SPH at ASPPH.

Members of the School of Public Health community led discussions, received awards, and presented the School’s initiatives during the annual meeting of the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) on March 15 through 17 in Arlington, Virginia.

Dean Sandro Galea led the panel discussion “The Firearm Crisis: Strategic Imperatives for Academic Public Health.” The session followed on a November 2016 forum convening deans, faculty, and other representatives of 42 public health schools at SPH.

“It’s very important that this is something we collectively carry forward,” Galea said in his presentation to begin the discussion. The panel of five academics, who were part of the November meeting, talked about integrating gun violence into public health curriculum, promoting gun violence conversation in politics, creating bigger political movement around gun safety, and the problem of lack of research on firearms.

Two members of the SPH community received awards at the conference. Jessica Leibler, assistant professor of environmental health, received the ASPPH Early Career Public Health Teaching Award. The ASPPH Student Services Excellence Award went to Mary Murphy-Phillips, director of graduate student life.

Murphy-Phillips also gave a presentation at the conference, “Student Services Conversation: Supporting International Students During Times of Change.” Meaghan Agnew, associate director of editorial & social media, presented “Social Media Best Practices in Recruitment, Student Communication & Branding.”

In the conference’s poster session, Amanda Velez, director of graduate programs, and Lisa Sullivan, associate dean for education, presented the poster “Developing Integrative Learning Experiences for MPH Specializations.” Velez also presented the poster “Acts of Inclusion“with Chase Crossno, program manager for lifelong learning. Professor of Community Health Sciences Eugene Declercq presented the poster “Integrating the Integrated Core: The BUSPH Project to Develop a Case Study Linking Core Courses.”

The SPH Alumni Reception and Presentations were held during the conference at the Army and Navy Club on March 16. Presentations were given by Dean Galea; David Jones, assistant professor of health law, policy & management and editor-in-chief of Public Health Post; alumna Julie Ross (’00); and Leslie Tellalian, director of lifelong learning.

—Michelle Samuels