News & Events

Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, PhD, Research on Mental Illness and Substance-Related Disorders

Spotlight on Research at COPH – Across the United States, two million persons with serious mental illnesses are booked into jails each year. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, about 40% of state prison and local jail inmates have substance use disorders, and 25% have substance use disorders with mental illness. There is a substantial overlap between the behavioral health and criminal justice systems. Dr. Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway and her research team worked with the Behavioral Health Division of… Continue Reading

New Developments in the Fight to End HIV Infection

Public Health in the National News – The Food and Drug Administration approval of a pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is an exciting development in the fight to end HIV infection. The public health community working to prevent new infections now has another in a wide array of tools with which to prevent HIV transmission. Clinical studies have shown those who start a PrEP regimen do not engage in behaviors that transmit HIV with any greater frequency than before using the drug. Despite this, some public… Continue Reading

The College of Public Health Takes Part in Husker Harvest Days

Public Health Community Advisory – This year’s hot, dry, drought conditions have produced a triple threat to the safety, security, and health of the agriculture community, with an increase in fire danger, significantly reduced yield in crops, and dangerous levels of aflatoxin in the corn crop. The gritty combination of dry top soil and gusty winds greeted this year’s participants of Husker Harvest Days (HHD). Taking place in the middle of a dry corn field just west of Grand Island on September 11-13, HHD prides… Continue Reading

Reported Cases of West Nile Virus Up from Previous Years

Public Health in the National News – Mosquitoes are more than just a nuisance. They are a real public health hazard, carrying a number of infectious diseases, most notably in the United States West Nile disease. Already this year, 1,118 human cases of West Nile virus (WNV) have been reported in the United States, more than has been reported for a number of years. The outbreak has affected 37 states thus far in 2012, with Texas reporting the most number of cases. In Nebraska, recent… Continue Reading

2012 COPH Faculty Award Winners

Faculty Highlight – On April 20, the College of Public Health (COPH) celebrated students, faculty, and community partners at its annual awards dinner. This year, the COPH honored four outstanding faculty members with awards recognizing their dedication to the College’s mission of education, research, and service. Shawn Gibbs, PhD, is the 2012 recipient of the COPH Excellence in Teaching Award, an award honoring a governing faculty member whose outstanding teaching contributions facilitate the highest levels of student learning. Dr. Shawn Gibbs is an associate professor… Continue Reading

2012 COPH Student Award Winners

Student Highlight- 2012 College of Public Health Student Award Winners 2012 Carruth J. Wagner, MD, Scholarship in Public Health Bettye Appiah Apenteng Doctoral student in Health Services Research, Administration, and Policy Ms. Apenteng is a third-year PhD student. She received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, in neurobiology, with a second major in individualized studies, with an emphasis in public health. She has successfully passed her comprehensive exams and has begun work on her dissertation, focusing on organizational performance in… Continue Reading

Nicholas Stergiou, PhD, Research on Human Movement Variability

Spotlight on Research at COPH – Dr. Stergiou has made significant contributions to public health through his research that targets protecting and improving the health of pathological populations. He has developed a theoretical framework that is aimed at improving the health of communities through research of injury prevention and disease. Dr. Stergiou’s research focus is human movement variability, i.e., the normal variations that occur across multiple repetitions of a task, and he has proposed a framework that conceptualizes the effect of disease, injury, and/or aging… Continue Reading

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