SPH Addresses Gun Violence in Special Forum
National public health faculty, government, advocacy experts convene Representative Robert DeLeo, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was among those speaking at the daylong School of Public Health meeting on gun violence that drew members from public health schools across the country. Photo by Michael Saunders. There is no doubt that one of the […]
Bucking Trends, BU Outside Funding Continues to Rise
Team behind the scenes keeps the money coming in Amy Lieberman, an SED assistant professor of deaf studies, says BU “made it clear that my research was going to be valued and supported here. It’s a big part of the reason I came.” Photo by Cydney Scott. The chart of United States R&D funding, as […]
Hospitals Cut Readmissions, But at What Cost?
Critics say Medicare program penalizes safety-net hospitals Report says that safety-net hospitals should be compared to other safety-net hospitals, rather than put into one broad category. Photo by EunikaSopotnicka/iStock. Safety-net hospitals, which serve large populations of low-income patients, have made significant progress in reducing patient readmissions under a federal penalty program, but adjustments to the […]
SPH Welcomes New Global Health Chair
Patricia Hibberd wants to leverage technology to save young lives When Patricia Hibberd (above) looks at her smartphone, she sees a chance to save young lives. Hibberd, the new chair of the School of Public Health’s Department of Global Health, has been working in Malawi, India, and Pakistan to develop a low-cost thermal imaging system […]
Sandro Galea’s Vision for Public Health
SPH dean emphasizes social justice issues like race, poverty Sandro Galea switched careers after a stint with Doctors Without Borders, leaving the immediate gratification of medicine to labor in the vineyard of public health. Photo By Eric Levin. Sandro Galea stood with his backpack at the edge of a small airstrip in Mendi, Papua New […]
Street Doctor
How Jim O’Connell learned to shelve the stethoscope, and listen Jim O’Connell (right), president of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. His memoir, Stories from the Shadows, describes his career as a street doctor. Photo courtesy of Jim O’Connell. Jim O’Connell, president of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and a […]
Breaking Nicotine’s Hold
An undergraduate aims to help smokers quit for good By Andrew Thurston Bhavya Narala (CAS’15) is studying the effects of nicotine withdrawal on the brain and hopes to provide new insights on the stimulant’s impact. Photo by Dan Watkins. For America’s 42.1 million smokers, the best hopes of quitting—willpower, gum, prescribed drugs—don’t offer much hope at […]
Molecule Makers
A unique chemical library offers new hope for hard-to-treat diseases By Kate Becker and photos by Dan Aguirre. Can a molecule be beautiful? As director of BU’s Center for Molecular Discovery (CMD), John Porco has helped to create some 7,000 new molecules. To a chemist’s eye, their ornate “architecture” makes them beautiful, says Porco. But […]
$1.6 NIH Grant for Pneumonia Research
Medical School professor will study how immunity to the disease develops and how it protects certain people “The goal of this study is to better define the immune mechanisms preventing pneumonia during late childhood and much of adulthood,” says Joseph Mizgerd. Photo by Cydney Scott. Joseph Mizgerd, a professor of medicine, microbiology, and biochemistry at […]
A New Map for Greenhouse Gas
Novel tool can help cities meet climate change goals By: Barbara Moran Lucy Hutyra, Conor Gately, and Ian Sue Wing, from the GRS department of earth and environment, developed a new way to measure CO2 emissions from cars. The new system, called DARTE, could help cities combat climate change. Photo by Michael D. Spencer. The […]