Happenings

Christine Petersen elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Christine Petersen, professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Petersen is one of 100 new members elected in 2022.

Petersen is internationally known for her work on the recognition and prevention of zoonotic diseases, or infections that spread between people and animals. Her work has focused particularly on visceral leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical parasitic disease that kills 20,000-40,000 people every year, and tick-borne diseases, particularly Lyme disease. In addition, she collaboratively works on malaria, Brucella canis, influenza, and other diseases. She teaches joint medical, veterinary, and global public health coursework related to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of zoonotic diseases within all populations.

New toolkit helps pharmacists increase access to COVID-19 vaccinations

The University of Iowa Prevention Research Center for Rural Health has developed an online toolkit, “Pharmacists’ Guide to Increasing Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines.” The toolkit gives vaccine providers the knowledge, strategies, and resources needed to address the factors inhibiting vaccine access and confidence. It can be used by pharmacists and other vaccine providers, administrative staff, public health departments, or anyone else supporting the effort for vaccine equity. Find the toolkit at https://prc.public-health.uiowa.edu

Research suggests increasing charge types results in more convictions for alcohol-related motorcycle crashes

Motorcycle fatality rates are increasing, and impaired driving is a major contributing factor. University of Iowa public health researchers say law enforcement officials aiming to reduce drunk driving have an effective tool at their disposal: ‘Throw the book at ’em.’

A new study of alcohol-involved motorcycle crashes in Iowa suggests that applying all relevant charges at the time of the crash leads to increased convictions, says Cara Hamann, CPH assistant professor of epidemiology, who led the research.

“Traffic stops and the issuance of traffic charges are important tools law enforcement officers have available to discourage unsafe driving,” says Hamann. “Understanding the effectiveness of impaired driving laws, in terms of charge and conviction outcomes, is important for informing prevention efforts.”

The study looked at 480 alcohol-influenced drivers (428 motorcyclists and 52 other vehicle drivers) involved in motorcycle crashes between 2011 and 2018. After adjusting for blood alcohol content, drivers with a combination of alcohol, administrative, and moving violation charges had more than 3 times the odds of conviction of any charge compared to drivers with alcohol-only charges.

“Our results showed convictions were more likely when the impaired driver was charged with multiple types of offenses than with a single offense,” says Hamann.

Peter Thorne named University of Iowa Distinguished Chair

Peter Thorne, professor of occupational and environmental health in the College of Public Health, has been named a recipient of the 2022 University of Iowa Distinguished Chair. The award is one of the highest bestowed on Iowa faculty. It recognizes tenured scholars of national and international distinction who are making a significant positive impact within the university, state of Iowa, and beyond through teaching, research, and/or scholarship.

Thorne’s pioneering research is focused on environmental risk factors for inflammatory lung diseases, the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials and persistent chemical pollutants, and the health effects of climate change.

Health equity pioneer David R. Williams receives Hansen Leadership Award

The University of Iowa College of Public Health selected David R. Williams, the Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health and chair of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, as the 2022 recipient of the Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award. Dr. Williams visited the College of Public Health in November to engage with students and deliver the Hansen Lecture, titled “Understanding and Effectively Addressing Inequities in Health.”

IOWA’S PUBLIC HEALTH TRAINING CENTER RECEIVES $3.1M FUNDING RENEWAL

The Midwestern Public Health Training Center (MPHTC) at the University of Iowa College of Public Health has been selected as one of ten regional public health training centers to be refunded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

MPHTC covers the four-state region of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The four-year grant continuation of over $3.1 million will allow MPHTC to continue to help improve public health by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial, and leadership competencies of the public health workforce.

Public health researchers lead international study of young adults in humanitarian settings

A new grant awarded to an international team of researchers, co-led by investigators in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, will study whether engaging young adults as community mental health workers in humanitarian settings helps not only to support those communities in crisis, but protects the well-being of the young workers as well.

The collaborative research team is co-led by Rima Afifi, CPH professor of community and behavioral health. Other investigators include Grant Brown, CPH assistant professor of biostatistics, as well as researchers from George Mason University, American University of Beirut, and Yale University. The research team is also partnering with the non-governmental organization Multi-Aid Projects (MAPs) that will guide field activities.

The project, funded by a three-year, $450,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, is focused on Syrian young adults living in Lebanon, a nation that currently hosts about 1.5 million Syrians displaced by war in their home country.

“Humanitarian crises increase mental health disorders,” says Afifi. “Yet, in humanitarian settings, human resources for health are often insufficient to meet needs. Understanding how young adults can support communities in the context of disasters is an important area of research.”

The overall goal of the new study is to evaluate whether being a young adult community mental health worker (CMHW) impacts the young adults’ well-being, coping, and stress levels. The research also aims to measure how and why the CMHW role may be a protective factor for these young adults.

Madeline Kerr Named Director of Development

The College of Public Health is pleased to welcome Madeline Kerr as director of development for the college. She began her new role in November 2022. She has been with the University of Iowa Center for Advancement since July 2018, most recently serving as the associate director of development with the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center team.

Study explores the ‘boyfriend loophole’ and intimate partner homicides

A new study co-authored by Hannah Rochford, a PhD student in health management and policy, and colleagues Mark Berg and Corinne Peek-Asa, examined intimate partner homicides and what’s known as the “boyfriend loophole.” Intimate partner homicides (IPH) are a risk in relationships with a history of violence. Policies intending to reduce IPHs by limiting firearm access for those with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) have been enacted in certain states. However, some states fail to extend IPV-related firearm related protections to dating partners, which is referred to as the “boyfriend loophole,” or “partner loophole” in this study.

By examining trends in the National Violent Death Reporting System data, the study assessed the relationship between intimate partner homicides among unmarried victims and state partner loopholes. Some of the findings included noticeable differences in the age and racial compositions of the groups when victim demographics were compared to their vulnerability to the partner loophole. Closing a partner loophole was associated with significantly fewer expected IPHs amongst unmarried white victims. However, this relationship was not observed for unmarried victims of color, suggesting that closing partner loopholes may offer important protections, but may not reduce IPHs equitably. The study was published in the Journal of Prevention .

LEHMLER LEADS TEAM ADDRESSING CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT, AND HEALTH

With $500,000 in funding from the OVPR Interdisciplinary Scholars awards program, an interdisciplinary team will start work on a new project at the intersection of climate, the environment, and health. The award is sponsored by the UI Research Development Office within the Office of the Vice President for Research.

The project is led by Hans-Joachim Lehmler, CPH professor of occupational and environmental health and director of the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center. The team includes researchers from the College of Public Health, Carver College of Medicine, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The researchers will investigate the effect of the diverse environmental stressors affected by climate change on the unique health challenges of rural people.

Alcohol-involved deaths are on the rise in Iowa

A report from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services in collaboration with a group of researchers and community partners examines the significant increase of alcohol-involved deaths in Iowa since 2008 and offers recommendations and strategies to help address the issue at the state and community levels.

IDHHS’s Bureau of Substance Abuse established the Alcohol-Involved Deaths Workgroup in 2019 to better understand a concerning 10-year trend in alcohol-involved deaths among Iowans aged 45 and older. The workgroup included Paul Gilbert, associate professor of community and behavioral health in the UI College of Public Health. According to the report, alcohol-involved deaths increased by more than 73% in Iowa between 2008 and 2019 and men aged 45+ are 2 times more likely to die an alcohol involved death than women. Gilbert says that there are likely many things contributing to this trend.

“Research has shown that people respond to stressful situations by increasing alcohol use,” he says. “We know that people have increased their alcohol use during the pandemic and combined with isolation and ease of access, it has had a major impact on people’s drinking habits, making the drinking trends even more worrisome.”

The report also highlights several evidence-based strategies that have proven to be effective in reducing excessive alcohol use, and in turn could reduce alcoholrelated deaths. These include limiting alcohol outlet density, strengthening compliance monitoring, increasing alcohol prices, increasing public health surveillance, implementing problematic use screenings, and continuing public education.

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