The most recent Capital Connection Fund (CCF) awards provide fourteen students with excellent opportunities to pursue professional development activities. Four individuals received major awards; three of these students are from the Department of Global Health:

·         Kathryn Zoerhoff, MPH candidate in Global Health, is the recipient of the Spring 2008 CCF Research Award. Zoerhoff, who is also an MA student in the Elliott School, will travel to Tanzania to conduct research on the “Effects of Women’s Antenatal Care Experiences on Decisions for Delivery Location.” She will conduct exit surveys of women receiving antenatal care, as well as key informant interviews with women who have recently given birth, to learn about their perceptions of the quality of their antenatal care. Her study’s insights regarding women’s decisions about where to give birth will inform program and policy efforts aimed at increasing safe delivery and improving maternal health status. The project will be the culminating experience for Zoerhoff’s MPH.

·         Casey Alrich, MPH candidate in Global Health, has been awarded CCF Fieldwork funds. Alrich will fulfill his Practicum requirement while working with PACT Vietnam, which administers PEPFAR funding to fight HIV/AIDS in Vietnam. He will work with local Vietnamese organizations who have received PEPFAR support to evaluate the success of their HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs and assist them in documenting the findings.

·         Ann Mead, MPH candidate in Global Health, also received a CCF Fieldwork Award. Mead leads the public health team for the Valle Bonito, Honduras project of the local Engineers Without Borders group. For her MPH Culminating Experience, she will engage the Valle Bonito community in the development and implementation of a health education campaign addressing hygiene and water use/storage needs. Her fieldwork in Honduras will involve water testing, qualitative observations, focus groups, key informant interviews, training health promoters, holding community meetings, and working with teachers on school health promotion initiatives. 

·         Michelle Glaser, MPH candidate in Epidemiology, has been honored with a CCF Scholars Award. In April, she presented a poster, “Evaluation of Provider Satisfaction and Patient Outcomes Associated with Use of a Statewide Telemedicine System in Louisiana,” at the American Telemedicine Association Conference in Seattle. Glaser worked with Dr. Manya Magnus and others to develop, conduct, and analyze data on Louisiana’s telemedicine program, which was expanded after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita severely disrupted the operations of public hospitals in 2005. The project was Glaser’s MPH Practicum and Culminating Experience.

The Capital Connection Fund Conference Attendance Mini-Awards have enabled SPHHS students to be well-represented at professional meetings this spring:

·         Shaun Reddy,MS candidate in Exercise Science (Exercise, Nutrition, and Eating Behavior), will attend the May meeting of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity in Banff, Canada. Cindy Lentino, a student in the same program, and Michelle Hering-Kennedy, a recent graduate, will both attend the American College of Sports Medicine meeting this month in Indianapolis. Hering-Kennedy will also present the results of her MS research, entitled “After School Physical Activity Behaviors in Relation to Adult Supervision.”

·         Alex Parr, MS candidate in Exercise Science (Strength and Conditioning), is traveling to Las Vegas in July to attend the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s national conference.

·         Lauren Sogor, MPH candidate in Public Health Communication and Marketing, used Mini-Award funding earlier this Spring to participate in a webinar on “Incentives and Norm Appeals” and to attend the Women’s Equality Summit/Congressional Action Day.

·         Katherine Pier,MS candidate in Biostatistics, was granted a Mini-Award to attend the American Society for Microbiology’s 6^th Annual Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting, held in February in Baltimore.

·         Sarah Schaffer, MPH candidate in Global Health (and an MS student in the Elliott School), attended Unite for Sight’s 5^th Annual International Health and Development Conference last month in New Haven, Connecticut.

·         Roberta Lilly (MPH candidate in Health Policy) along with Christopher Davis and Meghan Blake (MPH candidates in Global Health) attended the United South and Eastern Tribes 2008 Annual Impact Week in February. Their attendance at the meeting stemmed from their team project in PubH 208 focusing on the development of a health system for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. By participating, they were able to speak with Mashpee Wampanoag representatives and also learn about how previous Native American health care programs were created, which informed their team’s semester-long proposal development effort.