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2024 OUTSTANDING ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENTS
The College of Public Health has named Vijay Golla and Daniela Moga the recipients of its 2024 Outstanding Alumni Awards.
Golla received a doctoral degree in occupational and environmental health in 2007 from the University of Iowa College of Public Health, an MPH in 2003 from Western Kentucky University, and a Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery in 2001 from Andhra Medical College, N.T.R. University of Health Sciences at King George Hospital in India. He is currently vice provost for research and health sciences and professor of health and behavioral sciences at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. He is also an adjunct professor in environmental and occupational health and primary care and rural medicine at Texas A&M School of Public Health and School of Medicine, respectively.
Moga received a doctoral degree in epidemiology in 2012 from the University of Iowa College of Public Health, and an MD degree in 1997 from Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She is currently the Larry H. Spears endowed chair in pharmacogenetics, associate professor of pharmacy practice and science, assistant dean for research, and an affiliated faculty member in the Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. Moga is also jointly appointed as associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology in the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and serves as faculty associate with Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.
The award recognizes College of Public Health alumni who have made distinguished contributions to the field of public health and demonstrated a strong interest and commitment to the mission, vision, and values of the college. The recipients will be honored at an event this fall.
Iowa’s MHA program earns ACHE Higher Education Network Award
The University of Iowa’s Master of Health Administration (MHA) program is the recipient of the 2024 ACHE Higher Education Network Award for graduate programs given by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). The award recognizes one graduate and one undergraduate program annually that demonstrates the highest level of ACHE engagement.
4 projects earn prizes for Climate Change and Health Solutions Challenge
Four projects shared $32,500 in prize money at the first Climate Change and Health Solutions Challenge held in February. The challenge, open to University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff, asked teams to develop sustainable innovations that reduce health effects of climate change.
The top three teams received $10,000 each — Project Refill, Earthmind, and Team Bike Commuting. UI Rooftop Solar Panels received $2,500. The teams will now move to the implementation phase of their solution.
Project Refill is a vending system for dispensing and refilling reuseable containers with consumer products such as shampoo and soap.
Earthmind is a student mental wellness program to relieve stress and climate anxiety using outdoor activities and programming in natural settings.
Team Bike Commuting is a program to expand safe bicycle commuting to the UI campus.
UI Rooftop Solar Panels encourages the adoption of and education around solar installations on UI residentialstyle buildings such as cultural centers.
The Climate Change and Health Challenge is supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a generous gift from Don Diebel, MD, PhD, and Cindy Diebel, made through the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, as well as funding from the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, and the University of Iowa Office of the Vice President for Research.
Peter Thorne, UI Distinguished Chair and professor of occupational and environmental health in the College of Public Health, is the principal investigator of the Climate Change and Human Health seed grant.
Casteel, Kennelty land $17.9M award for hypertension management study
Two University of Iowa researchers have been approved for nearly $18 million to help older adults with multiple chronic medical conditions better manage their hypertension. The award comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Carri Casteel, professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health and director of the Injury Prevention Research Center in the College of Public Health, and Korey Kennelty, the Patrick E. Keefe Professor in Pharmacy in the College of Pharmacy and the vice chair for research and implementation science in the Department of Family Medicine, are dual-principal investigators on the award.
They will test two team-based care approaches to manage high blood pressure in older adults, both involving self-measured blood pressure, which involves the patient using a personal blood pressure monitoring device at home, recording their blood pressure at different times during the day, and using this information to work with their health care team on blood pressure management.
In the first approach, the patient will work with a health care team that includes nurses and primary care providers. In the second approach, pharmacists also will be part of the health care team. Patients will be followed for 12 months to examine changes in blood pressure. The research team aims to enroll 930 patients and will partner with more than 60 primary care clinics across the United States.
Mueller honored for outstanding work in rural health care
Keith Mueller, Gerhard Hartman Professor in Health Management and Policy and director of the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, has been awarded the 2024 Louis Gorin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rural Health Care by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).
Throughout his 40-year career, Mueller has advanced rural health through expert nonpartisan policy analysis, national presentations and testimony, and the education of future health care researchers and administrators. He currently serves as Gerhard Hartman Professor in Health Management and Policy in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa and as director of the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis.
Snetselaar named to National Academies expert committee
Linda Snetselaar, CPH professor of epidemiology and Endowed Chair of Preventive Nutrition Education, was recently named to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee of experts to review, evaluate, and report on the current scientific evidence on the relationship between alcohol consumption and health outcomes. This study will have implications for the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
AFIFI, CHRISCHILLES HONORED FOR FACULTY EXCELLENCE
Rima Afifi, professor of community and behavioral health, and Elizabeth Chrischilles, Marvin A. and Rose Lee Pomerantz Chair in Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology, have been named recipients of the University of Iowa's 2024 Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. The award recognizes their extraordinary contributions and sustained record of excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.
Examining stress among women farmers
UI researchers Carly Nichols, assistant professor of geographical and sustainability sciences, and Jonathan Davis, research assistant professor of occupational and environmental health, have created and tested a new tool—the Women Farmer Stress Inventory (WFSI) to better understand the types of stressors women farmers face as well as the conditions and context associated with the greater levels of stress. The study was published in the Journal of Rural Health.
The researchers used responses from a random sample of 592 Iowan women farmers who replied to a mailed survey. The results revealed five unique factors that reflected different aspects of women farmer stress: time pressures and workload, environmental concern, external stressors from governments and markets, interpersonal relationships, and rural amenities.
Young age, being married, engagement in off-farm work, and smaller farm size were associated with greater levels of stress across most domains. The WFSI is a promising tool for use in future research and community-based interventions for understanding and reducing female farmer stress.
Meet the 2024 Iowa Public Health Heroes
The University of Iowa College of Public Health recently honored three Iowa public health leaders whose work is helping to promote better health, prevent disease, and build stronger communities throughout the state.
The 2024 Iowa Public Health Heroes Awards were presented to: (from left) Katie Owens, senior director of engagement for the Iowa Primary Care Association; Elizabeth Faber, director of Iowa Immunizes; and Lina Tucker Reinders, executive director of the Iowa Public Health Association.
The award recipients were honored in March during a reception and awards ceremony at the Public Health Conference of Iowa in Des Moines. Since 2012, the College of Public Health’s Iowa Public Health Heroes Award program has recognized exceptional efforts by individuals from diverse career paths whose work improves health and wellness throughout Iowa. Award recipients are nominated by their peers in the Iowa public health practice community.
“The health of all Iowans is enhanced through the leadership and service of so many dedicated professionals working in the public health sector,” says Edith Parker, dean of the College of Public Health. “We are proud to honor these three individuals and to recognize their outstanding work in the communities they serve.”
Hamann honored with Faculty Communicating Ideas Award
Cara Hamann, associate professor of epidemiology, received the 2024 Faculty Communicating Ideas Award from the Office of the Vice President for Research. This award recognizes excellence in communication about research and scholarship in the sciences and humanities and the study of creative, visual, and performing arts to a general audience directly or via print and electronic media.
Hamann has frequently shared her work on transportation issues, including teen driving, bike and scooter safety, and pedestrian safety, through peer-reviewed journals and extensive media outreach.
2024 Cancer in Iowa report focuses on alcohol-related cancers
Iowans’ alcohol consumption—in volume and frequency—is among the highest in the nation, and puts residents at greater risk for cancer, according to the 2024 Cancer in Iowa report issued by the Iowa Cancer Registry.
The annual report, produced by the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, notes that the state of Iowa has the fourth-highest incidence of alcohol-related cancers in the U.S. and has the highest rate in the Midwest. Only Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi have higher rates of alcohol-related cancers among U.S. states. The full report is available online at shri.public-health.uiowa.edu .
“With this year’s report, we seek to increase awareness that all types of alcoholic beverages increase cancer risk, and reducing the amount we drink will also reduce alcoholrelated cancers,” says Mary Charlton, CPH professor of epidemiology and the report’s co-author. “What’s especially noteworthy is while any alcohol can increase one’s risk of cancer, heavy drinking and binge drinking pose the greatest risk.”
Other findings from the report included:
An estimated 21,000 cancers will be diagnosed among Iowans this year.
An estimated 6,100 Iowans will die from cancer.
The number of cancer survivors is growing, with an estimated 168,610 Iowans who overcame cancer between 1973 and 2019.
STUDY LOOKS AT RESOLVING ALCOHOL USE DISORDER WITHOUT TREATMENT
While highly effective, specialty alcohol treatment may present barriers, such as cost and stigma. A variety of strategies and other factors—often in combination—help people address their problem drinking without the use of specialized alcohol services, according to a study of untreated people in recovery from alcohol use disorder. Social support and changing one’s social and physical environments were the strategies participants most frequently found helpful, and most used a combination of multiple strategies to reduce or quit drinking.
The study, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggests that identifying individual motivations for behavior change may help people with alcohol use disorder find a set of recovery strategies and resources most relevant to their values and needs.
The study team included CPH researchers Loulwa Soweid, Paul Gilbert, Gaurab Maharjan, Paul J. Holdefer, and Sydney Evans, and Nina Mulia from the Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute.
