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SPHHP faculty receive honors, appointments

By GRACE LAZZARA

Published September 8, 2021

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Several faculty members in the School of Public Health and Health Professions have recently received recognition for their expertise and work in their fields:

headshot of Gauri Desai.

Gauri Desai, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, is the recipient of the 2021 Rebecca James Baker Award from the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE). The award is given to new investigators who embody Baker’s approach to epidemiological research, including working internationally, or with populations of different cultures or socioeconomic circumstances. The award recognizes Desai’s work among Uruguayan schoolchildren that looks at associations between low-level arsenic exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes, with the interplay of diet in these relationships. The award will be presented during the ISEE’s 33rd annual conference.

headshot of Kimberly Krytus.

Kimberly Krytus, assistant dean and director of graduate public health programs, has been named to an expert panel, Transformative Educational Models and Pedagogy, of the Associations of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). The panel is part an ASPPH committee, Framing the Future: Education for Public Health 2030, which aims to support a public health educational system that prepares public health graduates with perspectives, knowledge, skills, attitudes and practices focused on population health. Members of the expert panel are appointed for two-year terms and will study issues of educational models and pedagogy, with the goal of identifying and promoting strategies to strengthen education for public health.

headshot of Katia Noyes.

Katia Noyes, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, co-authored a paper that was selected as a finalist for the Joseph Tepas Non-MD Paper Competition, which takes place during the Pediatric Trauma Society’s annual meeting. The Tepas Award is “presented to the authors who demonstrate excellence in trauma-related research and best exemplifies Dr. Tepas’ commitment to education and research.” The abstract for the paper — “Characterizing Physical Trauma in Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs” — was accepted for a podium presentation at the conference. The paper’s presenting/lead author is Denise Lillvis, an EEH research assistant professor and trauma research associate at the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital.

headshot of Heather Ochs-Balcom.

Heather Ochs-Balcom, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, has been named a member of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women. The committee helps the CDC develop evidence-based approaches to advance understanding and awareness of breast cancer among young women through prevention research, public and health professional education and awareness activities, and emerging prevention strategies. It was established by the Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young (EARLY) Act, which authorizes the CDC to develop initiatives to increase knowledge of breast health and breast cancer among women, particularly among those under the age of 40 and those at heightened risk for developing the disease. Ochs-Balcom’s work centers on the genetic epidemiology of cancer, particularly breast cancer, with a focus on health disparities.

headshot of Ghazala Saleem.

Ghazala Saleem, assistant professor of rehabilitation science, has received a fellowship award and scholarship from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). The ACRM Complementary, Integrative, Rehabilitation Research Fellowship Award is awarded to “early career clinical investigators from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds.” The ACRM Annual Conference Scholarship from the ACRM Brain Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group is awarded to active participants in ACRM’s special interest group task forces who have been endorsed by a task force chair. The awards offer registration and supplemental funding to attend this year’s ACRM conference, the largest rehabilitation research conference in the world.