The Globe

Department News and Highlights

Faculty Profiles Faculty andStudent Awards

NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HEALTH l FALL 2009 l WWW.JHSPH.EDU/DEPT/IH

OBESITY AND CHRONIC DISEASESINVESTIGATING THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

ROBERT REDFORD HOSTS FUNDRAISER FOR CENTER FOR AMERICAN INDIAN HEALTH

From the ChairRobert Black, MD, MPH

Fall 2009

3 Investigating theCauses andConsequences ofObesity

5 LiST: The LivesSaved Tool

6 Healthy Choices,Healthy Options

8 News & Highlights

11 Faculty Profile

Robert RedfordHosts Fundraiser

About the DepArtment

From a modest beginning in 1961, the JohnsHopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’sDepartment of International Health hasgrown into a global leadership role in healthresearch, policy analysis, and program imple-mentation. e Department is divided intofour areas: Global Disease Epidemiology andControl; Health Systems; Human Nutrition;and Social and Behavioral Interventions. Weoffer master’s and doctoral level training inthese areas of international health, as well asdoctoral training in public health practice.

Fighting obesity and related chronicdiseases through exercise, diet andcommunity involvement

Associate Professor Youfa Wang

Cover photo credits, clockwise from top left:HEALTH-KIDS, Chicago; Olivia Sloan, Feastfor the Future; Malawi, IIP; and Khalid Raja

is issue of e Globe highlights some of the Department’s workaddressing the global epidemic of obesity. Professor BenjaminCaballero, one of the Department’s first faculty members to workon obesity, once titled a seminar “What makes the world goround?” is question along with even more pressing questions ofhow to reverse the worrisome trends in the US and worldwidenow involve the efforts of numerous faculty and students. eanalysis by Associate Professor Youfa Wang projecting futuretrends to predict that 86 percent of Americans would be over-weight or obese by 2030 should certainly raise concerns aboutour unhealthy eating habits and reduced physical activity. Hiswork and that of others have also shown troubling increases inobesity globally, including in Brazil, China and India.

In addition to the research and obesity prevention programs fea-tured in e Globe, our faculty members are engaged in a numberof projects designed to understand and prevent obesity andrelated chronic diseases. Locally, Drs. Caballero, Gittelsohn andWang in the Growing Leaps and Bounds project focus on pro-moting healthy eating patterns and preventing excess weight gainin the first two years of life. Two projects led by Professor Mau-reen Black at the University of Maryland School of Medicine,and involving our Human Nutrition Program faculty membersCaulfield and Gittelsohn, concentrate on other important riskgroups, i.e. toddlers and girls in Baltimore middle schools withresearch on interventions to prevent obesity. Professor Gittelsohnalso leads several projects based in Baltimore City to improve theavailability of healthy foods in and around recreational centersand churches. ese programs, such as Baltimore Healthy EatingZones and Healthy Bodies, Healthy Souls, work with the commu-nity to help increase physical activity and improve diets. ProfessorLaura Caulfield leads nutrition efforts in the Baltimore Countysite of the National Children’s Study, which will follow partici-pants from birth to 21 years of age, addressing the environmentalinfluences on health outcomes, including on pediatric obesityand diabetes. All of these projects provide opportunities forDepartment graduate students. Internationally, the Departmenthas some major new initiatives. Our faculty were recentlyawarded three Center of Excellence grants (out of 11 Centersfunded nationally) from the NIH National Heart, Lung andBlood Institute to work with collaborators in Bangladesh,Guatemala and Peru on obesity and related conditions, such asdiabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

Obesity in high-income countries and the double burden of mal-nutrition, i.e., concurrent problems with maternal and child un-dernutrition and increasing child and adult obesity now beingexperienced by many low- and middle-income countries, requireurgent attention and high global priority.

Assistant Professor Maria MerrittAdvancing the study of community-based research ethics

Faculty and student honorsNew staff and faculty

An evidence-based decision-making tool for estimatingintervention impact

Feast for the Future to fight hunger andmalnutrition among Native Americanpopulations

Page 3THE GLOBE | Fall 2009

INVESTIGATING THE CAUSES ANDCONSEQUENCES OF OBESITY

Associate Professor Youfa Wang

At the last faculty retreat, the Department’s commitmentto emerging global health topics such as chronic disease,mental health, and injury prevention was debated. e

consensus was that the Department should continue pursu-ing these research opportunities through collaborations withinand outside the University. is spring, the JHSPH magazinehighlighted work related to two of those topics with featuredarticles on the Department’s International Injury ResearchUnit (IIRU) and Applied Mental Health Research (AMHR)Group.

One of the Department’s leaders on the chronic disease front,both in the US and abroad, has been Associate Professor YoufaWang, MD, PhD. Over the last few years he has publishedseveral seminal papers on the epidemiology of obesity in USand global populations. He is currently leading several projectsto investigate the causes of obesity, co-morbidities such as Type2 diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome, as well asrelated interventions. His ongoing research is funded by grantsfrom several agencies and foundations, including the NIH andUS Department of Agriculture.

uS and Global obesity trends:Complicated patternsMost-cited article in Epidemiologic ReviewDr. Wang’s team has published several high-impact studies ex-amining the epidemiology of obesity in the US and globally.His 2007 article on obesity in the US in the journal Epidemi-ologic Reviews is that journal’s most cited article since 2004.He and co-author May Beydoun—a former postdoctoral fel-low at the School, now with the National Institute of Aging(NIA)—provided a comprehensive description of the trendsand characteristics of the obesity epidemic in the US based onnationally representative data collected since the early 1970s.

ey illustrate how obesity levels have skyrocketed in nearly everypopulation group in the US over the last three decades. eir find-ings also show how disproportionately affected minority and low-socioeconomic groups have been. (See, “e Obesity Epidemicin the United States—Gender, Age, Socioeconomic, Racial/Eth-nic, and Geographic Characteristics: A Systematic Review andMeta-Regression Analysis,” http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxm007.)

Capitol Hill and National Headlinesis year, Dr. Wang was invited to Capitol Hill to report on theUS obesity epidemic and related financial consequences. His pres-entation to Congressional staff also addressed why health reformshould contend with the obesity epidemic. His talk focused onthe findings from his recent study entitled, “Will all Americansbecome overweight or obese? Estimating the progression and costof the US obesity epidemic,” published in 2008 by the journal

Obesity. e paper was co-authored by Drs. Ben-jamin Caballero and May Beydoun from the De-partment and Dr. Lan Liang from the US Agencyfor Healthcare Research and Quality, and Dr. ShirikiKumanyika from the University of PennsylvaniaSchool of Medicine.

Based on nationally representative survey data col-lected since the 1970s, they projected that if currenttrends continued, 86 percent of Americans wouldbecome obese or overweight in 2030. With that pro-portion of the population being overweight orobese, total related healthcare costs would be close to$900 billion. A number of domestic and interna-tional newspapers and TV news networks picked upon the article and reported widely on its findings.For just a couple examples, see the NY Times article:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/health/research/09nutr.html?_r=1 and the ABC News story, America’s Waistline:http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5473963.

Associate Professor Youfa Wang on a recent researchtrip to China

Prevalence of obesity and overweight among US adults

Observed during 1976–2004 and projected. The projected prevalence presented here arethose based on our linear regression models. (From Obesity (2008) 16 10, 2323–2330.doi:10.1038/oby.2008.351)

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009Page 4

Global trendsDr. Wang’s work has helped document the growing global obe-sity epidemic. Several of his studies have raised the awareness ofthis pressing issue among public health professionals, policy-makers and the general public. Examples include a number ofwidely cited studies such as the 2002 article in American Journalof Clinical Nutrition, which has been cited over 500 times sinceits publication. e study examined the childhood obesitytrends in four large countries on different continents. (See,“Trends of obesity and underweight in older children and ado-lescents in the United States, Brazil, China, and Russia,”http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/75/6/971.)

In collaboration with the International Obesity Taskforce(IOTF), he and co-author Dr. Tim Lobstein analyzed availabledata from over 50 countries and studied the changes over timein the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and pro-jected future levels. ey showed that prevalence had increasedin almost all countries for which trends data were available. Ex-ceptions were found among school-age children in Russia and tosome extent Poland during the 1990s, and among preschoolchildren in some low-income countries. (See, “Worldwide trendsin childhood overweight and obesity. Int J Pediatr Obes.2006;1(1):11-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17477160600586747.)

root Causes of obesity and Lifestyle-related Chronic DiseaseA focus of Dr. Wang’s work has been on the ethnic and eco-nomic disparities in obesity and their underlying causes. He re-cently won a $1.2 million NIH R01 grant to systematicallyinvestigate the individual-, family-, and community-level causesof ethnic and economic disparities in the rates of obesity andco-morbidities such as Type 2 diabetes and hypertension in theUS.

Dr. Wang’s long-term research interest is to study the impact ofchildhood obesity and eating habits on the risk of chronic dis-ease such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and meta-bolic syndrome later in life, and how appropriate interventionsmay help prevent such health conditions. He is tracking health-related behaviors, such as eating and exercise habits, and healthoutcomes, such as blood pressure from childhood to adulthood.Moreover, he is investigating how family environment andparental factors may affect children’s health and related behav-iors, with the goal of developing effective intervention programsin the future. Some of these studies are based on data collectedfrom large national surveys and cohorts in the US and China.For example, in China, he and local collaborators are attempt-ing to pinpoint the root causes of chronic disease, such as hy-pertension and metabolic syndrome in children and adults.

heALth-KIDS projectA passion of Dr. Wang’s is to apply new scientificknowledge to serve underserved populations. A recentapplication is his NIH-funded school-based childhoodobesity intervention study in Chicago—theHEALTH-KIDS Study (“Healthy Eating and ActiveLifestyles from school To Home for KIDS”). It showedthat a comprehensive intervention program targetinglow-SES African-American students in Chicago Pub-lic Schools reduced the prevalence of obesity comparedto schools without the intervention. In Beijing, sup-ported by a research grant from the Nestle Founda-tion, his team is developing an innovative healthyeating promotion program among middle school stu-dents. In addition, he is working with local collabora-tors from the Nanjing Center for Disease Control andPrevention to develop school-based obesity preventionprograms in that city.

Local and International LeadershipDr. Wang has served on a host of international anddomestic expert committees and boards. Close tohome, the governor appointed him to the MarylandState Advisory Board of Physical Fitness. On a na-tional level, he was elected in July to be the chair-electof the Nutrition Epidemiology Section of the Amer-ican Society for Nutrition (ASN). On an internationallevel, he chaired a symposium entitled, “Obesity andRelated Economic Issues” in the 7th World Congresson Health Economics held in Beijing, China, in Julyof this year. Meanwhile, he has served on internationalcommittees such as a WHO Expert Committee tohelp develop a new international growth reference for

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Taiwan 110% 1980-1996Czech Rep 90th 1991-2000

France IOTF 1992-2000

Netherlands IOTF 1980-1997Finland* IOTF 1977-1999

Japan IOTF 1976-2000Brazil rural IOTF 1974-1997

Brazil urban IOTF 1974-1997China rural IOTF 1991-1997

China urban IOTF 1991-1997USA IOTF 1971-1994

Iceland IOTF 1978-1998!ailand 85th 1992-1997

Chile IOTF 1987-2000

N Ireland IOTF 1990-2000FYR Serbia 85th 1989-1998

England IOTF 1984-2002Sweden IOTF 1986-2001

Germany 90th 1985-1995Spain IOTF 1985-1995

Australia IOTF 1985-1995Crete IOTF 1982-2002

Canada* IOTF 1981-1996New Zealand IOTF 1989-2000

East Germany IOTF 1992-1998

Poland 85th 1987-1997 Russia IOTF 1992-1998

Annualized Change in prevalence of overweight and obesity in School-Age Children in

Surveys since 1970(percentage points)

Wang and Lobstein, International Journal of PediatricObesity. 2006; 1: 11/25

* Self-reported data. Change in the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity amongschool-age children in surveys since 1970. The chart shows country, method of measure-ment and period of assessment for prevalence change. Methods of measurement: IOTF/In-ternational Obesity TaskForce recommended cut-off point for overweight, 85th and90th/centiles for local or WHO BMI reference charts, 110%/percent of ideal body weight (lo-cally defined).

Page 5THE GLOBE | Fall 2009

Brandon Brown in Peru

children and adolescents, and the International Union of Nu-tritional Sciences (IUNS) Task-Force on Diet, Nutrition andLong-term Health.

The FutureAs Dr. Wang’s research portfolio continues to expand, he hashad more opportunities for collaboration with other facultyacross the university and with researchers from other institu-tions in the US and overseas. His recent NIH research grantsrelated to obesity and chronic disease helped create two newpositions at the Center for Human Nutrition: one facultyand one post-doctoral position. ey will help carry out sev-eral ongoing research projects related to health disparities andthe associations between social, behavioral, and environmen-tal factors and risks of chronic diseases.

LiSt: The Lives Saved toolAn evidence-based decision-making tool for

estimating intervention impact

LiST is a computer-based tool that estimates the im-pact of different maternal, child and neonatal healthinterventions and coverage levels for countries, statesor districts. e tool is a component of Spectrum, asuite of easy-to-use models for country- and district-level policymakers, planners and managers in low-and middle-income countries, and for technical staffin NGOs and international funding agencies.

tool highlights

e LiST module can

• estimate the number of lives saved by individ-ual interventions or combinations of interven-tions

• compare effects across countries, creating different intervention package scenarios and target coverage levels

• generate charts and graphs of results

LiST was developed by a consortium of academic and international organizations, led by the Department’s Insti-tute of International Programs (IIP), and supported by a Gates Foundation grant to the US Fund for UNICEF.Spectrum was developed by the Futures Institute with support from USAID and UNAIDS.

For more information, see the IIP website: http://www.jhsph.edu/iipTo download LiST and Spectrum: http://www.jhsph.edu/iip/list

Chicago Public School students participating in the HEALTH-KIDS Project

healthy Choices, healthy optionsFighting obesity and related chronic diseases through exercise,diet and community involvement

In the struggle to prevent obesity and related diseases such astype 2 diabetes and hypertension, Department faculty and staffrun several projects to encourage healthy living habits, in-cluding eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Two suchprograms are Healthy Stores and the Center for American In-dian Health program, Native Vision. Because making healthychoices is not only a matter of good information, both pro-grams weave together individual education and communitydevelopment activities.

native VisionNative Vision is a partnership operated by the National Foot-ball League Players Association and the Center for Ameri-can Indian Health. rough the program, NFL players andother professional and collegiate athletes donate their time tobe mentors to Native youth. While the hallmark of the NativeVision program is its annual camp, staff have recently devel-oped year-round programming in three tribal communities:White Mountain Apache, Southwest Pueblos, and the Hau-densaunee Nation. e programs are designed to promote fourmajor areas of well-being for Native children and families:

1) Healthy Minds2) Healthy Bodies3) Healthy Families4) Healthy Communities.

e Healthy Bodies component specifically aims to reducethe prevalence of diabetes and obesity by encouraging physi-cal activity during and after school. For instance, a 10-weekrunning program organizes runs, teaches proper technique,and encourages participants to continue their own runningregimen after the program concludes. To better engage stu-dents, it incorporates information on healthy traditional foodsand the history of running in native communities. Native Vi-sion also helps to organize recreational sports leagues for kidsand fitness programs for adults and elders.

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009Page 6

e Healthy Communities facet of the year-round programattempts to increase the number of healthy options commu-nity members have at their disposal. For example, Native Vi-sion helps identify land for community gardens so memberscan grow traditional crops. In addition, traditional cookingclasses are offered that teach how to prepare these crops onceharvested.

healthy StoresIn 2000, Professor Joel Gittelsohn led the first Healthy Storesproject in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to address theneed for healthy food options in low-income areas where theseoptions aren’t always available, if at all. at first pilot trial hassince led to programs in over 10 different healthy stores pro-grams with American Indian tribes, First Nations reserves, Pa-cific Islanders, and in low-income areas of Baltimore City.Since Native populations suffer from high rates of diabetes,obesity and heart disease, the USDA funded the expansion ofthe program to the White Mountain and San Carlos Apachein 2003. e Apache Healthy Stores Program was created toaddress these problems by working to improve healthy foodavailability and to promote healthy eating.

Specific goals of the program included

• Improving the availability of healthy foods in local stores

• Promoting the purchase of healthy food alternatives inlocal stores

• Evaluating how successful the program is in increasingknowledge and changing food purchasing, preparationand consumption

Soccer practice during the Native Vision Camp. Photo: Ed Cunicelli

Native Vision Camp. Photo: Ed Cunicelli

An important aspect of the pro-gram was developing messages toencourage healthy nutritionalchoices. ese messages were de-veloped in collaboration with tribalmembers and leaders and were dis-seminated through a variety ofchannels, including radio and bill-boards. Participating stores also dis-played project messages to helpdirect customers to the healthyfoods offered by the store. Otherfeatures of the program includedin-store taste-tests and cookingdemonstrations.

e program was successful in improving food-related knowl-edge, and frequency of purchasing and consumption of pro-moted healthy foods. e success of the Apache Healthy Storesresulted in its extension and a mandate to expand its pro-gramming to the Navajo Nation. On the Navajo Nation, theprogram is working in partnership with the Navajo Special Di-abetes program—which is the institutional base for theHealthy Stores activities.

healthy Choices, healthy options(Continued)

Pictured at the Notah Begay III Foundation Event, from left to right: Mike Weir, Notah Begay III, Center Director Santosham, Hopkins NativeVision Manager Ventura Lovato, Tiger Woods, and Camilo Villegas. For more information: http://www.jhsph.edu/dept/ih/news/caih/nb3_event.html

Center for American Indian health partners withthe notah begay III Foundation

ese behavioral andcommunity-based inter-ventions have been andcontinue to be an impor-tant aspect of the Depart-ment’s fight againstobesity and relatedchronic diseases.

For more information:

Healthy Stores:http://www.healthystores.org/

Center for AmericanIndian Health:http://www.jhsph.edu/caih

Native Vision:http://www.nativevision.org/

World pneumonia Daynovember 2, 2009Activities Now Planned on Six Continentswww.WorldPneumoniaDay.org

Photo credit: Khalid Raja

The huffington postRead

Dr. Orin Levine’slatest blog,

Are some deaths worse than others?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-orin-levine

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009 Page 7

Apache Healthy Store Promotional Poster

News & Highlights

Student honors

CongratulationsSuccessful Thesis Defense

Amnesty Lefevre, Health Systems, Enhancing Di-arrhea Treatment Services through Community-LevelZinc Introduction in India, Mali, and Pakistan

Junko Onishi, Health Systems, A Multilevel Analy-sis of Village and Local Health Systems Factors Affect-ing Maternal Health Service Delivery and Use in RuralIndonesia.

Wilbert van Panhuis, Global Disease Epidemiol-ogy and Control, Dynamics of Dengue Antibodies:Transplacental Transfer, Decline after Birth and theSerotype Specific Response to Infection among Infantsand Children in ailand

e Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health awarded twoscholarships to Department of International Health MHS Stu-dents. A Global Health Scholarship covers full tuition for the11-month MPH program and for one year of the MHS pro-gram. e awards are offered on an annual basis.

Julianne BierwirthHuman Nutrition

Kriti JainGDEC

Faculty honors

Jean B. Nachega, MD, MPH, Associ-ate Scientist, GDEC, was appointedHonorary Professor in the Departmentof Medicine, Faculty of Health Sci-ences, University of Cape Town.

David Sack, MD, profes-sor, and Alain Labrique,PhD, MHS, assistantprofessor, both of GDEC,received a TechnologyTransfer SEED Award fortheir project entitled,Benchtop Agglomeration ofDry Food Powder withLive Bacteria.

Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, associate pro-fessor, Human Nutrition, was electedChair of the Nutrition EpidemiologySection, American Society for Nutrition(ASN), and became an Adjunct Profes-sor at both the School of Public Health,Peking University, and the School ofMedicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University.

David Peters, MD, DrPH, associateprofessor, was elected the Director of theHealth Systems Program in the De-partment.

Keith West, Jr., DrPH, MPH, profes-sor, was elected the Director of theHuman Nutrition Program in the De-partment. He also gave the 21st G. Mal-colm Trout Annual Lecture atMichigan State University in East Lans-ing. e title of his address was, “Vita-min A Deficiency: Evidence, PublicHealth and Politics.”

Myaing Myaing Nyunt, MD, PhD, as-sistant professor, GDEC, received a Fac-ulty Development Award from thePhRMA Foundation.

Maria Merritt, PhD, assistant profes-sor, Health Systems, received the Green-wall Faculty Scholars Award.

Dr. Labrique Dr. Sack

Page 8 THE GLOBE | Fall 2009

Dr. Henry Perry, Sr. Associate, received theCORE Group’s 10thDory Storms Child Sur-vival Recognition Award. Dory Storms, theaward’s first recipient, led the Child SurvivalSupport Program at the School.

News & HighlightsFaculty promotions

Abdullah Baqui,MBBS DrPH, Professor, Health Systems

W. AbdullahBrooks, MDMPH, AssociateScientist, HealthSystems

Joel Gittelsohn,PhD, Professor,Human Nutrition

Luke Mullany, PhDMHS, Associate Pro-fessor, Global DiseaseEpidemiology andControl

Prasanthi Puvanachandra,MD MPH, Assis-tant Scientist,Health Systems

William M. Weiss,DrPH, Assistant Sci-entist, Health Systems

Peter Winch, MDMPH, Professor, Social and Behav-ioral Interventions

Ahmed Al-Kabir, PhD, Associate,Health Systems

Assistant ProfessorCheryl Ann MarieAnderson, PhD,MPH, MS, joint ap-pointment, HumanNutrition

Edward B. Bunker, MPH MS, As-sociate, Health Systems

Nadine Caron, MD MPH, Associ-ate, Health Systems, Center forAmerican Indian Health

Andrea N. Deluca,MHS, Research Asso-ciate, Health Systems

Amanda Driscoll, MHS, ResearchAssociate, Health Systems

Maria Karla Lin Eng, DrPH, Associ-ate, Health Systems

David M. Faso, MPH, HS, Associ-ate

Associate Professor Harold P.Lehmann, MD, PhD, joint appoint-ment, Health Systems

Katherine C. Lin, MHS, Associate,GDEC

Li Liu, PhD MHS, GDEC-IIP, Assis-tant Scientist

Rose Reis, BA,Research Associate,Health Systems

Jennifer Harris Requejo, PhDMHS, Assistant Scientist, Health Sys-tems, Institute for International Pro-grams

Stephanie A. Skavenski, MPHMSW, Associate, Health Systems

new Faculty

Assistant Professor Sonal Singh,MBBS, MPH, joint appointmentHealth Systems

Gail Dana-Socco, PhD MPH, Asso-ciate, Health Systems

Assistant Professor Kent A. Stevens,MD, joint appointment, Health Sys-tems

Aimme Summers, MHS, ResearchAssociate, Health Systems

Pablo Yori, RN,MPH, ResearchAssociate, GDEC

new Staff Malia Allen, Research Program Assis-tant II, Center for Immunization Re-search (CIR)Shannon Barkley, Research Assistant,Health SystemsJamila Batts, Senior Research Nurse,CIRTenise Bell, Budget Analyst, HumanNutrition Kimberly Boucher,Senior ResearchNurse, CIR

Ian Craig, Research Assistant, GDECJulia David,Research Assistant,Institute for Interna-tional Programs(IIP)

Racine Harris, Research Program As-sistant II, CIRJanet Hurd, Senior Research Nurse,CIR

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009 Page 9

News & HighlightsEsther Johnston, Research Assistant,Health Systems

Jamie Lok, SeniorResearch ProgramCoordinator II, CIR

Carrie Martin, Senior Research As-sistant, Human Nutrition

Fatuma Mawanda, Research Tech-nologist, Global Disease Epidemiol-ogy and Control

Jacqueline Moore-Williams, Re-search Program Assistant, HumanNutrition

Shaina Norvell-Cold, AdministrativeCoordinator, HealthSystems

Ashley Pickett,AdministrativeCoordinator, HealthSystems

Daesha Ramachandran, ResearchAssistant, Global Disease Epidemiol-ogy and Control

Megan Rowan, Research ProgramCoordinator, Human Nutrition

Anusha Sathyanarayan,Administrative Coordinator, CIR

Stacey Schultz, Research Assistant,Health Systems

new Staff

Fatima Sharif, Research Assistant,Health Systems

John Simkins, Re-search Service Ana-lyst, Health Systems

Eeva J. SallinenSimard, Budget Ana-lyst, Institute for In-ternational Programs(IIP)

Elizabeth Yanik, Research Assistant,GDEC

WWW.CherG.orGChild epidemiology

reference Group (CherG) CHERG’s mandate is to developand deploy new and improved ev-idence on the causes and determi-nants of maternal, neonatal andchild morbidity and mortality, onintervention coverage, and on theeffectiveness of interventions to in-form and influence global prioritiesand programs.

WWW.JhSph.eDu/IIruInternational Injury

research unit (IIru)e International Injury ResearchUnit (IIRU), formed by a committedgroup of faculty from the Depart-ment of International Health, seeksto understand the burden of injuriesand develop affordable means of in-jury reduction in underserved popu-lations of the world through adoptinga health systems approach to injuryprevention, especially in low- andmiddle-income countries.

New Websites

new Career Ladder

www.globalhealthcareerladder.org/

Look for jobs and funding

post your job openings

by the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health

www.hopkinsglobalhealth.org/

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009Page 10

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009 Page 11

Feast for the Future, with honorary host Robert Redford, kicked off anew initiative to fight hunger and malnutrition among Native Americanpopulations. e prestigious Niman Fine Art Gallery provided the

backdrop for the evening of traditional food, entertainment, and reflection.e gallery—owned by internationally renowned artist Dan Namingha(Hopi) and his wife Frances (Ohkay Owinghe)—generously donated a por-tion of the art sales to the cause. Mr. and Mrs. Namingha co-chaired thefundraiser along with Rick and Beth Schnieders, and Sibylle Szaggars. Fora look at Mr. Namingha’s work, visit: http://www.namingha.com.

e Department’s Olivia Sloan, a native of Santa Fe, organized the event inpartnership with the Namingha family, Share Our Strength and a local plan-

robert reDForDhoStS FunDraISer For

Center For AmerICAn InDIAn heALth

What can or should researchers do if a child enrolled in astudy is severely malnourished? Beyond providing forthe safety of a subject, what obligation does a commu-

nity-based researcher have? Assistant Professor Maria Merritt wasrecently named a Greenwall Faculty Scholar in Bioethics forher innovative work in this area. e Greenwall Faculty ScholarsProgram supports original research and is open to those in a va-riety of fields—including medicine, law, humanities, and publichealth—who study ethical issues related to the life sciences. eProgram is highly competitive, and Dr. Merritt first had to passthrough an internal selection process to become the single JohnsHopkins University nominee allowed by the Greenwall Founda-tion for later stages of nationwide competition.

Dr. Merritt joined the Health Systems Program in 2006 and is acore faculty member of the Berman Institute of Bioethics. Sheis also one the first bioethicists to systematically address the ob-ligations of community-based public health researchers. As aGreenwall Faculty Scholar, Merritt will be able to continue her pi-oneering work exploring the ethical dilemmas that can arise in in-ternational settings. She also seeks to contribute to thedevelopment of practical ethical guidelines through a collabora-tive process with researchers, sponsors, and other experts inbioethics.

While extensive bioethical scholarship exists for clinic-based re-search, much public health research in developing countries takesplace in homes and communities, where non-medical study staffoften work directly with research subjects. is creates situationsvery distinct from clinic-based research. Merritt’s winning pro-posal entitled, Researchers’ Obligations in Community-Based Re-search: Resolving Dilemmas of Care, focuses on thesecommunity-based settings that are familiar to faculty and stu-dents in the Department.

As both a faculty member of International Health and theBerman Institute, Merritt is uniquely positioned to explore thisrelatively uncharted territory. She has already made significant

Assistant Professor Maria Merritt

Advancing the Study of Community-Based Research Ethics

progress in articulating some of the special issues faced by globalhealth researchers. For instance, her commentary, “Ancillary Carefor Public Health Research in Developing Countries,” co-au-thored with Associate Professor Adnan Hyder, appears in theJuly 22 issue of JAMA (2009;302(4):429-431). And her paper,“Ancillary Care in Community-Based Public Health Interven-tion Research,” with Assistant Professors Luke Mullany andHolly Taylor, has been accepted for publication in AmericanJournal of Public Health.

While her training is in moral philosophy, Merritt is especiallyconcerned with helping to develop guidelines that are relevant inreal-world settings. Currently, she sits on the School’s Institu-tional Review Board (IRB) where many community-based in-ternational research protocols are reviewed. She also teaches thecourse “Ethics of Public Health Practice in Developing Coun-tries.” Merritt locates her work at the intersection of bioethics,moral philosophy, and public health research, and believes herties to public health research bring an added dimension to fieldsof scholarship that tend to be abstract.

e study of community-based research ethics is truly in its in-fancy, which makes it both an exciting and daunting venture forDr. Merritt. Past and ongoing collaborations with faculty in theDepartment have been invaluable to her work. She looks forwardto continuing that dialogue with researchers, whose input will beessential to the development of practical guidelines for address-ing ethical concerns in the field.

Robert Redford and his wife Sybille Szaggars discussingtheir commitment to healthy Native communities.

Photo credit: Will Kirk

THE GLOBE | Fall 2009Page 12

The Globe Fall 2009

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School ofPublic HealthDepartment of International Health615 N. Wolfe StreetBaltimore, MD 21205410-955-3734www.jhsph.edu/dept/IH

Robert Black, ChairAssociate Chairs:James Tielsch, Academic ProgramsJoanne Katz, Director, Global DiseaseEpidemiology and ControlDavid Peters, Director, Health Systems Keith West, Jr., Director, Human Nutrition Peter Winch, Director, Social and BehavioralInterventions

Writer/Designer, Brandon Howard

robert redford hosts Center for American Indian health Fundraiser (continued from previous page)

DEPARTMENT and ACADEMIC CALENDAR

monday, october 262nd term classes start

monday, october 26 –Friday, november 6ADD/DROP Period

tuesday, november 24Registration for 3rd term begins

tuesday, December 22Last day of classes 2nd term

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ning committee. As part of the theme, they in-vited four celebrated chefs from the area to createdishes inspired by American Indian and South-west culinary traditions. A live and silent auctionincluding culinary experiences, sports memora-bilia and local packages was also held during thedinner. e evening was the first event sponsoredby the new partnership between the Center forAmerican Indian Health, Share Our Strength,and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA).Each organization is committed to reducinghunger and empowering communities to developlocal solutions to improve the health of its mem-bers.

Since its founding, the Center for American In-dian Health has been partnering with South-western tribes to improve health status throughbuilding capacity and training leaders. e Cen-ter’s work over the years has brought to light the vast range ofnutritional challenges, including hunger facing families andyoung people in these communities. As honorary host, RobertRedford explained:

Today, the original and best stewards of North America aresuffering from nutrition-related sickness and death, includ-ing hunger, diabetes, and obesity. e fate of Native Amer-icans is prophetic for all Americans. Feast for the Future willlaunch a national initiative to reestablish traditional diets,optimal nutrition and active lifestyles—building on culturalpractices cherished by Native communities.

Donations from the evening are going directly into develop-ing pilot programs to help combat these pressing problems.Examples of new programs include the following:

• Community Visioning Project, a community-driven initia-tive to promote broad-based nutrition and healthy foods access

• Menu for Life, to prevent hunger and food insecurity, withtargeted outreach to the most vulnerable Native families withyoung children

• School Gardening and Farmer Outreach Project, to pro-mote school-, family-, and community-based programming toteach children and families to grow, eat and distribute healthyfoods

Dr. Santosham described the event as an unqualified success. Headded that Mr. Redford—or Bob, as Dr. Santosham now callshim—personally expressed his commitment to the cause and theCenter. You can read more details about the successful dinner andfundraiser in the Santa Fe art magazine, Trend:http://santafetrend.com/pages/articles/V102/flash2.html

From left to right: Jackie Shearer (NFLPA), Jocelyn Stewart, Allison Barlow (CAIH),Robert Redford, Sybille Szaggars, Olivia Sloan (CAIH), Nicole Neault (CAIH), Nicole Pare(CAIH), Ventura Lovato (CAIH), Frances Namingha, Mathu Santosham, Dan Namingha