UCLA
SCHOOL OF
PUBLIC HEALTH
NEWSLETTER
BIOTECH BIOSTATISTICIANS: NUMBERS ARE RIGHT FOR ALUMS IN BOOMING INDUSTRY
W
HEN KEN RESSER (M.S. '86, pictured above) WAS HIRED AS A BIOSTATISTI-
CIAN AT THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF.-BASED AMGEN INC. IN OCTOBER 1988, THE FLEDGLING BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANY HAD APPROXIMATELY 400
IN THIS ISSUE ... 2 NEWS Alumna Tabbed for Top Post. .. Commencement. .. HMO Lawsuits .. . Favorite Health Web Sites
EMPLOYEES AND A TWO-PERSON BIOSTATISTICS DEPARTMENT. BARELY
7
MORE THAN A DECADE LATER, RES SER HEADS A 4 7-PERSON DEPART-
STUDENTS Jobs in SPH Classrooms and Research Centers
MENT AT A COMPANY WITH NEARLY 6,000 EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE. IT'S SAFE TO SAY THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY IS BOOMING.
8
MOREOVER, AS A TRIO OF UCLA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
FACULTY The Center for Health Policy Research
ALUMNI WHO HOLD PROMINENT POSITIONS AT THREE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING BIOTECH COMPANIES WILL ATTEST, THE MARKET FOR BIOSTATISTICIANS IN BIOTECH IS STRONG EVEN BY THE STANDARDS OF THIS FLOURISHING INDUSTRY.
9 FRIENDS Meis Challenge .. .Foley &Lardner Fellowships ... Campaign UCLA Update
10
THEY AGREE THAT THERE COULD HARDLY BE A MORE EX CITING ENVIRONMENT FOR APPLYING THEIR EXPERTISE THAN A co111i11uerf on page
6
ALUMNI Networking ... Class Notes
DIANA BONTA (M.P.H. '75, DR.P.H. '92) APPOINTED CALIFORNIA DIRECTOR OF HEALTH SERVICES
DEAN'S MESSAGE The tragic high school shooting incident in Littleton, Colo., seems far removed from the war in Kosovo. But in these two news stories, which have attracted so much of our nation's attention this spring, anyone associated with our school can easily see the common thread: At the heart of both are public health issues. In Kosovo, of course, the issues are deep-rooted and multifaceted. Still , for those of us in the public health field many of the concerns are familiar, whether it's the health problems emerging in the refugee camps, the effects of exposure to trauma, or the larger question of how different cultures can live side by side. The Littleton tragedy has renewed the debate over gun control - a debate informed by public health studies such as those conducted at our school's Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center. Moreover, the recent spate of school shootings has opened a national discussion aimed at better understanding the sources of rage leading to violence, so that we can do a better job of preventing such occurrences in the future. These distressing events underscore the importance of the public health approach to documenting and intervening in matters pertaining to the health of populations. This issue highlights some of the important work our students, faculty and alumni are doing in these areas. As the national discourse continues to focus more on public heath concerns, this work is playing an increasingly central role.
ee.~ Abdelmonem A. Afifi, Ph.D.
Diana M. Bonta
G
ov. Gray Davis has appointed UCLA School of Public Health alumna Diana M. Bonta (M.P.H. '75, Dr.P.H. '92) as the new director of the California Department of Health Services. Since 1988, Bonta has served as director of the Department of Health and Human Services for the City of Long Beach, one of only three municipalities
in California that maintains its own health department and is responsible for all aspects of prevention and public health services. Her department has attracted attention with programs focusing on proactive public health goals such as prevention of substance abuse and teen pregnancy among atrisk children, promotion of good parenting among low-income fathers and provision of housing for the homeless. Bon ta, a member of the school's Dean's Advisory Board, received the 1998 Milton and Ruth Roemer Award, presented by the American Public Health Association in recognition of her exemplary leadership in providing local public health services. (The award is named in honor of two distinguished members of the UCLA School of Public Health faculty.) Prior to assuming the Long Beach post, Bonta served as deputy executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council from 1983 to 1988. If her appointment is approved by the California Senate, Bonta would be the first Latina/o to serve as the state's top health official.
SPH FACULTY ANDERSEN, FROINES AND QuE DR. RO NALD ANDERSEN , the Fred W. Career Award. In 1994, he received and Pamela K. Wasserman Professor ¡ the Leo G. Reeder Distinguished Medin the Department of Health Services, ical Sociologist Award from the Amerihas received the 1999 Baxter Alle- can Sociological Association. giance Foundation Prize for Health DR. JOHN FROINES , professor of enServices Research. The prize, admin- vironmental health sciences, has been istered by the As- selected by the Coalition for Clean Air sociation of Uni- as recipient of its 1999 Carl Moyer versity Programs Award, in honor of his scientific exin Health Admin- cellence and leadership in technology istration, is con- advancement. Froines was honored sidered the high- at the coalition's annual luncheon and est honor in the awards ceremony in April. He was also field. Andersen is selected as this being recognized year's recipient for his Behavof the Southern ioral Model of California AmerDr. Ronald Andersen Health Services ican Industrial Use, which has served as a foundation Hygiene Associafor examining access to and use of tion's Technical health services for the past 30 years. In Achievement 1996, Andersen received the AssociaAward for his tion for Health Services Research's work in toxicolprestigious Distinguished Investigator Dr. John Froines ogy of fuel ex-
I
SCHLOSSER NAMED HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR
UCLA
I Pli"BLIC HEALTH
Jack R. Schlosser (M.P.H. '74) was named Alumnus of the Year by the Health Policy and Management Alumni Association (HPMAA) of the UCLA School of Public Health. Schlosser, a partJack R. Schlosser ner at Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., a leading executive search firm, has been identified by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the 100 most influential figures in the regional health care market. He was honored May 26 at HPMAA's annual recognition dinner on the UCLA campus.
NEWSLE TT E R
VOLUME SPRING
19, NUMBER 2 1999
ALBERT CARNESALE, Ph .D. C/urncellor
ABDELMONEM A. AFIFI , Ph.D. Dean
3 NEWS
EDITORIAL BOARD ABDELMONEM A. AFIFI , Ph.D. Dean
JUDITH M. SIEGEL, Ph .D. Associate Dean for Academic Programs
MICHAELS. GOLDSTEIN, Ph .D. Associate Dea n fOr Student A/Jai.rs
V. GALE WINTING Associate Dea n/or Administra tion
JOHN D. MILLER Assistant Dewi/o r External Affairs
J EFFREY LUCK , Ph .D. Assistant Professor, Health Services
WENDIE ROBBINS , R. N., Ph .D. Assistant Professor, Ermirom nental Healt.h Sciences
JOYCE A. PAGE, M.S.P.H ., J .D. AlwuniAssociat.ion President
:E ARE HONORED
J ONATHANKEI President , Public Hea lth Students Association
haust emissions.
WARREN ROBAK
professor of environmental health sciences, was named a fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association in March. The honor is reserved for scien tists who have been members of th e association for at least 15 years and are adjudged to be in the top five percent of the industrial hygiene profession relative to Dr. Shane Que Hee achievement , uniqueness of contributions to the field, and to being a role model for industrial h ygiene professionals. Que Hee joins Dr. William Hinds of the school's Department of Environmental Health Sciences in receiving the honor.
Public Information Representative
DR. SHANE Q UE HEE ,
DAN GORDON
COMMUNITY' HEALTH SCIDICIES
II.NL M.RH.JH.P. Dr.RH. Ph.D. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES M.P.H. M.S. Ph.D. D.Env. EPIDEMIOLOGY M.P.H. M.S. Dr.P.H. Ph.D. HEALTH SERVICES M.P.H. M.P.H./H.P. M.S. Dr.P.H. Ph.D. SCHOOL TOTAL
88 9 1 2
5 13 2 2 27
7 2 3 30 32 3 1 4 226
Editor and Writer
MARTHA WIDMANN A rt Director
Photog raph y: ASUCIA (p. 5: L.A. 11n1es Visit); Ala11 Brews (p . 2: Andersen); Deborah Goll/stein (p. 3 : Johnson) ; Susan Ragsdale (p. 3: g raduate); Chery l Himmels tein (p . 6: Hopkins); Yvette Roman (cove r p hotograph y f or illustration; p. 4: Roemer; pp. 7, 8; p . 10: Ward) .
School of Public Health Home Page: www.p h .ucla.edu E-mail for Application Requests: app-request@aclmin.ph.ucla .eclu
UCLA Pnblic Health is puhLlshed b y th e UCLA Schoo l of P uh ljc H eah h fo r the ahuuni , facult y, st ude nts, staff and frie nd s of th e sc hool. Copyl'igh t 1999 b y T he Regents of th e U ni ve rsit y o f Ca1ifo l'ni a. Pel'mission to reprint an y po rti o n of UCLA Public Hectlth mu st be obtained fr om th e edi t or. Con t a c t Edito r , U CL A Publ ic Hea lth , Box 951772 , Los A ngeles, CA 90095-
1772. (3 10) 825-6381.
IN THE NEWS: ARE HMO MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS IN THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH?
YES
NO
GIVEN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT
LET THE CONSUMER BEWARE
BY RUTH ROEMER, J.D. Adjunct Professor Emerita UCLA School of Public Health
BY TERRY HARTSHORN, M.P.H. '69 Vice Chairman, Board of Directors PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc.
This should b e broken into two questions: (1) Should patients who have been denied care or received negligent or substandard care have a remedy?, and (2) If so, should the remedy include the common-law right to sue in the courts for injury due to negligence? The answer to the first question is clearly " yes." Patients denied care or negligently treated should have a remedy to compensate them for injury suffered and to deter providers from substandard or negligent practice. It is a matter of justice, equity, and sound public policy. As to whether that remedy should include the right to sue in a court of law as opposed to being limited to some alternative means of dispute resolution (mediation or arbitration with or without court review), the answer is "yes, given the current environment. " In view of the facts that HM Os are only minimally regulated by federal and state statutes; that legislation for a patients' bill of rights is being fiercely contested in Congress; that the majority of HMOs are for-profit, often more concerned about the bottom line than quality of care; and that HMO prices are increasing even in the absence of malpractice suits, allowing malpractice suits against HMOs is a matter of justice to patients and a means of regulating medical practice. Having said this, I must add that malpractice suits are a deficient method of compensating injury and regulating the quality of care. They are expensive and erratic. Only about 25-40 percent of total premium costs is paid to injured claimants. Elderly claimants and those with small claims rarely recover. Ideally, a system designed to serve the public interest would include a comprehensive, administrative, regulatory process plus a modification of the tort system of compensating injuries - that is, either a no-fault system as in New Zealand, Sweden and Finland , or, more realistically for the United States, an administrative system modeled on the principles of workers' compensation, with case by case determination of liability.
Having been a member of California's Health Care Task Force in 1998, I heard arguments made for and against allowing consumers to sue their health plan for malpractice. Clearly, both sides in the debate have merit. But while both cite making plans accountable as the focal point in the debate, it's also where they part ways. Simply put, allowing consumers to sue their HM Os will drive health care costs higher. With h ealth care inflation running higher than general inflation , plans will saddle consumers with the added cost of litigation, which will have the unintended consequence of increasing the number of uninsured or under-insured . Oddly, proponents of HMO malpractice seem to forget that the legal system provide s ave nu e s of redress. In California, we ' ve seen juries awarding landmark settlements against plans. But the legal system should not be viewed as the sole or clearest remedy. In fact , often times it 's not. A Harvard Medical School study profiled in the New York Times last year showed that only one-third of malpractice plaintiffs ever saw financial compensation when suing their doctor. The remaining 66 percent saw no relief or had their cases drift through the appeals process. Was the health o{ the patients in the majority of these cases improved by these actions? Did the physicians involved alter their practice patterns to improve quality? Some probably did and, sadly, others did not. I b elieve the burgeoning quality movement - ironically a managed care byproduct - could he the solution. Already, large employers are se nding cle ar signals to the marketplace: If you ' r e not accredited and posting positive numbers on quality, we won ' t even consider you . The evolution of the marke tplace, driven by quality and not litigation, can be the real determinant for the future of health care a future that k eeps it affordable while simultaneous ly drivin g qu a lity. Th a t 's s om e thing f e w courts in America can stake a claim to today. Hartshorn is on the Board.
Dean ~ Advisory
FACULTY FAVORITES: HEALTH WEB SITES Following are some of the favorite health-related Web sites of UCLA School of Public Health faculty. Please feel free to submit your own for future listings.
Public
alth
Medi
e
Pha
Denti ry
DR. RALPH R. FRERICHS frerichs@ucla.edu The Lancet (www.thelancet.com): Provides information each week
cy
on interesting health conditions and news of the world on public health and medical problems.
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation HIV/AIDS Report (report.kff.org/aidshiv/): Offers news and views on the HIV epidemic, mainly nationally but some internationally.
N rsi g U .S. Surgeon General
I
Allied ~or•W\>fd
Ca.ROM W•b•fl.e
I
Ct4d11:$
EXIT
I
alth
""'".. or Ht<l!lh CJ!tt
Di&clal""' r
I
CD-ROM EDUCATES YOUTHS ON KEY PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES UCLA's Undergraduate Health Sciences Organization, with the assistance of faculty members from the School of Public Health and other graduate schools, has created a non-profit instructional CD-ROM designed to enhance awareness among the general public, particularly young people, about important public health issues. The project, nearly three years in the making, represents the combined efforts of a number of students. Public health faculty preceptors include Milton I. Roemer, Ruth Roemer, Paul Torrens , E. Richard Brown, and Kathryn Atchison. More information can be found on the organization's Web site at <members.xoom.com/uhsol>.
DR. MICHAELS. GOLDSTEIN goldstein@admin.ph.ucla.edu Ask Dr. Wei I (www.drweil.com): Best of the alternative medicine sites. Easy to ask questions. Answers and commentaries sometimes include good links.
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library Home Page (www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/) : Probably the best starting point for anyone interested in getting medical/public health information. Medical Matrix (www.medmatrix.org/): Clinical information directed at health care professionals. Oncolink (www.oncolink.upenn.edu): Best cancer-specific source, run by University of Pennsylvania. Includes everything from clinical trials to poetry.
Home pages of the National Center for Health Statistics (www.cdc.gov/nchswww/default.htm) and the U.S. Bureau of the Census (www.census.gov/): Great sources for public health information.
DR. MILES HOCHSTEIN hochstei@ucla.edu Children Now Directory of Children's Issues on the World Wide Web (www.childrennow.org/links.html): A large list of child-focused organizations.
DR. SHANE QUE HEE squehee@ucla.edu Hazardous Substances Data Bank of the National Library of Medicine (www.nlm.nih.gov/): The only peer-reviewed computer database for physical, chemical, environmental fate and transport, safety, therapeutic, toxicological, epidemiological, and human health effects of specific hazardous substances.
DR. THOMAS RICE trice@ucla.edu Health Care Financing Administration (www.hcfa.gov): Contains lots of useful information about program statistics, Medicare managed care, etc., and even allows consumers to compare different Medicare HMO benefits side by side.
DR. DAWN UPCHURCH upchurch@ucla.edu Kaiser Reproductive Health Report (report.kff.org/repro/): A good overview of reproductive health issues that are making the news.
National Women's Health Information Center (www.4woman.org) : Provides information on women's health issues for consumers, health care providers, researchers, educators and students. A project of the U.S. Public Health Service, Office on Women's Health.
HEALTH COVERAGE IN THE L.A. TIMES- At a brown-bag lunch open to students and faculty at the school, L.A. Times Health Section editor David Olmos (foreground, left) and reporter Jane Allen (seated at table, center) discussed recent efforts to enhance the newspaper's health coverage. The Dean's Conference Room was filled to capacity as attendees heard the journalists talk of the challenges in reporting on health news and lhe process by which topics are selected for the weekly section. ~
DR. STEVEN P. WALLACE swallace@ucla.edu Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (www.kff.org/homepage/): Focused on four main areas: health policy, reproductive health, HIV policy, and health and development in South Africa. The foundation also maintains a special interest in health policy and innovation in its home state of California.
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (www.canhr.org): Nonprofit information and advocacy organization for nursing home residents, their families and their friends. Includes information for consumers and health professionals.
5 NEWS
co11tin11ed.fi¡o111page1 BIOSTAT BIOTECH
"As a biostatistician in this industry, you 're part of a multidisciplinary team. You need to be able to see the big picture , and to be able to communicate in a way that the other people in the group understand the importance of your statistical 6 contributions." -
ALAN HOPKINS
field in which state-of-the-art molecular biology concepts, from recombinant DNA technology to genetic engineering, are employed to develop drugs that have made, and will continue to make, a tremendous public health impact. The school's biostatistics alumni at the big-three biotech firms include: ALAN HOPKINS (M.S. '74, PH.D.) , senior director of medical affairs at South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc., where he is responsible for biostatistics, statistical programming, database management, medical editing and information technologies; RESSER , director of biostatistics at Amgen. His department provides expertise in the design, analysis and programming of clinical trials and in drug development; and GREG SCHWEMER (M.S.
'72, PH.D. '78) , senior
" We 're on the forefront of a lot of very exciting things, where the net result of our efforts is to improve the public health. Thats what drew me into this field." -GREG SCHWEMER
director of biostatistics and clinic al data management at Emeryville, Calif.-based Chiron Corp., where he directs a group of biostatisticians, programmers and clinical data management professionals supporting the development of novel diagnostic, vaccine, and therapeutic agents. As Resser notes, biotech biostatisticians differ from pure technicians in that their job requires expertise in the design and analysis of clinical trials. "If you 're an applied statistician it is imperative that you know very intimately the subject matter that you are dealing with," he says. "That means knowing about clinical medicine and how drugs are developed, both historically and in current practice, as well as the way drugs are regulated nationally and internationally." The three alumni agree on the value of a public health background in the work they do. "To solve someone's complex statis-
tical problem, you need to be able to 'talk the talk,' to be able to communicate effectively when discussing the problem," contends Schwemer, who credits the school's emphasis on coupling biostatistics with "third field " studies - in his case, biomathematics and physiology - with providing a foundation for his current work. "As a biostatistician in this industry, you 're part of a multidisciplinary team," adds Hopkins. "You need to be able to see the big picture, and to be able to communicate in a way that the other people in the group understand the importance of your statistical contributions." Biostatistics has been an important facet of the pharmaceutical industry ever since federal legislation passed in 1962 requiring companies to demonstrate that drugs are effective - not merely safe - before they can be marketed. That law has been blithely referred to by statisticians as their Full Employment Act, for it resulted in much more rigor in the design and analysis of clinical trials, creating the need for highly trained biostatisticians. Given that the demand for master'sand doctorally-trained biostatisticians remains as high as ever, Hopkins has held discussions with faculty and ad¡ministration at the school on how best to prepare students interested in pursuing such a career. Resser and his colleagues at Amgen have had similar discussions, during which the idea of a joint distance-learning program has been raised. By developing effective drugs for major public health problems such as breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, Hopkins notes, biotech companies such as Genentech are improving people's lives. "We all have to do something for a living," he says, "and if we can earn a living while we ' re helping people, that's a pretty good way to spend one's time." "We're on the forefront of a lot of very exciting things, where the net result of our efforts is to improve the public health," agrees Schwemer. "That's what drew me into this field. "
STUDENTS FIND FRUITFUL EMPLOYMENT IN SPH CLASSROOMS, RESEARCH CENTERS
F
or as long as students have been attending graduate school, many of them have needed to simultaneously secure part-time employment. Today, a growing number of UCLA School of Public Health students are finding those jobs in the school's classrooms and research centers. Special readers assist professors in teaching courses that the student workers have previously mastered. Dena Herman Mendes, a stud e nt in the school's nutrition program, has served as a special reader for several courses. Mendes says the challenge of conveying complicated concepts in a manner that is easy to understand has helped in her own studies. "Teaching always brings you a little closer to yourself and your knowledge," she notes. As a special r e ader for Epidemiology 201AB the past two years, Gregory Vaughn ' s r e sponsibilities have included leading a weekly discussion section that reviews epidemiological conc epts and method s . "It's a paid opportunity to increase my own level of understanding of epidemiological methods that I hope to apply in future research endeavors," says Vaughn. For Myduc L. Ta, se rving as a special reader for Epidemiology 100 has strengthened her resolve to pursue a doctoral degree and, ultimately , an a cademic career. "It's great to be able to share the excitement about epidemiology and help students r ealize that it's such a big part of our everyday lives,"
Myduc L. Ta (with Dr. Corinne Peek-Asa , associate di rector of the Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center) found a job close to home.
"Teaching always brings you a little closer to yourself and your knowledge." D ENA H ERMAN MENDES
she says. In the pro cess, Ta ca m e t o appreciate that ev e ry stude nt lea rn s differently. "Some students gr asp the quantitative conce pts a s soon a s y ou write an equation, while other s n eed a verbal explanation ," she explains . " It forces m e to be creative ." Ta has also worked at the Southern California Injury Prevention R esear ch Center since the fall of 1997, when sh e entered the school's M.P.H . p r ogram . She has gained valuable exp erien ce a s a researcher on the center 's Workplace Violence Prevention proj ect. Indeed, the school's growing rost er of research centers has created many opportunities for students to gain extracurricular experien ce - alon g with some extra incom e - throu gh re search a ctivities . Cori R eifman h as a ssisted in several projects at the Center for Health Policy R ese arch , mo st r ecently for Dr. Gerald Kominski on the California Hospital Outcomes Proj ect for the Office of State w i d e H e alth Planning and D evelopment. R eifm a n
7 STUDENTS
h as conducted literature reviews and k ey informant and physician interviews, and has been exposed to the workings of focus groups, report writing and editing, and the operations of the center. All will help in her future en deavors, she says. After a year working in Dr. ZuoFeng Zhang's molecular epidemiology laboratory in UCLA's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Wendy S e t iawan was scheduled to present study results at the Society of Epidemiology R esearch annual meeting in Balti m ore this spring. Setiawan, who se r ves as Zhang's study coordinator and laboratory supervisor and was recently admitted to the school's Ph.D. program in cancer epidemiology, has parlayed her experiences into a special t raining award for which she will spend this summer at the World Health Organization's International Agency on Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. Krisianna Lee, a first-year M.P.H. student who has assisted doctoral stud ent Linda Barthauer on an analysis of the factors influencing the successfu l passage of the Children's Health Insu rance Program, sums up the feelings of many of her peers who have gone the same route. "You learn a lot i n the classroom and in books," she says, "but when you are also involved in research, it really helps that informa t ion come alive. This has been a grea t experience - one that I would h ighly recommend."
Periodically, the UCLA School of Public Health Newsletter will provide updates on the school's centers, all of which forge collaborations across traditional disciplinary boundaries to conduct research and provide teaching and service on important public health issues. One such update follows.
8 FACULTY
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Center for Health Services Management Center for Healthler Children, Famllles and Communities Center for Human Nutrition Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief Pollution Prevention EducaUon and Research Center Southern Califomla Injury Prevention Research Center
CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY RESEARCH
Inthe absence of information and objective analysis, important health policy and planning decisions are too often made in a vacuum , without any knowledge of the impact of these decisions on the public's health. Furthermore, when important problems remain undocumented , it becomes less likely that they will be addressed at all. A case in point is the issue of the approximately 7 million Californians with no health insurance. It was only after a series of attention-grabbing studies by UCLA School of Public Health faculty that the issue found a place on the California policy agenda. Today, one of those researchers, Dr. E. Richard Brown , directs a multidisciplinary team of experts at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which, five years after its founding , has already earned a national reputation for its ability to provide important data and analysis on health policy issues. The center, sponsored jointly by the School of Public Health and the School of Public Policy and Social Research , facilitates collaborative research among faculty and researchers in those two schools, as well as among faculty in the School of Medicine and other professional schools and academic departments at UCLA. True to its public health base, the center's research , service and education programs emphasize a communityand population-based approach to improving health outcomes.
Among other things, the center has become the quasi-official source for data on health insurance coverage in California. Each year, the center produces a variety of publications targeted to a broad policy audience, including legislators, on health insurance coverage and access to affordable , high-quality health care, tracking and documenting the problems that affect California's diverse population and the state's progress in addressing the population's needs. In addition to being proactive in its provision of information, the center fulfills numerous requests from policy-makers. advocacy groups and news media to generate data estimates and analyses tailored to the particular needs of the requesting party. The center's most comprehensive and hands-on involvement was in the development, passage and implementation of California's Healthy Families program , the effort to cover the state's 1.85 million uninsured children . "We're very proud of the role we've played in the expansion of children's health insurance in California," says Brown . "We were involved from the beginning, when we helped to place the issue on the policy agenda, right up to our present role in evaluating the policies that have been enacted, identifying the barriers that remain and, potentially, being involved in efforts to remove those barriers." Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the center is the prominence of its public service mission. The center actively disseminates findings of its studies to policy-makers through publications such as the four-page policy briefs that are utilized by public officials from Sacramento to Washington, D.C. The Health DATA (Data, Advocacy and Technical Assistance) Project, the center's largest community program , conducts workshops throughout the state that provide training and consultation to local organizations on strategies and techniques for using data in policy advocacy. The center also conducts seminars and forums on health policy issues for students and faculty, community members and leaders, and policy-makers in the public and private sectors. "Simply releasing data isn't enough," says Dr. Roberta Wyn, the center's associate director for research. "Numbers alone don't effect change; it's how you use those numbers and get the information out that translates to improvements. I believe that the relationships we have with our constituencies and our emphasis on providing them with relevant, ob- The center's Executive Committee jective and user-friendly"data and includes (I. tor.) Ors. Steven Walanalyses is our greatest strength." lace, E. Richard Brown and Gerald Additional information can be Kominski; Bernard Dempsey; and found on the center's Web site at Dr. Hongjian Yu, as well as Dr. <www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu>. Roberta Wyn (not pictured).
ALUMNI RISE TO THE "MEIS CHALLENGE"
F
ive years ago, Dean's these new donors continue to Advisory Board be annual givers, Lester's conmember Lester Meis tribution will have an impact (B.S. '47) issued a for many years to come." challenge to UCLA School Dean's Council contribuof Public Health alumni tions, welcome in any who hadn't supported the amount, are particularly Dean's Council fund in the valuable to the school bepast: If they would become cause they provide the dean first-time contributors, Lester Meis, B.S. '47 with unrestricted funds that Meis would match the he can allocate to the school's amount of each new gift, up to a maxi- greatest needs and highest priorities. mum of $5,000 annually. The five-year Meis, the founder and technical diLester Meis Challenge Gift came to a rector of National Bugmobiles Inc. , close this spring, long after it had be- the largest independently owned pest come clear that the school's alumni control company in Texas, says he is were up to the challenge. gratified with all of the first-time donaMore than 500 new donors were at- tions that have been made since he laid tracted during the five years of the Meis down the gauntlet. What's next? "I Challenge, and their gifts totaled $46,000. want to do something els e for the Says Dean's Council Chair Ira Alpert school, something different ," he says. (M.S. '66): "This is an extraordinary re- We've done the challenge grant for five sult, not only because of the dollar years now; it's time to move on to bigamount, but because it has significantly ger and better things that will help the expanded our donor base. If many of school continue to grow."
The Sch Goa1¡ 0 ol's
$15:ooo, ooo $14,ooo,ooo
$12,000,000
$10 OOo
. .ooo
9 FRIENDS
ANNUAL FOLEY &LARDNER FELLOWSHIPS TO BENEFIT HEALTH SERVICES STUDENTS The law firm Foley & Lardner will award two annual $5 ,000 fellowships to UCLA School of Public Health students who show exceptional promise as Carl Weissburg health care leaders, the firm announced. The Foley & Lardner Fellowships in Health Policy & Management will be given to M.P.H. students in the Department of Health Services. "I was so impressed with the school 's contributions to health care , and the number of very illustrious leaders who are graduates , that I was convinced we should give something back to this institution that has benefited the community so much ," says Carl Weissburg, a health law partner in Foley & Lardner 's Los Angeles office . "These fellowships are our way of ensuring that this tradition of excellence in public health education continues."
CAMPAIGN UCLA UPDATE
A DONORS HONORED - The Dean's Appreciation Dinner was held in recognition of generous support of the Dean's Council and the school. Top photo, left to right: Mary Ann Smith, Gurdon Smith, and Robert Wilson. Bottom photo, left to right: Gerald Factor, Ira Alpert, and Jonathan Kei.
iming to raise $1.2 billion by June 30 , 2002 , Camp a ign UCLA was launch ed in May 1997 a s the most ambitious private fund-raising effort in the history of public higher education. As part of th e c ampai g n , th e School of Public H ealth ha s set a goal of raising $15 million. As of March 31, 1999 , with 54 p er cent of the campaign p eriod havin g expired, the school is 65 p er cent t oward its goal.
ALUMNI, STUDENTS SEE MUTUAL GAINS IN NETWORKING ACTIVITIES
A
s Susan Ward (M. P .H . '96) sa t on a Career Night pa n e l la s t March and listened t o fe llo w alumni offering advice to a large group of current UCLA Sch ool of Pub lic Health students, she was st ruck b y the common thread in the comm ent s. The event, co-sponsore d b y th e UCLA Public Health Alumni Associa tion and Public Health Students Association, featured eight alumni workin g in a wide range of public health disciplines and se ttin gs. But Ward, th e p ro10 grams eval u a t o r for ALUMNI health educa tion programs a t UC L A's Arthur Ashe Student Health a nd Wellness Center, quickly discovered that much of the counsel she h a d p lanned to give - advice such as "don ' t b e t oo proud to accept grunt work, bec ause that's how you get noticed" - was b eing dispensed by other pan el m ember s. For Ward and ot hers in attenda n ce, Career Night reinforced th e n otion that the public health field is a r ela tiv ely small one. "If you are skilled, p e ople will find out about it," War d s a ys . "Names get around, which is wh y on e's professional reputation is import an t." Career Night represent s only one example of the UCLA Pub lic H ea lth Alumni Association's stepped-up efforts to connect alumni with students and each other for the purpose of career advancement. At its April ret reat , the alumni association estab lish ed a Student and Career Activities Committee of its Board of Directors . The com mittee is seeking alumni to participate in its student activities, which include a new-student orientation in t he fa ll and programs to welcome gradu a ting students to the alumni association each spring. Additionally, the new committee will work with students to creat e a series of career workshops t h a t will bring alumni to campus in 1999-2 000 to discuss their work experiences . At the same time, two M.P.H . students, Michele Liebowitz and Julia Liou, have been working t h rou gh the Public Health Students Association t o expand the career services available to the school's students. Their short-term goals include augmenting the sch ool 's alumni database, creating j o b-
an epidemiologist in infection control at the West Los Angeles Kaiser Hospital, al lowed a student at the school to accompany her during her daily work activities as a way of showing the student what a career in that field would be like. Joyce A. Page, M.S.P.H., J.D., president of the School of Susan Ward (M.P.H. '96, r.) has participated in efforts to connect alumni Public Health Alumni with students and each other. Ward spoke at Career Night in March. Association, would r es ource links on the school's Web like to see such gestures of student/ page, and working with the alumni alumni camaraderie become more inassociation to organize career activi- stitutionalized in the near future. " We ties and workshops. In addition, they hope to develop activities that will ease are working with the UCLA Alumni students' transition from the formal Association and UCLA Career Center education experience to the 'real-life ' to publicize services available to public career world ," she says. health students and alumni. The stuPage is quick to note that students dents ' long- term goal is to create a aren't the only ones who stand to gain. school-wide mentoring system. "When talented people come together One alumna who served in a mentor- for a specific purpose it tends to ignite a ing capacity last year believes students creative energy," she says. "We believe can benefit greatly from such a system. this initiative will create valuable oppor"When you 're in school and trying to fig- tunities for alumni and students alike." ure out what you want to do with the rest Alumni who are interested in becomof your life, just to see up-close what ing involved in student and career acsomebody does can give you an idea of tivities should contact Laurel Wruble whether that is something you want to at (310) 206-2117, by e-mail at pursue," says Theresa Stahlman-West <laurelw@support.ucla.edu> or via the (M.P.H. '88). Last year, Stahlman-West, school's Web site: <www.ph.ucla.edu>.
ALUMNI BOARD RETREAT - The UCLA Public Health Alumni Association Board held a retreat last April at May's Landing in Malibu. Front row, I. tor.: President Joyce Page, Faculty Advisor Deborah Glik. Back row, I. tor.: Cheri Todoroff, Assistant Dean for External Affairs John Miller, Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Relations Laurel Wruble, Loe Nguyen, David Berger, Secretary Michael Prelip.
CLASS NOTES SUZANNE DANDOY, M.D., M.P.H. '63, is the first director of the new Graduate Program in Public Health at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where she also holds ateaching appointment in the Department of Internal Medicine. MARK J. HOWARD, M.P.H. '69, president and chief executive officer of Mountain View Hospital in Las Vegas, last year was elected chairman-elect of the American College of Healthcare Executives, an international professional society of more than 30,000 health care executives. Howard is an adjunct faculty member at BYU, the University of Minnesota, and Weber State, and presented the keynote address at the UCLA Health Policy and Management Alumni Association's annual awards dinner May 26.
ed to the National Research Council Committee on Intrinsic Remediation. Previously, he was an active member of the American Society of Testing Materials committee that wrote the standard for Risk Based Correction Action for Petroleum Spill Sites.
ISAIAH C. LEE, M.P.H. '69, DR.P.H. '72, is teaching social gerontology at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in southern Taiwan.
BETTY SMITH WILLIAMS , DR.P.H. '78, R.N., F.A.A.N., is the current president of the National Black Nurses Association.
WAYNE STONE, M.S. '74, D.ENV. '78, is working on a Danishffhai government project to develop industrial wastewater discharge regulations and monitoring requirements in support of the implementation of a 525,000-cubic-meter-per-day wastewater treatment facility in a highly urbanized province bordering the southern portion of Bangkok.
RON FREZIERES, M.P.H. '79, became director of the research division at the California Family Health Council in Los Angeles with the council's inception in 1985. Frezieres, trained at the school as an epidemiologist, studies contraceptive methods. He recently won the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn .'s Scientific Contribution Award. He also recently co-authored papers on the IUD (Lancet) and the efficacy of a polyurethane condom (Family Planning Perspectives) with Terri Walsh, M.P.H. '82, director of clinical trials for the council's research division ; and UCLA School of Public Health faculty members Virginia Clark and Anne Coulson.
ARTHUR I. JOHNSON, M.D., M.P.H. '75, last year was elected chief of medical staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. KENNETH W. KIZER, M.D., M.P.H. '76, under secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, has received several awards within the last year, including the Justin Ford Kimball Innovator Award from the American Hospital Association ; the John D. Chase Award for Physician Executive Excellence from the Society of the Federal Health Agencies; and the Dr. Nathan Davis Awards in the category of Member of Executive Branch Serving by Presidential Appointment from the American Medical Association. SAM SNYDER, M.P.H. '76, is working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a volunteer investigator for the elder abuse team of the Forgery Fraud Unit. In addition, he is an expert examiner for the State of California Engineering Board. MARGARET SWEETLAND PATRICELLI, M.S. '76, spent a week in Haiti last year as a volunteer working with the staff and patients of the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) in the city of Jeremie and its surrounding countryside. Her assignment was to keep a daily journal about the HHF maternal and child health education and outreach activities she participated in, and to "spread the word " when she returned home. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with an average per capita annual income of $340. Sweetland Patricelli calls the time she spent in Jeremie a profound "count your blessings" experience. She urges alumni interested in more information on the HHF to call (860) 886-1466. ROBERT SCOFIELD, M.P.H. '77, D.ENV. '84, is a principal in the Emeryville, Calif., office of ENVIRON, aWashington, D.C.-based consultancy firm that provides scientific, technical, and strategic risk management assistance on a variety of public health and environmental issues. Scofield was recently appoint-
HOWARD
STONE
PATRIC ELLI
JUDI BUCKALEW, M.P.H. '80, served the past term as a legislative assistant to Sen . Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) in Washington, D.C. CAROLYN HUNSAKER, D.ENV. '80, a research staff member in the Environmental Sciences Division of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), was awarded the 1997 YWCA Tribute to Women Award in science and technology by the Knoxville YWCA. She and her husband, Donald B. Hunsaker Jr., D.Env. '80, also an employee of ORNL, live in Kingston, Tenn. DAVID L. MATSAMITSU, M.S. '82, is consultant project manager for Volt Technical Systems. He previously served as technology evangelist with Apple Computer, Inc.; consultant technical manager with U.S. Systems, Inc.; and assistant director, Transfusion Safety Project, L.A. County-USC Medical Center. ROBIN B. SHERMIS, M.P.H. '82, M.D., received an M.D. from Case Western Reserve in 1986 and completed a radiology residency at the University of Michigan in 1990, and a fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit in 1991. Since 1991 , Sherm is has been a radiologist and mammography section head at the Toledo Hospital, and has been actively involved in breast health. CARMENROSA MALLIPUDI, M.P.H. '83, provides education and counseling through her work with the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association. She has been active in a wide range of Latino health concerns through her position as president of Hispanic Organized Leaders of Alaska. She founded, organized and coordinated the Latina Women's Conference, designed for Latinas interested in learn-
SCOFIELD
WILLIAMS
ing more about women's health issues and community resources. GALE SHEMWELL RUDOLPH, PH .D. '83, consulted in England for two years, did product development 11 at Clorox in Northern CaliALUMNI fornia for more than six years, and then moved to Denver, where she managed "Hot Pockets" products for nearly four years. She is currently in Salt Lake City as director of product development for Weider Nutrition International. MARC FRIEDLAND, M.P.H. '84, wrote Invitations (Clarkson Potter, 1998), a pictorial retrospective of more than a decade's work crafting invitations and announcements for Los Angeles's social elite. ELIZABETH YANO , M.S.P.H. '87 , PH .D. '95, is associate director of the Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior, a VA Health Services Research & Development (HSR &D) Center of Excellence based at the newly integrated VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System . She was recently awarded a VA HSR&D grant to evaluate the managed ca re pe rfo rmance of VA primary care delivery systems. She is also evaluating the effects of VA health care facility integrations nationwide. She is currently teaching in UC LA's M.P.H. for Health Professionals Prog ram in the Department of Health Services. DlNA RAGAB, M.P.H. '88, M.D., received her M.D. from USC in 1992, completed her residency at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1996, and is now in solo practice in Torrance, Calif., as an obstetrician/gynecologist. MIN-WEI LEE, M.P.H. '89, finished a dermatology residency at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas last year and subsequently joined aprivate practicein Long Beach, Calif. DEBORAH DAY, M.D. , M.P.H . '90, has been appointed chief medical officer of Managed Care USA and president of Providers' Assurance Corp., a subsidiary that establishes workers' compensation partnerships with hospitals and provider groups. She has extensive experience in occupational medicine in both the self-insured and insured environments. MYAT HTOO RAZAK, M.P.H. '91 , PH.D . '95, is an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and a project director of an HIV-1 study in Thailand. SIOBHAN WESCOTI, M.P.H. '94, is currently working on acancer education project in rural Alaska. YUE RONG, PH.D. '95, a senior environmental speconti1111ed 011
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CLASS NOTES
Please let ns know if you have a new address. Also, please jot down or e-mail anv updates you'd like to see included in a future issue. Comments/inquiries and photos are welcome. Please indicate:
D Change of Address D Add to Mailing List D Alumni Information Update
Yem¡ of Graduat-ion_ _ _ _Degree( s )_ _ _ _ __
Address_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Home Phone (_ _ )_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Business Phone (_ _ )_ _ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ E-mail Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Cormnents/Updates: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
FREZIERES
FRIEDLAND
RAGAB
WESCOTT
cialist at the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region, was recently appointed associate editor of the Journal of Soil Contamination, a peer-reviewed publication in the field of environmental contamination and remediation. He is currently chief of the underground storage tanks unit at the board and provides regulatory oversight on environmental assessment and remediation at petroleum hydrocarbon impacted sites. In recent years, he has published a number of papers on organic contaminant fate and transport, MTBE, and environmental data statistical analysis. MICHELE (FIVES) YEHIELI, M.P.H. , DR.P.H. '95, is the founder and co-director of the University of Northern Iowa's Global Health Corps, an academic program that provides students opportunities to conduct health programs with diverse and underserved populations in the U.S. and abroad. EMMANUEL SANCHEZ, M.P.H. '96, was hired at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston as afinancial analyst.
Please send the com pleted form to: Editor, UCLA Public Ifealth, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 or fax (310) 825-8440. You may a lso e-mail any informa tion t:o laurelw@support.ucla.edu
UCLAI PUBLIC HEALTH
ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY, M.P.H. '97, worked as a quality assurance specialist for Maxicare Health Plans, Inc., before moving to Davis, Calif., to become a student at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. ARMADEEP THIND, PH.D. '97, is an assistant professor in the M.P.H. for Health Professionals Program at the UCLA School of Public Health.
NEWSLETTER
SPRING 1999
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid UCLA
UCLA School of Public Health Box 951772 Los Angeles, California 90095-1772 www.ph.ucla.edu Address Correction Requested