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Medical partnership professor focuses on community, students FACULTY PROFILE
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The University of Georgia Georgia Museum of Art showcasing old band memorabilia in exhibition
October 12, 2015
Vol. 43, No. 12
www.columns.uga.edu
UGA GUIDE
4&5
Health expert named first Patel Professor in Public Health By Rebecca Ayer alea@uga.edu
A group of students, taught by ecology professor Jim Porter, participate in a butterfly diversity lab at the UGA Costa Rica campus. The students gathered butterflies with their nets to see how many species they could find.
UGA Costa Rica marks decade of taking students ‘off the beaten path’ This fall, UGA Costa Rica is celebrating 10 years of offering academic programs through the Office of International Education and the UGA Costa Rica residential center. Between summer 2005 and May 2015, 1,849 students have participated in UGA Costa Rica education abroad programs. “If you’re looking for nightclubs, hotels, beaches and the quintessential tourist experience, this may not be the place for you,” said Alex Wright, a former resident naturalist at the center. “If you’re willing to get off the beaten path and immerse yourself into a community, head down to UGA Costa Rica and experience the beauty of the San Luis Valley and its people.” UGA Costa Rica programs now serve over 200 students annually with courses spanning more than 30 academic disciplines and 20 program offerings. UGA Costa Rica programs are focused on providing small-group, experiential learning opportunities that immerse students in the culture and natural history of Costa Rica. Service-learning programs may find students teaching local schoolchildren, planting and monitoring trees as part of the UGA Costa Rica carbon offset program or learning about nutrition in a local hospital. Undergraduates in the physical and natural sciences have the opportunity to carry out their own field research studies. Spanish language students become part of the community through participation in homestays, soccer games and more.
The UGA College of Public Health has named one of its newest faculty members, Dr. Jose F. Cordero, as the first Gordhan L. and Virginia B. “Jinx” Patel Distinguished Professor in Public Health. Cordero joined the college in August as a professor and head of its epidemiology and biostatistics department. “As the state of Georgia continues to struggle with poor ratings in infant and maternal mortality, we are very pleased to have one of the leading experts in child and maternal health join us at the College of Public Health,” said Phillip Williams, dean of the college. “Under Dr. Cordero’s guidance, the college and UGA will be able to expand its expertise in this area of critical need.”
An internationally recognized researcher and public health leader, Cordero has dedicated his career to addressing maternal and Jose Cordero child health, minority health and health disparities. For 27 years, he served in the U.S. Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During his time at the CDC, he was the first Hispanic to attain the rank of assistant surgeon general and held a number of leadership positions focused on improving the health of mothers, children and adults in programs such as immunizations,
See PROFESSOR on page 8
SIGNATURE LECTURE
Harvard professor to give Peabody-Smithgall Lecture By Noel Holston Conservation medicine students conduct an annual exam on an ocelot at a zoo/rehabilitation facility in Costa Rica.
Geomorphology students examine coastal reef structures in Costa Rica. Physical and natural sciences majors have the opportunity to carry out their own field research studies.
nholston@uga.edu
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Peabody-winning historian, TV personality and Harvard University professor, will present the sixth Peabody-Smithgall Lecture Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. at the historic Morton Theatre in downtown Athens. The event is presented by UGA’s Peabody Awards. Gates’ lecture, “Genealogy, Genetics and Race,” is open free to the public. Seating is limited to the first 500 attendees. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. Guests are advised to park in the Washington Street parking deck. “Henry Louis Gates is a rare
combination, an intellectual and historian who is also an entertainer,” said Jeffrey P. Jones, director of the Peabody Awards. “The Henry Louis Gates television programs he produces and hosts have popular immediacy and lasting scholarly value. He’s an ideal choice to deliver our sixth Peabody-Smithgall Lecture.” Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at
See LECTURE on page 8
SCHOOL OF LAW, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOOL OF LAW Faculty publish recommendations for Alzheimer’s registry Georgia By Erica Hensley
erica.hensley25@uga.edu
UGA faculty recently published recommendations on the ethical and legal application of a populationbased, statewide Alzheimer’s registry. They argue that with a more developed data-collection tool, Georgia’s public policy creators will be better informed to serve the impacted population and battle the disease. Established by Georgia General Assembly House Bill 966 and signed into law in 2014, the registry is a means to collect and record Alzheimer’s diagnosis statistics in response to
a fast-growing number of cases in Georgia.The disease, which destroys brain cells and causes dementia, affects nearly 130,000 Georgians, a disproportionate number of whom are ethnic minorities, according to the report. The registry aims to lessen the increasing economic and health care burden caused by Alzheimer’s by collecting widespread data for the purpose of medical research and economic and health care policy planning. UGA School of Law professor Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, with support from Dr. Toni Miles, an
epidemiology professor in the College of Public Health, authored the report that is available online and will be published in print by the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology next year. The report laid out several recommendations for the registry’s continued rollout, and noted potentially problematic concerns such as constitutionality challenges, patient privacy complications and the scope and dissemination of collected data. Regulation methods, ways to incentivize registry reporting and public awareness campaigns were also recommended.
See REGISTRY on page 8
Court of Appeals to hear arguments at UGA By Lona Panter lonap@uga.edu
The UGA School of Law will host the Georgia Court of Appeals Oct. 14 in its Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom. The court will hear oral arguments on three cases involving medical negligence, sovereign immunity and aggravated assault. The proceedings will begin at 10:30 a.m. A question-and-answer session with Court of Appeals judges will follow the arguments.
The event is open free to the public. The bench will be comprised of Presiding Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes, Judge William M. Ray II and Judge Carla Wong McMillian. All three are graduates of Georgia Law. The last time the Court of Appeals held oral arguments at Georgia Law was in 2007. Georgia Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said having the court hear arguments at the law school benefits students greatly. “This unique opportunity to
See COURT on page 8