SBS Department Newsletter
Fall 1, 2023
| |
| Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
| |
|
Welcome
Welcome to all of our new SBS students!
This semester the SBS department is delighted to welcome a dynamic group of 52 new MPH, SM-1 and PhD students. Our new students range in age from 23 to 68 with a median age of 26. Although most (36) come from the United States, 14 other countries are represented with Canada, India, and Taiwan having more than one student.
Our students reflect the increasing global interest in the field of public health as the world grapples with many challenges including climate change, war, natural and man-made disasters and political unrest. It is the hope of every SBS faculty that our research and teaching will enable all of our students to gain knowledge and skills that will prepare them to effectively advocate for, promote, and support improved health for all people, and substantial reductions in all social inequities in health at the global, national and local level. We are so very thrilled that all of our new and returning students are here.
David Williams
Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health
Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
| |
Jane Carpenter, HSB-65 ‘20
Jane Carpenter is a Community Data Manager for the HEALing Communities Study at Boston Medical Center. In this role she works with communities to implement evidence-based practices to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths focusing on three specific areas: overdose education and naloxone distribution, medication for opioid use disorder, and safer opioid prescribing and dispensing practices.
As a Health and Social Behavior MPH-65 student, you completed your coursework in December of 2019 and started working at BMC immediately. What was that transition like?
I negotiated to delay my start date from December 2019 to early January so that I would have a couple of weeks off after classes ended. I used some of that time to travel to Thailand with a couple of my closest friends from Harvard Chan. I was so grateful to be able to travel (to somewhere warm!) and spend time with friends before starting my job. I had only been working for about a month and a half before the Governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency in response to the pandemic, and the study shifted to be entirely remote. I felt really fortunate to have been able to get to know my colleagues in person briefly before we shifted to remote work. It was such a scary and stressful time for everyone, and I was glad that my colleagues and I could support each other. Our work hinged on community engagement, which, because of the pandemic, we suddenly had to do entirely remotely. It was challenging to balance the need to move forward with the study while honoring our community partners’ obligations; many of them worked in healthcare, public health, or human services, and had to respond to the immediate needs of the populations they served. At the same time, the pandemic exacerbated the opioid overdose epidemic, making our work all the more urgent, and we all quickly adapted to doing the work virtually.
| |
Dr. Rita Hamad joined the department as an Associate Professor on July 1, 2023. She was previously on the faculty of the University of California San Francisco and Stanford University. Dr. Hamad is a social epidemiologist and the director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research Center. Her research focuses on the pathways linking social factors like poverty and education with racial and socioeconomic disparities in health across the life course. She loves cooking and boardgames and (easy) hikes with her two daughters, and hopes she can soon revive her pottery-making hobby.
| |
Kaitlyn Jackson is a Senior Statistical Analyst at the SPHERE Center. Since completing her MPH from the University of California Berkeley, she has worked on a diverse portfolio of research projects focused on addressing upstream mechanisms which affect health within vulnerable populations. She joined the SPHERE Center in 2021 and is currently working on analyses investigating the effects of COVID-19-related program expansions on perinatal health, mental health, and food security. She loves backpacking, cooking, going to the movies, and spending sunny afternoons outside. She is also very much looking forward to relocating to Boston this Fall!
| |
Hayat Jan Chavez is thrilled to be joining the SBS community as the new Academic Engagement Coordinator. She recently completed her Ed.M. in Human Development and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she focused on classroom-based Social and Emotional Learning interventions. Hayat grew up in the United Arab Emirates, in a small Emirate called Ajman, but her roots are from Pakistan and Peru. Hayat has prior Harvard work experience having held positions at both the Graduate School of Education and the Graduate School of Design. She is excited to make a positive impact on the SBS community in this role!
| |
Nykesha Johnson joined the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in June as a Statistical Analyst working with Nancy Krieger, Pam Waterman and Jarvis Chen. Prior to SBS Nykesha worked as a Research & Data Associate at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury prevention for two years. In her previous role she was responsible for managing the city’s tobacco retailer database and conducting independent data analysis and evaluation projects related to the city's tobacco control program. Nykesha holds an MPH in Epidemiology & Biostatistics from Drexel University ('21) and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Rutgers University ('17). Nykesha loves traveling, exploring new cities, and hiking. Her office is 403-J at Landmark so stop by and say hello!
| |
Dr. Rebekka Lee was recently promoted to Lecturer on Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her research focuses on testing community-based interventions that translate into real world policy and practice change, focusing on the contextual factors that impact effective implementation and promote health equity. Bekka is the Director for the Community Engagement Program at Harvard Catalyst. She is also co-director of the Administrative Core at the Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity and conducts partnered research at the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity. She teaches courses on program planning and evaluation (SBS 203 and 204) and is co-director of Leaders in Health community training program. A fun fact about Bekka is that she has lived in the city of Boston for almost 20 years – she currently lives in an adjoining condo to her buddy from her time as a student in the SBS doctoral program.
| |
Dr. Shoba Ramanadhan was recently promoted to Associate Professor. Her research focuses on supporting community-based organizations to use research- and practice-based evidence to address health inequities. Much of her work uses participatory approaches in partnership with local organizations and health-focused coalitions in Massachusetts and a few states in India. Fun fact: Shoba, her husband, and their two daughters can’t get enough of the Indian Spider-Man from the latest movie and his rallying cry of “Chai means tea, bro!”
| |
Welcome to Jason Thompson who joins the Center for Global Tobacco Control as Project Coordinator. Jason holds a BS in psychology and philosophy from Tufts University. Jason has recently worked at Harvard’s evolutionary psychology lab and Tufts social psychology lab. As a fun fact, Jason met his fiancée while they were both studying abroad in New Zealand. He will be based in the tobacco research lab at Landmark.
| |
WGH Social at Penguin Pizza
Wednesday, September 6, 5:00-6:30pm
Penguin Pizza (735 Huntington Avenue, 02115)
Join WGH faculty, students, and staff for a casual after-work networking get-together. Food & drinks provided. Stop by before or after the Fall Resource Fair!
Health and science communication fall social
Mon, Sept 11 5:00-6:30pm
Kresge cafe
Today's public health leaders must engage with an increasingly fragmented and skeptical world. Join us to learn more about how the Center for Health Communication and the Health Communication Concentration can support your growth as a communicator and a leader. And to network with faculty and students who are interested in health and science communication. Refreshments will be served.
Sponsors: Center for Health Communication and the Health Communication Concentration
Community Engagement Program: Student Outreach Event
Wed, Sept 20,1-2pm,
Kresge 708
Join us to learn more about our program and community engagement at Harvard. At this event, you will get to meet and connect with others through informal conversations over a catered lunch, and interactive activities.
Register here, by Wed, Sept 6.
Unprecedented: Lessons learned from covering fast-moving pandemics
Wed, Sept 20 1-1:50 pm
Kresge 502
Join veteran New York Times science reporter Apoorva Mandavilli to talk about what she has learned from reporting from the front lines of multiple emerging pandemics. Lunch will be served.
Sponsors: Center for Health Communication and the Health Communication Concentration
The Role of Misinformation in Blocking Access to Sex- and Gender-Specific Healthcare
Wed, Sept 20, 1:00-1:50pm,
Location TBD
Join us for our first event of WGH’s Fall event series, “Navigating and Resisting Mis/Disinformation." This panel discussion will focus on the use of fake science to undermine access to sex- and gender-specific healthcare services such as abortion care and gender-affirming healthcare. For more information, email wgh@hsph.harvard.edu.
Messaging for health
Thurs, Oct 12 1-1:50 pm
Kresge G2
Join strategic communications expert and SBS instructor Andy Burness to learn how to craft effective messages about public health to make real-world policy impact—and what today's public health leaders need to know about message discipline and delivery. Lunch will be served.
Sponsors: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Health Communication
| |
|
Dr. Nancy Krieger received the 2023 Sedgwick Memorial Medal for Distinguished Service in Public Health from the American Public Health Association (APHA) in recognition of her “impactful and lasting contributions to the advancement of public health knowledge and practice as an activist, scholar and visionary”; the Sedwick Memorial Medal is “APHA’s oldest and most prestigious award … one of the highest honors bestowed by APHA, is a true accolade of the profession – the recognition by an individual’s colleagues of outstanding accomplishments in the field of public health." Read the press release here.
| |
Winning paper: Freak-Poli R, Wagemaker N, Wang R, Lysen TS, Ikram MA, Vernooij MW, Dintica CS, Vernooij-Dassen M, Melis RJF, Laukka EJ, Fratiglioni L, Xu W, Tiemeier H. Loneliness, Not Social Support, Is Associated with Cognitive Decline and Dementia Across Two Longitudinal Population-Based Cohorts. J Alzheimers Dis. 2022;85(1):295-308, https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-210330.
| |
| Dr. David Williams was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Science, honoris causa, from the College of Medicine and Life Sciences at University of Toledo. Read more here. Dr. Williams was also appointed as a Member of the American Medical Association Taskforce on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation.
| |
|
Jeon, E.D., Jing, J Experience from Asia: Lessons for Promoting Advance Care Planning in Mainland China (abstract) (conference overview) 8th International Conference on Advance Care Planning Poster Presentation | Singapore & virtual | May 2023
Krieger N. Health justice, critical science, & the two-edged sword of data: structural problems require structural solutions. Invited presentation for de Beaumont Foundation Speaker Series Bethesda, MD, April 11, 2023 (virtual presentation).
Krieger N. Invited comments: “We are Not Alone” Eugenics Exhibit. Countway Library, Harvard University Boston, MA, May 18, 2023. Invited comments: advancing gender transformative intersectional science for health justice. Participant in the by-invitation-only NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Listening Session on Sex and Gender. Virtual meeting, August 11, 2023.
Krieger N. Invited comments: advancing gender transformative intersectional science for health justice. Participant in the by-invitation-only NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Listening Session on Sex and Gender. Virtual meeting, August 11, 2023.
Lee RM, Dargon-Hart S, Daly JG, Davies ME, Taveras E, Emmons KM Building community engagement into FQHC-based Implementation Research. Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers: Annual Community Health Institute Oral presentation | Falmouth, MA | May 10, 2023
Lee R, Aleman R, Kennedy M, Curry M, Emmons K Community engagement to center equity in census data collection and outreach operations. American Association of Public Opinion Research Annual Conference Oral presentation | Philadelphia, PA | May 12, 2023
Peters SE. Thriving Workers and Sustainable Workplaces. HERO Spring Think Tank. Presentation | Via zoom | May 22, 2023
Neidlinger S, Felfe J, Peters SE. The effects of strength application and work location on self-efficacy, performance, work-life balance, and strain: A diary study. Academy of Management Conference | Boston, MA | August 8, 2023
Williams DR “Reducing Racial Inequities of health: the fierce urgency of now” RWJF Change Leadership Programs, Northeast Leadership Regional Institute Convening. Keynote | Boston, MA | July 13, 2023
| |
| Denckla, CA, Espinosa Dice AL, Slopen N, Koenen KC, Tiemeier H. Mental health outcomes among bereaved children in the ALSPAC birth cohort: Examining sociodemographic variables and cognitive ability. Development and Psychopathology | 1-12 | 2023
Emmons KM, Mendez S, Lee RM, Erani D, Mascioli L, Abreu M, Adams S, Daly J, Bierer BE; RADx-MA Partners. Data sharing in the context of community-engaged research partnerships. Soc Sci Med. 2023 May;325:115895. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115895. Epub 2023 Apr 11.
Kidd KM, Sequeira GS, Katz-Wise SL, Fechter-Leggett M, Gandy M, Herring N, Miller L, Dowshen NL “Difficult to find, stressful to navigate”: Parents’ experiences accessing affirming care for gender diverse youth LGBT Health, 2023, Advance online publication
Poole MK, Lee RM, Kinderknecht KL, Kenney EL. De-implementing public health policies: a qualitative study of the process of implementing and then removing body mass index (BMI) report cards in Massachusetts public schools. Implement Sci Commun 2023 Jun 9;4(1):63.
Sam Mendez published a blog and video series about current challenges in health communication as a Boston Congress of Public Health 2023 Thought Leader Fellow.
Peters S. Workplace rehabilitation. In van Griensven H and Strong J. Pain: A textbook for health professionals | 2023.
Ramanadhan, S., Salvia, M., Hanby, E., Revette, A. C., Rivard, M. K., Scout, N. F. N., Applegate, J., Gordon, B., Machado, A., Lunn, M. R., Obedin-Maliver, J., Potter, J., Chen, J. T., & Tan, A. S. L. (2023). “We’re always an afterthought”- Designing tobacco control campaigns for dissemination with and to LGBTQ +—serving community organizations: A thematic analysis. Cancer Causes & Control.
Oke I, Slopen N, Hunter D, Wu A. Sociodemographic factors associated with vision testing for adolescents in the United States, JAMA Ophthalmology, in press.
Williams, D.R., Ruterbusch, J.J., Mittleman, M.A., Sakyi, K.S., Mostofsky, E., Rimawi, A., Qu, X., Reid, T.G. Schwartz, K. “Politically related stress and low-birth weight infants among Arab, Asian, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White women in Michigan” Women’s Health | Vol. 19 | 2023
Ray, R., Lantz, P. M., Williams, D.R. "Upstream Policy Changes to Improve Population Health and Health Equity: A Priority Agenda" The Milbank Quarterly| Vol. 101, No. S1. Pp. 20-35| 2023
| |
|
|
|
|
