change.” ph.ucla.edu

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INFORMING POLICY

B R E AT H I N G EASIER The clearing of the air in the Los Angeles basin over the last half-century is an environmental success story in which the Fielding School has played an important role.

ON AVERAGE, THE LOS ANGELES SKYLINE TODAY (ABOVE) IS FAR CLEARER THAN IT WAS IN THE 1960S AND 1970S (OPPOSITE PAGE).

THROUGH THE 1960s AND 1970s, the Los Angeles basin was notorious as one of the world’s smoggiest regions. Since then, population in the sprawling metropolitan area has roughly doubled, energy consumption has soared as the region has become a global economic hub, and despite efforts to get people to carpool and use public transportation, vehicle miles traveled have approximately tripled.

But as anyone who lived in the L.A. basin then and now can plainly see, the air is considerably cleaner.

The data support the visuals. Los Angeles meets the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for four of the six air pollution criteria it regulates: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead. For the other two, ozone levels have been reduced by approximately two-thirds from peak levels, and the basin is close to meeting the standard 18

for fine particulate matter after once exceeding it by several-fold.

“Los Angeles shows that with the right policies, even a mega-city can make major improvements while experiencing economic growth,” says Dr. Michael Jerrett, professor and chair of FSPH’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences and an expert in air pollution exposures and health effects.

The dramatic turn has resulted from the aggressive regulatory policies of the EPA; the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), which regulates stationary pollution sources in Southern California; and the California Air Resources Board (ARB), Jerrett says. In particular, the ARB, which regulates pollution from mobile sources, has enacted strict motor vehicle emission controls that have led to cleaner fuels and have driven technological advances to substantially reduce the pollutants from tailpipes.

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Not to be overlooked are the critical contributions of the Fielding School, where faculty research and expertise have informed the policies, and where students have been prepared for leadership positions at the regulatory agencies. “The ARB has led the world in supporting technology and measures that reduce emissions across the spectrum,” says Dr. Arthur Winer, FSPH professor emeritus of environmental health sciences and an expert in air pollution and exposure assessment. “At the same time, it has supported the best academic researchers in California, and used the science and engineering from that research to establish cost- and policy-effective measures.”

These advances have resulted in a healthier population. Poor ambient air quality consistently ranks among the top handful of risk factors for premature death, and is associated with greater susceptibility to conditions that

include childhood asthma, reduced lung function, cardiovascular disease and poor birth outcomes. Among the many important contributions of Fielding School faculty to the science and policies that have helped to reduce such risks: » Both Winer and Dr. Yifang Zhu, FSPH professor of environmental health sciences, have published influential findings on the level of exposure to air pollutants near freeways. Winer’s group found that the radius of exposure to the vehicle emissions extended farther than believed, particularly during the early-morning hours. Zhu, starting with her dissertation at the Fielding School under the mentorship of Dr. William Hinds, FSPH professor emeritus of environmental health sciences, has conducted studies showing that tiny (ultrafine) particles are highly concentrated downwind of freeways.

The research by Zhu, Hinds, Winer and others focused the attention of healtheffects researchers and policymakers on the importance of air quality impacts in proximity to roadways. » In the early 2000s, a Winerled group documented significant air-quality concerns inside dieselpowered school buses, showing that students aboard the buses were exposed to dangerous levels of diesel exhaust. The research contributed to actions by the EPA and ARB to retrofit school buses with pollution-reducing devices and to replace diesel with cleaner fuels. In recent years Zhu’s lab has built on those findings with studies indicating that even after emissions from the buses’ tailpipes are minimized, occupants remain vulnerable to exposures from other vehicles. Zhu’s team has been studying a prototype school bus air filtration system, with encouraging results. » FSPH faculty members have also helped to delineate the health effects of air pollution exposures. Jerrett is widely recognized as a leader in the use of geographic information science for both assessing exposures and determin-

ing the health risks of various exposure levels to pollutants through the field known as spatial epidemiology. He and his colleagues were among the first to document an elevated cardiovascular risk in high-pollution areas, as well as markedly increased odds of asthma and impaired lung function among children living close to roadways.

cellular function. As director of the multidisciplinary Southern California Particle Center and Supersite, funded by the EPA, Froines headed or participated in numerous studies that created a roadmap for how the pollutants lead to poor health outcomes — work that has been widely cited in policysetting arenas.

» Dr. Beate Ritz, FSPH professor of epidemiology, conducted pioneering research on the health effects of traffic-related air pollution, including landmark studies showing that living near heavily traveled roads increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes, along with one of the largest studies finding an association between air pollution and autism. Ritz has also led seminal epidemiological and laboratory research demonstrating the toxic effects of pesticides and increased susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease among farmworkers and others in California’s Central Valley.

Following up on her findings, she has led a successful effort to ensure funding for the development of the California Parkinson’s Disease Registry, increasing the ability to monitor the risk associated with suspected chemical agents.

» In addition to informing air pollution policies through their research, FSPH faculty have played hands-on roles through their service on key committees. Among others, Froines contributed to key policies on pesticides and other air contaminants through his leadership on ARB’s Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants, on which Ritz is a current member. Both Jerrett and Ritz have served on the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Subcommittee. Winer served on numerous policy-setting committees over the course of his career.

» Dr. John Froines, FSPH professor emeritus of environmental health sciences, has published fundamental research contributing to the understanding of how air particles, once ingested into the lungs, lead to inflammation, oxidative stress and impaired

Zhu, who has collaborated with researchers at Peking University in China on research seeking to guide policymakers on cleaning the air in Beijing, notes that representatives from around the world have visited the Fielding School to draw lessons from Los Angeles. “The climate, topography and car culture all make the L.A. basin highly susceptible to air pollution problems,” she says. “But the success Los Angeles has had in improving the air quality makes this region a model for others.” ph.ucla.edu

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FSPH AND L ACDPH

PERFECT PAIRING The close partnership between FSPH and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health brings substantial benefits to both parties — resulting in a win for L.A.’s communities.

AS PART OF AN LACDPH OUTREACH EFFORT TO EDUCATE COMMUNITY MEMBERS ABOUT MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASE, FSPH STUDENTS AND PROMOTORAS (HEALTH PROMOTERS) SPOKE WITH RESIDENTS IN L.A.'S PARAMOUNT NEIGHBORHOOD. ABOVE RIGHT: FSPH EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDENT LOKACHET (TIME) TANASUGARN.

THE STRONG TIES BETWEEN THE FIELDING SCHOOL and the L.A. County Department of Public Health (LACDPH), which date back decades, continue to reverberate to the benefit of public health in the region.

The connections are embodied by the LACDPH officials who have FSPH faculty appointments, as well as the numerous FSPH alumni who now work at the department, in many cases after having 20

gained their first public health practice experiences as LACDPH interns while they were students. Full-time Fielding School faculty members are also periodically called on to consult with LACDPH staff on important public health issues, or to collaborate on research projects.

“I felt it was essential that the department, as an operating agency, have connections with UCLA as a major academic institution that kept

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current on the research and was engaged in educational programming,” says Dr. Jonathan Fielding, who served as LACDPH director until 2014 and remains a professor-in-residence at the school (see page 22). “And for the school, such connections bring in people who are in the trenches and up to date on the latest problems, as well as on the realities of what can be done in public health practice. Equally

important, the department provides a place where students can go to apply what they’re learning in the classroom in real time.”

Although Fielding retired from his county position in 2014, the FSPH-LACDPH ties remain as strong as ever, with both sides continuing to reap substantial rewards. A number of senior LACDPH members teach courses at the school, while others are brought in as guest lecturers. Dr. Robert Kim-Farley (MPH ’75) is an example of the former: The director of the Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Division at LACDPH, who is also professor-inresidence in FSPH’s departments of epidemiology and community health sciences, teaches Principles of Control of Infectious Diseases. For the course, Kim-Farley invites several of his LACDPH colleagues to speak to FSPH students on issues such as immunization and current or recent outbreaks.

Dr. Paul Simon (MPH ’90), chief science officer for LACDPH and an adjunct professor in FSPH’s Department of Epidemiology, has taught Public Health Surveillance at the school since 1998, drawing on LACDPH experts to provide guest lectures for about half of the class sessions. Simon notes that many LACDPH staff also benefit from informal educational opportunities at the Fielding School.

In some cases the LACDPH staff education is informal, while other times specific training channels are established. For example, Dr. Hilary Godwin, professor in FSPH’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and her doctoral students worked collaboratively with LACDPH staff to develop a series of interactive workshops on the projected health impacts of climate change and how LACDPH staff can leverage their existing expertise and partnerships to help build more resilient communities.

In addition to educating staff, FSPH faculty experts have been called on to consult on specific issues. Dr. Michael Jerrett, professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, worked with LACDPH on environmental air pollution monitoring

in response to the massive gas leak that began in 2015 in the Los Angeles community of Porter Ranch.

FSPH faculty and LACDPH staff also collaborate on research of interest to both the school and LACDPH. “Since coming to UCLA in 2008, I have benefited greatly from the relationship between FSPH and LACDPH,” says Dr. May Wang, professor in the Fielding School’s Department of Community Health Sciences. Wang has collaborated on several research projects with Simon and Dr. Tony Kuo (MS ’03), acting director of LACDPH’s Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention and an adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at FSPH — most recently on a large National Institutes of Health-funded study using state-ofthe-art modeling techniques to evaluate community-based early-childhood obesity prevention strategies. “These research collaborations also provide training and networking opportunities for our master’s and doctoral students,” Wang says. “Such a close collaboration between an academic institution and the local health department is relatively rare and so helpful for creating innovative synergies in translational research and training the next generation of public health professionals and scientists.”

“Students are able to see the day-to-day realities of working in a public health department, and that helps them in their own career decisionmaking.”

— Dr. Robert Kim-Farley The strong relationship between the school and the county public health department is a boon to the many FSPH students who fulfill their fieldwork requirement through LACDPH internships. “Students are able to see the dayto-day realities of working in a public

DR. LISA V. SMITH (STANDING) IS BOTH AN ADJUNCT ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AT THE FIELDING SCHOOL AND AN EPIDEMIOLOGIST AT THE L.A. COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, WHERE SHE DIRECTS THE RAPID ASSESSMENT, TRAINING AND EVALUATION TEAM.

health department, and that helps them in their own career decision-making,” Kim-Farley says. In addition to MPH students working in various roles, Fielding School PhD students have partnered with LACDPH programs for their dissertation research. Students in the school’s Department of Epidemiology regularly conduct analyses of LACDPH’s robust health data sets, Kim-Farley adds, providing important insights to the county while fulfilling a degree requirement.

Many Fielding School students who gain experience at LACDPH become full-time employees after graduating.

“The county benefits as much as the school from the opportunities presented by these internships,” Simon explains. “We are able to identify very talented students who are interested in working in a local health department and connect them with their areas of interest, and it becomes a great pipeline for us. We need well-trained young people to join our ranks, and with the training students receive at the Fielding School they come in well prepared.”

In many cases, Simon notes, FSPH students who started with entry-level positions at LACDPH have advanced to high-level positions within LACDPH and/or at state and federal agencies.

Beyond the practical benefits to LACDPH, Kim-Farley sees personal rewards. “It’s very satisfying to engage with the next generation of public health professionals — to be able to mentor and help guide them in their careers,” he says. “At the same time that we’re preparing students to be potential LACDPH hires, we also have the opportunity to excite and inspire them about careers in public health.” ph.ucla.edu

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21

LEADERSHIP BE YOND GOVERNMENT

“

WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS IMPACT

Whether he’s helping to set public health priorities for the nation, bringing attention to public health issues through a monthly column or mentoring future public health leaders, Jonathan Fielding aims to make a difference.

“This was never a job for me; it's always been a mission.”

22

” DR. JONATHAN FIELDING KEPT A HIGH

Among his many other activities, Fielding is

NATIONAL PROFILE during his 16 years as direc-

chair emeritus for Healthy People 2030, which

tor of the Los Angeles County Department of

will set the nation’s health objectives for the next

Public Health. He served as chair of the Depart-

decade; is on the advisory committee to the direc-

ment of Health and Human Services Secretary’s

tor of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion

Prevention; and continues to serve as editor of the

and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020, also

Annual Review of Public Health. He is a founding

known as Healthy People 2020. Fielding was also

board member of Shatterproof, a national non-

appointed in 2010 by President Obama to the

profit organization dedicated to ending addic-

Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion,

tion. Fielding also helped develop a nationwide

and Integrative and Public Health.

alumni group for former directors of big-city and

But since stepping down from the county

county health departments that can advocate for

position, where he oversaw public health activi-

effective policies and programs to improve health

ties for more than 10 million residents, the FSPH

locally and nationally. At the school, he serves as

professor-in-residence has become even more

founding director of the FSPH-based UCLA Center

visible on the national stage through a variety of

for Health Advancement, where he is part of a

activities aimed at improving the health of the

team headed by Dr. Frederick Zimmerman, FSPH

U.S. population.

professor of health policy and management, that

Since August 2016, Fielding has written a

is using health impact assessments and modeling

monthly column for U.S. News & World Report on

to promote social investments that yield great

a wide range of topical public health issues, from

health returns for large segments of the popula-

childhood obesity, gun violence, and the opioid

tion. Fielding also continues to teach and mentor

crisis to dietary supplements, distracted driv-

students at the school.

ing and strategies to reduce dementia risk (see

“If you’re in public health, what’s important

ph.ucla.edu/JF). “I’m trying to bring public health

is impact,” Fielding says of his decision to remain

issues to the fore — including some that aren’t

so active. “This was never a job for me; it’s always

fully appreciated by the public — and to point to

been a mission, and that hasn’t changed. The needs

opportunities for great health returns on small

are great, and it’s critical to have people with expe-

investments, as well as the need for policy change

rience training and assisting the next generation of

grounded in research and practice,” he says.

public health leaders in making a difference.”

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

ALUMNI PROFILE

In Pursuit of Environmental Justice Ana Mascareñas is working to restore the community she lived in as an FSPH student as part of the largest residential cleanup in California history. can cause learning and behavior problems and slow growth and development in children,” Mascareñas says.

As the first assistant director for environmental justice at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Mascareñas is a leader in the state’s effort to restore trust in historically marginalized communities by addressing issues of environmental health and justice. In 2015, Gov. Jerry ANA MASCAREÑAS (MPH ’15)

Brown appointed Mascareñas

Restoration in Communities pro-

was still a student in FSPH’s

to help lead the path forward in

gram, underemployed residents

AS PART OF

Department of Environmen-

working more closely with resi-

in the communities surrounding

THE WORK-

tal Health Sciences when she

dential communities and Native

Exide have received pre-employ-

attended a meeting at Resurrec-

American tribes; then in 2016,

ment and job placement assis-

RESTORATION

tion Church in the Los Angeles

$176 million was authorized

tance, as well as certifications

IN COMMUNITIES

neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

for the lead cleanup project

in lead sampling and hazardous

She had received notices in the

around the former Exide site,

waste operations.

mail: Her East Los Angeles com-

the largest of its kind in Cali-

munity was affected by arsenic,

fornia history. “We’re making

to address the disproportionate

lead and other pollutants from a

an unprecedented investment,”

harm to marginalized commu-

facility more than a mile away.

For Mascareñas, the desire

Mascareñas says. “It’s a state-

nities from pollution is rooted

That facility is the former

ment that these historically

in the history of her own family,

site of Exide, a battery recycling

marginalized communities

which includes three generations

plant forced to close its doors in

deserve fast action.”

of California farmworkers. “Sto-

Vernon, California. Soil sampling

In addition to the cleanup,

FORCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL

PROGRAM, RESIDENTS LEARN HOW TO TEST FOR LEAD IN PAINT AND SOIL.

ries of my family’s experience

tests have shown that lead from

Mascareñas is identifying policy

moved me to public health,” Mas-

Exide’s operations reached a

gaps that allow for dispropor-

careñas says. “My mother moved

1.7-mile radius around the facility.

tionate pollution burden in com-

from migrant camp to migrant

Many yards have been found to

munities like the ones affected

camp, being powdered down

have lead in excess of 400 parts

by Exide. Other initiatives aim

with DDT as a child — actions

per million (ppm), and will be

to bring immediate and long-

that may have had an impact

cleaned up by the state over the

term benefits to people in the

on her health over the years. So

next several years. California’s

community, including a part-

having the privilege to work in

health-based screening level is

nership with the UCLA Labor

environmental protection, and

80 ppm. Research has found

Occupational Safety and Health

being part of this growing recog-

that beyond this limit, toddlers

Program that provides local

nition that government should be

playing in bare dirt in local yards

workforce training in conjunction

striving for environmental justice

risk losing IQ points from the

with the cleanup effort. Through

in the work that we do, is really

exposure. “We know that lead

the Workforce for Environmental

inspiring to me.” ph.ucla.edu

AU T U M N /W I N T E R 2 0 17–1 8

23

EDUCATION LEGACY

Strength Training Through both established and informal channels, the Fielding School has a long legacy of building public health capacity both at home and abroad.

A SMALL COUNTRY ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF MISSOURI, Cambodia has had to rebuild its entire intellectual infrastructure in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge era, which included the genocide of the late 1970s and a period of guerilla warfare that didn’t end until the mid-1990s. FSPH’s UCLA/ Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program in Cambodia began in 1997, and has since graduated the first two students with PhDs in the post-Khmer Rouge period, as well as five master’s-degree graduates. These Fielding School alumni, along with others trained by the school both at UCLA and in Cambodia, have contributed significantly to the development of successful HIV/AIDS policies and to the rebuilding of Cambodia’s public health system.

Cambodia, where Drs. Roger Detels and Pamina Gorbach, both FSPH professors of epidemiology, have collaborated continuously with in-country institutions for the last 20 years, is but one of many countries where public health leaders draw on their FSPH education to make an impact in policy and practice. Around the world and in its own backyard, the Fielding School continues to build on its powerful legacy of training, both through the education of students in FSPH degree programs and via other methods, including short-term training programs, seminars, workshops and forums.

Training is a key component of the more than a dozen active memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between the Fielding School and institutions abroad (see page 26). In China 24

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

STUDENTS SHOWING CERTIFICATES AT THE COMPLETION OF THE CHINA ACADEMY OF CHINESE MEDICAL SCIENCES (CACMS)-FSPH GLOBAL LEADER TRAINING WORKSHOP AT THE FIELDING SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER 2017. THE FIELDING SCHOOL AND CACMS SIGNED A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING TO FORMALIZE THEIR COMMITMENT TO JOINT RESEARCH AND TRAINING IN MAY 2017.

alone, the school currently has 10 active MOUs with universities and governmental agencies for collaborative research and training. “We are focused on early-stage professionals, helping to build future leaders who will help to advance public health in China and globally,” says Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, the Fielding School’s associate dean for research and a professor of epidemiology. Through these MOUs, the school is contributing to training junior faculty members and postdoctoral fellows — both at UCLA, as graduate students and visiting scholars, and in workshops held in China, Zhang says.

SINCE 1988, WITH SUPPORT from the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Institute, the Fielding School has assisted low- and middle-income countries — mostly in Asia — by building the public health leadership capacity of their institutions to control HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases through training, both in country and at UCLA. Over the years, the FSPH program has provided education leading to a master’s or doctoral degree for more than 100 health professionals from low- and middle-income nations, as well as informal training to countless others. Most of the HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs in China and Southeast Asia have been run by UCLA/Fogarty program alumni, according to Detels, founding director of the UCLA/Fogarty-supported training program. Fogarty graduates have also included

»

the dean of the Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, China; the director of China’s Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and the director of the Department of Communicable Diseases at the World Health Organization. Two national ministers of health — in Hungary and Taiwan — were UCLA/Fogarty alumni.

“We decided from the beginning that the fieldwork for our trainees’ theses or doctoral dissertations had to be done in their home country, with the idea that we would build the research capacity in our partner institutions,” says Detels. “As a result, much of the research of our trainees has informed HIV/AIDS policy development, and there is now a network of Fogarty graduates in the countries we have worked with who are in regular communication with each other.”

Detels received the 2016 Chinese Government Friendship Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Chinese Central Government for foreign experts who have made significant contributions to China’s economic and social progress. “The Fogarty program run by Dr. Detels has produced an enormous positive impact on the overall HIV/AIDS program in China, particularly with respect to grounding the response to the epidemic in scientific evidence,” says Zunyou Wu (MPH ’92, PhD ’95), who helped establish the HIV/AIDS control program in China after training in the UCLA/Fogarty program, and is currently the chief epidemiologist and director of the Division of HIV Prevention at the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as an FSPH adjunct professor of epidemiology. “Dr. Detels has trained more than 20 PhD and MS students and more than 100 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars from China. These trainees have gone on to become key players in China’s national HIV program.”

DR. ANNE RIMOIN founded the Fielding School’s UCLA-DRC Health and Research Training Program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004 and ever since, the FSPH associate professor of epidemiology has collaborated with government and university partners in building the local capacity to conduct epidemiological studies of infectious diseases. The UCLADRC program includes senior Congolese field, laboratory and administrative staff. “Our program gives Congolese the training and skills they need to take control of their own research agenda,” says Rimoin, whose team works closely in these efforts with the National Institute of Biomedical Research and DRC National Reference Laboratory, Kinshasa School of Public Health (with which FSPH signed an MOU in 2015), and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Field Epidemiology Training Program.

Rimoin’s capacity-building work has extended to the Fielding School, where, with funding from the Faucett Family Foundation, she has brought students to the UCLA-DRC program and trained them for leadership roles. One graduate, Nicole Hoff (PhD ’14), now serves as field director of the UCLA-DRC Health Research and Training Program. FSPH

»

alum D’Andre Spencer (MPH ’17) and Cyrus Sinai, who minored in public health at UCLA, are also part of the team in DRC. Among other things, the UCLA-DRC team has held workshops to teach basic epidemiological data analysis and research grant writing, as well as assisting the Congolese leaders in writing journal articles.

“My FSPH training under Dr. Anne Rimoin taught me how to conduct good research in difficult settings, as well as about leadership,” Hoff says. “We work with locally trained staff and I pass along the methods I have learned. We have the chance to work with the next public health leaders in DRC and improve their skills so that they can train others.”

THE CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT, with support from Fogarty-supported UCLA training programs and other international partners, was successful in changing the course of its HIV epidemic in the late 1990s and early 2000s through behavioral interventions; despite limited resources, it went on to develop and sustain an impressive HIV testing and treatment program. “Led by a group of young scientists, some of whom were FSPH-trained, Cambodia built a strong surveillance and monitoring system for HIV testing, treatment and care,” Gorbach says. “Now, in our training, we are focused on strengthening that system for other infectious disease outbreaks and research capacity in general.”

As part of the current National Institutes of Healthfunded program headed by Gorbach, three students from Cambodia are training in FSPH’s Department of Epidemiology: two in the doctoral program (Kennarey Seang and Phirom Toeng) and one in the master’s program (Dyna Khuon). The program has trained seven short-term visiting scholars who came to the school to strengthen their research skills, and has held annual training workshops in Cambodia.

“My goal is to create a generation of researchers in Cambodia who understand the value of, and know how to work in, an interdisciplinary environment,” explains Gorbach, who,

»

FSPH'S UCLA-DRC HEALTH AND RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM BUILDS CAPACITY IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO.

ph.ucla.edu

AU T U M N /W I N T E R 2 0 17–1 8

25

EDUCATION LEGACY

FSPH MOUs Advance Training at Home, Abroad A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a formal agreement between two institutions to collaborate on mutually beneficial goals. For the Fielding School, MOUs are a symbol of a collaborative commitment between FSPH and institutions abroad to research, training, and other scholarship opportunities. The Fielding School has active MOUs with institutions around the world, including: China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Institute of

Basic Research in Clinical Medicine

Fudan University School of Public Health, China Hochschule Neu-Ulm, Germany Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji

Medical College, School of Public Health, China

Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China Kinshasa School of Public Health, Democratic Republic of

the Congo

FSPH STUDENTS AND FACULTY FROM THE UCLA/FOGARTY CAMBODIA PROGRAM,

Kunming Medical University School of Public Health, China

WORKING ON A RESEARCH STUDY WITH A TEAM FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER ON

Nanjing Medical University School of Public Health, China

HIV/AIDS, DERMATOLOGY AND STDs, AND COMMUNITY LEADERS.

National Institute for Biomedical Research, Democratic

along with Detels, was bestowed a medal of recognition by Cambodia’s prime minister at the 70th anniversary of the University of Health Sciences. Two individuals who have been instrumental in planning and developing the program are graduates of the UCLA/Fogarty program in Cambodia: Vonthanak Saphonn (PhD ’03, MS ’04), current rector of the University of Health Sciences, which includes Cambodia’s first school of public health (see opposite page); and Chhorvann Chhea (PhD ’09), dean of Cambodia’s public health school and director of the National Institute of Public Health.

THROUGH ITS MPH PROGRAM as well as the Executive MPH Program in Health Policy and Management for working public health professionals, the Fielding School has educated many health care system leaders in Southern California and beyond. No one epitomizes FSPH’s commitment to impact through education, training and mentorship more than Dr. Paul Torrens, professor emeritus of health policy and management, who has taught at the school since 1972.

“California has been a leader in transforming the American health care system for the better part of three decades,” says Thomas Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Health System, who credits Torrens as a mentor and has taught a leadership course in the FSPH executive MPH program, often with Torrens, for many years. “When it comes to transforming the health care system and its related organizations, leadership matters.

It is not a coincidence that California’s leadership position coincides with Paul’s career at UCLA. For multiple generations, through his guidance, mentorship and friendship

»

26

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

Republic of the Congo

Peking University School of Public Health, China Peking Union Medical College School of Public Health, China Sun Yat-sen University School of Public Health, China University of Health Sciences, Cambodia University of the Philippines Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China

he has instilled the personal values, leadership skills and personal insight so critical to successful leadership. Even more important, in the course of doing so he has made us better people.”

Torrens has touched countless lives through his passion for teaching and ability to inspire students who go on to become health care leaders — then, in turn, mentor public health students of their own. In March 2017, a Fielding School series of public programs featuring health leaders discussing and debating issues of the day was renamed The Paul Torrens Health Forum at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in his honor.

“From the beginning, our school has felt a particular obligation to public service and this broader purpose, and our students have been committed to serving the community as a whole,” Torrens says. “I’m proud that so many of our graduates have become effective and compassionate leaders in health care. It’s been a very satisfying experience to contribute to shaping these bright and talented individuals.”

ALUMNI PROFILE

Legacy of Learning Nearly two decades after earning his PhD at the Fielding School, Vonthanak Saphonn is overseeing the education of Cambodia’s future health professionals.

associated with poverty and the war’s aftermath, there was also a shortage of trained public health professionals, with Cambodia’s educational infrastructure having been decimated by

SAPHONN AT

the years of violence. Saphonn

THE OPENING CEREMONY FOR

was instrumental in the aggres-

THE LAUNCH

sive response that changed

OF A BACHE-

the epidemic’s course; by 2015,

LOR'S DEGREE PROGRAM IN

there would be fewer than

PHYSIOTHERAPY

1,000 new infections in Cam-

AT CAMBODIA'S

bodia. “The data that my team

dia, and is leading an initiative

OF HEALTH

produced and analyzed about

to reform health professional

SCIENCES,

new and existing cases of HIV

education at the institution. One

WHERE HE

were trusted and used by poli-

of the main goals, he says, is to

CEREMONY FOR

cymakers to plan and develop

“change the mindset” of health

THE SCHOOL OF

WHILE AT CAMBODIA’S

strategies for combating the HIV

care professionals so that they

National Center for HIV/AIDS,

epidemic,” he says.

are more focused on delivering

AT CAMBODIA'S

patient-centered care.

NATIONAL

UNIVERSITY

SERVES AS RECTOR.

Dermatology and STDs in the

In the process, Saphonn

mid-1990s and early 2000s,

enrolled in the FSPH-based

Vonthanak Saphonn (PhD ’03,

UCLA/Fogarty AIDS Interna-

School of Public Health at

MS ’04) played a key role in one

tional Training and Research

NIPH has produced more than

of the most comprehensive and

Program, becoming the first

150 MPH and MS graduates as

successful efforts to fight HIV/

Cambodian to graduate with a

it rebuilds Cambodia’s pub-

AIDS in Asia, as head of the

PhD in epidemiology. “My edu-

lic health workforce. With

country’s HIV surveillance pro-

cation through the UCLA/Fog-

Saphonn serving as rector

gram. But Saphonn’s proudest

arty program equipped me with

of UHS, NIPH’s public health

career achievement is one that

leadership, critical-thinking, and

school is now headed by

is ongoing — the education of

team-based problem-solving

another FSPH graduate, Chhor-

the next generation of Cambo-

skills, while preparing me to be

vann Chhea (PhD ’09). Saphonn

dian health professionals.

ready to meet any future public

also serves as co-director of the

health challenges,” Saphonn

UCLA/Cambodia Fogarty HIV/

degree in 1995, but decided that

says. “It also motivated me to

AIDS Program, which educates

to make the kind of impact that

bring public health education

public health professionals both

was needed in Cambodia — a

and research to Cambodia.”

at the Fielding School and in

Saphonn earned his medical

low-income country devas-

In 2007, Saphonn became

In the last decade, the

SAPHONN AT THE 2010 GRADUATION

PUBLIC HEALTH HE FOUNDED

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

Cambodia (see page 24). “We

tated by an extended period of

founding head of the School

have a great need for quality

genocide and civil war — treat-

of Public Health at Cambodia’s

professionals who will be pre-

ing individual patients wasn’t

National Institute of Public

pared for future public health

enough. By 1995, the HIV/AIDS

Health (NIPH), the country’s

challenges,” Saphonn says. “It

epidemic in Cambodia was

first government-run public

is important to me to help nur-

among the worst in South-

health school. Saphonn now

ture, inspire and provide oppor-

east Asia, with 23,000 new

serves as rector of the Univer-

tunities for future generations

infections that year alone. In a

sity of Health Sciences (UHS),

of Cambodians to get the type

country already facing multi-

the only state-owned health

of education I received from the

ple public health challenges

sciences university in Cambo-

Fielding School.” ph.ucla.edu

AU T U M N /W I N T E R 2 0 17–1 8

27

SCHOOL WORK UCLA RECEIVES $5 MILLION GRANT FOR RESOURCE ON HIV/AIDS & SUBSTANCE ABUSE THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE has awarded $5 million for UCLA researchers to develop a resource and data center for research, lab samples, statistics and other data aimed at boosting research into the effects of substance abuse on HIV/AIDS. The five-year grant, “Collaborating Consortium of Cohorts Producing NIDA Opportunities,” will connect groups of investigators with National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded research and data ranging from state-of-the-art bioinformatics to laboratory specimens, according to Dr. Pamina Gorbach (pictured left), professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and principal investigator on the project.

“This consortium will allow researchers from across the United States and Canada to access an enormous amount of highly detailed datasets to use in research on HIV among substance-using populations,” Gorbach says.

PRELIP NAMED CHAIR OF COMMUNITY HEALTH SCIENCES

2017 FIELDING FALL FEST STUDENTS, FACULTY, STAFF AND ALUMNI gathered on September 26 to celebrate accomplishments of the FSPH community and ring in the new academic year at the fifth annual Fielding Fall Fest.

DR. MICHAEL PRELIP, longtime Fielding School professor and the school’s inaugural associate dean of practice across the lifecourse, has been appointed chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences.

Prelip’s areas of expertise include nutrition, health promotion and community-based participatory research, about which he has published more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and numerous technical reports.

Prelip, who earned his MPH from FSPH, has mentored numerous students during his more than 20 years as a faculty member at the Fielding School.

Monthly Column Brings Attention to Public Health Issues DR. JONATHAN FIELDING, professor-in-residence

egies to reduce dementia risk (ph.ucla.edu/JF).

in FSPH’s Department of Health Policy and Man-

“I’m trying to bring public health issues to the fore

agement, has, since August 2016, written a month-

— including some that aren’t fully appreciated by

ly column for U.S. News & World Report on a wide

the public — and to point to opportunities for great

range of topical public health issues, from child-

health returns on small investments, as well as the

hood obesity, gun violence, and the opioid crisis to

need for policy change grounded in research and

dietary supplements, distracted driving and strat-

practice,” Fielding says.

28

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

NEW CENTER TO ADDRESS DISCRIMINATION DUE TO RACE, RELIGION, ETHNICITY, AND IMMIGRATION STATUS

ALUM NAMED ONE OF 20 PIONEERS UNDER 40 IN ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH ANA MASCAREÑAS (MPH ’15) was recognized this autumn by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment as a key member of the nation’s next generation of leaders shaping the future of environmental health science and policy. Appointed by California Gov. Jerry Brown upon graduating in 2015, Mascareñas serves as the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s first-ever assistant director for environmental justice. In this role, she has helped lead cleanup efforts to remove lead from the soil of thousands of family homes contaminated by the former Exide facility in the underserved community of Vernon, California. (See the article on page 23.)

The Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice, and Health has been established at FSPH under the direction of Dr. Chandra Ford, associate professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences. The new center will address various types of racism, including discrimination due to race, religion, ethnicity and immigration status, and it will serve as an intellectual home for scholars across UCLA to study racism and health equity while helping communities understand, document and respond to racial injustices that contribute to health disparities.

FSPH Signs MOU with China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Delegates from China’s Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS), located in Beijing, visited the Fielding School of Public Health earlier this year to sign a memorandum of understanding DEAN JODY HEYMANN (RIGHT) SIGNED A (MOU) with the school.

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH DR. LUQI HUANG OF THE CHINA ACADEMY OF The MOU is a symbol of a CHINESE MEDICAL SCIENCES. collaborative commitment to advancing joint research and training opportunities for students and faculty of both organizations. Collaboration between the Fielding School and CACMS has begun. In cooperation with Dr. Yanming Xie, deputy director for the Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, CACMS and the Fielding School conducted a Global Leader Training Workshop for Epidemiology and Global Public Health in September 2016 and an advanced seminar of medical and public health education reform in March 2017. Additional planned collaborative efforts include faculty and student exchanges, additional research and training programs, and a joint international symposium. ph.ucla.edu

DR. KENNETH WELLS, FSPH professor-in-residence in the Department of Health Policy and Management, received the Carl Taube Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field of Mental Health at the 2017 American Public Health Association annual meeting. Wells, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, focuses his research on community-based participatory research methods for mental health services improvement in disadvantaged communities.

AU T U M N /W I N T E R 2 0 17–1 8

29

PATRICIA GANZ AND JULIENNE BOWER A Phase III Randomized Trial Targeting Behavioral

GRANTS & CONTRACTS

Symptoms in Younger Breast Cancer Survivors

This section includes new grants and contracts awarded in 2016-17. Due to space limitations, only funds of $50,000 or more are listed, by principal investigator.

PAMINA GORBACH

National Cancer Institute, $3,237,206 for five years BETH GLENN California Reducing Disparities Project (CROP) Phase 2 Latino Implementation Pilot Projects California Department of Public Health & Mixteco/ Indígena Community Organizing Project, $100,000 for five years

Collaborating Consortium of Cohorts Producing the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Opportunities (C3PNO) National Institute on Drug Abuse, $4,868,413 for five years JULIA HECK Parental Comorbidities, Pharmaceutical Use,

RICHARD AMBROSE

ARTHUR CHO

and Childhood Cancers: A Record Linkage

Fighting Drought with Stormwater

Do Changes in Amount and Composition of

Study in Taiwan

UC Office of the President and University of

Ambient Particulate Matter Influence Induction

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, $200,000 for

California, Irvine, $418,421 for three years

or Exacerbation of Brain and Lung Tumors?

two years

South Coast Air Quality Management District SUDIPTO BANERJEE

& Brain and Lung Tumor and Air Pollution

JODY HEYMANN

Hierarchical Modeling and Analysis for Large

Foundation, $979,182 for two years

An Effective Way to Move Equality Forward for Migrant Youth

Spatially and Temporally Misaligned Data in Environmental Health Applications

EMMELINE CHUANG

Ford Foundation, $400,000 for two years

National Institute of Environmental Health

Qualitative Research, Project, Management, and

Developing and Disseminating Actionable

Sciences, $1,705,963 for five years

Statistical Analysis Supplement 1

Evidence on Policies that Work to Ensure

Collaborative Research: Bayesian Modeling

Department of Veterans Affairs, $234,262

Economic Success for All Women

and Inference for Quantifying Terrestrial

Qualitative Research, Project, Management, and

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, $750,000

Ecosystem Functions

Statistical Analysis Supplement 2

National Science Foundation, $361,987 for

Department of Veterans Affairs, $346,777

MICHAEL JERRETT Effects of Early Life Exposure to Social Adversity

three years BURTON COWGILL

and Pesticides on Risk-Taking Behavior of

HIRAM BELTRAN-SANCHEZ

Assessing Human Papillomavirus Vaccination

16-18 Year Olds: The Center for the Health

The Latin American Mortality Database (LAMBdA)

Uptake Among a Diverse Population of

Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas

National Institute on Aging and University of

University Students

(CHAMACOS) Study

Wisconsin, $651,513 for five years

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, $50,000

National Institute of Environmental Health

RONALD BROOKMEYER

SANDRA DE CASTRO BUFFINGTON

$61,841 for five years

Alzheimer’s Disease Risks and Projections Using

Global Media Center for Social Impact Operating

Exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 Concentrations

Multi-State Models with Biomarkers

Funds Renewal

and Their Health Impact on Children Living

National Institute on Aging, $423,765 for

The Nathan Cummings Foundation, $100,000

in the Imperial Valley County (California

two years

Hollywood Impacts Reproductive Rights and

Southeastern Region)

HIV Incidence Testing in an Evolving Epidemic:

Social Justice

UC Mexus and University of California,

Identification of Accurate Multi-assay Algorithms

Ford Foundation, $115,000

Riverside, $60,640

Multiplex Antibody Profiling System

PATRICIA GANZ

LEEKA KHEIFETS

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

A Model Clinical/Translational Research Program

TransExpo Study Development

Diseases & Johns Hopkins University, $502,426 for

for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Focus on Cognitive

Electric Power Research Institute, $1,344,847 for

five years

Function after Breast Cancer Treatment

three and a half years

Sciences & University of California, Berkeley,

that Include Serosignatures from a Massively

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, $250,000 30

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

GERALD KOMINSKI

In Utero Exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting

Development of a Human African Trypanosomiasis

California Health Policy Research Program,

Chemicals and Telomere Length at Birth

Information and Decision and Support System in

Renewal 2017-2018

National Institute of Environmental Health

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The California Endowment and University of

Sciences, $105,118 for one and a half years

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, $1,678,934 for

California, Berkeley, $68,500

one and a half years

Parks After Dark Evaluation Services

CORRINA MOUCHERAUD

County of Los Angeles Department of Public

Sustainability of Alive and Thrive Programs in

BEATE RITZ

Health, $277,500 for two years

Bangladesh and Vietnam

Earth Venture Instrument-3 Multi-Angle lmager

Federal Policy Impacts on Medi-Cal

Family Health International 360 & Harvard

for Aerosols (MAIA)

Blue Shield of California Research and

University, $56,289

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Education Foundation & University of

Screening and Treatment for Cervical Cancer in

and Jet Propulsion Lab, $1,294,244 for nine years

California, Berkeley, $50,000

Malawi: Strategies for a High-Burden Population

RANDALL KUHN

in a Resource-Limited Health System

MAY SUDHINARASET

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, $50,000

Patient Centered Process Quality for Maternal

A Large-Scale Survey of International Migrants

and Child Health & Family Planning

from a Rural Area of Bangladesh

NINEZ PONCE

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation & University of

New York University Abu Dhabi, $452,417 for

Improving Data Capacity for American Indian/

California, San Francisco, $112,192

three years

Alaska Native (AI/AN) Populations Department of Health and Human Services,

ANNETTE STANTON

ZEYAN LIEW

$318,586 for two years

Understanding and Improving the Experience of

Neurodevelopmental Effects of Perfluorinated

California Health Interview Survey 2016 and

Breast Cancer

Chemicals (NEPC)

2017 — Oversampling of Northern Imperial

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, $250,000

National Institute of Environmental Health

County and Content Addition

Sciences, $316,656 for two years

Imperial County, $352,499 for two years

ANNETTE MAXWELL

NADEREH POURAT

Building Mixtec Community Capacity for Breast

Evaluating the Public Hospital Redesign &

Health, Phase 3

Incentives in Medi-Cal Program (PRIME)

HUA ZHOU

UC/California Breast Cancer Research Program,

California Department of Health Care Services,

Statistical and Applied Mathematical

$534,659 for three years

$2,200,001 for five years

Sciences Institute

KATHLEEN VAN DYK Cognitive Decline in Breast Cancer Survivors American Cancer Society, $163,500 for three years

BPHC National Program Performance Analysis

National Science Foundation & University of

WILLIAM MCCARTHY

Health Resources and Services Administration,

North Carolina, $59,755

Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Tobacco Use

$694,636 YIFANG ZHU

and Tobacco Control Policy in India National Cancer Institute & University of

NADEREH POURAT AND NINEZ PONCE

Engage, Educate, and Empower California

Michigan, $149,798 for five years

California Health Benefits Review Program

Communities on the Use and Applications of

(CHBRP)

“Low-Cost” Air Monitoring Sensors

UC Office of the President, $280,920 for three years

Environmental Protection Agency & South Coast

YING-YING MENG Improvements in Air Quality and Health

Air Quality Management District, $65,000

Outcomes Among California Medicaid Enrollees

MICHAEL PRELIP

Environmental and Public Health Benefits

Due to Goods Movement Action (Phase II Health

Public Health Advocacy Field Training Program

from Achieving Sustainable Energy in Los

Effect Study)

Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, $50,000

Angeles County

Health Effects Institute, $266,017

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research &

Health and Health Behaviors of Japanese Americans

ANTONIO RAMOS

LA Grand Challenge Pritzker Fund, $200,000 for

Keiro, $129,352

Measuring Inequality in Early Mortality Across

two years

All Births in the Developing World KARIN MICHELS

National Institute of Child Health and Human

Predictors of Mammary Gland Development and

Development, $246,780 for two years

Breast Density in Hispanic Girls National Cancer Institute, $295,242 for one and

ANNE RIMOIN

a half years

Sequelae and Immunopathology of Ebola

Environmental Chemicals and Postpubertal

Virus Infections

Breast Composition in a Latino Cohort

Food and Drug Administration & Stanford

National Institute of Environmental Health

University, $415,163 for one and a half years

Sciences, $3,411,081 for three years

Continuation of Digitization and Support for

For more information ph.ucla.edu

ph.ucla.edu

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TRANSFORMATIVE INVESTMENTS

AN UNTRADITIONAL PATH LEADS TO A VISIONARY GIFT FEW PEOPLE PLAN THEIR ESTATE at the age of 40, but then, not many follow the career path of Krisianna Bock (MPH ’00). As vice president of HKS Consulting, Bock is a master planner and strategist bringing her public health perspective to hospitals and health care systems that serve millions of people worldwide. HKS Consulting is a part of HKS, one of the world’s largest architecture firms and the second-largest health care architecture firm in the nation.

When planning Kaiser Permanente’s Antelope Valley Specialty Medical Office Building (MOB), Bock led the strategic planning efforts, visit volume forecasts, building sizing plans, 32

and business case, paving the way for the MOB to better meet the health needs of the surrounding community.

The MOB is designed to be Net Zero/ LEED-platinum, reflecting public health thinking with drought-resistant landscaping, emphasis on natural light, and incorporation of on-site renewable energy options.

“I am very grateful to the school for providing me with a foundation of knowledge and a network to do the work that I do today,” Bock says. “In issues of public health and planning, we must collaborate. In order to make thought-

“I am very grateful to the school for providing me with a foundation of knowledge and a network to do the work that I do today.”

U C L A F I E L D I N G S C H O O L O F P U B L I C H E A LT H M AG A Z I N E

ful future decisions and investments in public health, each person needs to lend their expertise.”

It is this mindset that positioned Bock on a successful, albeit untraditional career path in public health as a master planner for hospitals across the nation. Such thinking is also what compelled Bock to give back to the institution that helped launch her career, committing 5 percent of her will in unrestricted planned gifts to the Fielding School.

Not many people finalize their will and testament at age 40, but Bock was inspired to do so by her late grandparents — immigrants who survived World War II. Without a formal education or money, her grandparents and family, including Bock’s mother, came to the United States in the late 1950s. Her grandmother was able to leave behind a modest sum to her family, thanks to careful planning, and because of this, Bock felt moved to make a lasting mark as well. “The gift is a small piece in the larger whole seeking to make a difference,” says Bock, who is also launching an alumni fundraising committee in an effort to inspire FSPH graduates from all departments to collaborate together in support of the school.

“There are many pathways in public health to make a difference in the world,” Bock says. “I had the great fortune to learn from Drs. [E. Richard] Brown, [Paul] Torrens, the Roemers [Milton and Ruth], [Gerald] Kominski, [Stuart] Schweitzer, and many others. These titans of public health have dedicated their talents toward the betterment of humanity, and I and many others are continually inspired by their visionary perspectives. Making this gift is about how we can support each other — both our current leaders in the school and our future leaders — and create a legacy in a meaningful way.”

60,000 HOURS That's how much time our students spend in the field every summer — a critical part of their public health training that allows them to make an impact in communities from L.A. to Myanmar. But we can’t fund every student without your help.

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After graduating, Dirna Mayasari (third row, far left) returned to Myanmar, and is now leading programs across Southeast Asia focused on maternal and child health and nutrition. Funded fieldwork recipients like Dirna are more likely to return to work in communities of need.

MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN. Support student fieldwork today. giveto.ucla.edu/fsph/fall17ss ph.ucla.edu

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Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID UCLA Box 951772 405 Hilgard Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 www.ph.ucla.edu Address Service Requested

“We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in our hands to make a difference.”

— Nelson Mandela