Fall 2013 ; Volume 7, Number 2

Public Health Connections from the Last Frontier

MPH Alumni Newsletter

Check out alumni profiles and visit the MPH web site: http://health.uaa.alaska.edu/mph/

Faculty Profile: Melissa Kemberling, PhD, MPHAffiliate faculty member Dr. Melissa Kemberling has been associated with UAA since 1999 when she taught sociology courses as a visiting assis-tant professor in the Department of Sociology. Currently, Dr. Kemberling provides support and/or resources to MPH students. “I love working informally with students to help share what I know about public health career paths and research methodolo-gy for public health projects.” Dr. Kemberling pursued her MPH in Maternal and Child health after working at Boston City Hospital with babies who were born HIV positive, exposed to drugs, and/or premature. “I realized that doing physical therapy with these children had a limited impact, but if I could help design programs to help their moth-ers get the care they needed and have

better outcomes for their infants, that would create a larger impact.” After acquiring a public health degree with research and public health practice skills, Dr. Kember-ling found herself interested in the “context” surrounding public health issues. “The study of sociology provided me with this context.” Dr. Kemberling earned an MPH at Columbia University and an MA and PhD in Sociology from Tulane University. “I was fascinated with the complex sociological dynamics at play in the battle between industry and residents over the siting of a PVC factory. This struggle dealt with the same type of dynamics we see in health equity issues.” Continued p. 2

MPH Alumni Association:Dan Lien, President (‘07)Ann Potempa, Vice-President (‘09)Amanda Walch, Secretary (‘08)Tammy Zulz (‘07)Lisa McGuire (’08)Wendy Parsons (‘12)

Dept. of Health Sciences3211 Providence DriveAnchorage, Alaska 99508Phone: 907-786-6565Fax: 907-786-6572mph@uaa.alaska.edu

Don’t Miss the UArctic Inaugural Food Summit! The 8th Circumpolar Agricultural Conference and University of the Arctic Inaugural Food Summit will be held September 29 - October 3, 2013 at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. The theme is “Advancing food security and sustainable agriculture in the circumpolar north; Building an in-tegrated vision, creating a process for sustainable food security in northern communities.” This event was organized by the Circumpolar Agricultural Associa-

tion, the University of the Arctic, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks and will bring together leaders in the health, agriculture, and food security fields to discuss northern agricultural issues and challenges. With its rich soils and long sum-mer sunny days, the circumpolar north could become a more produc-tive area for the world’s food grains and horticultural crops. This confer-ence will address this topic, allowing residents and professionals of north-ern areas to network and organize themselves for action.

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Alumni Profile: Megan Tompkins

Megan Tompkins recently completed her thesis by partnering with the Alaska Sudan Medical Project (ASMP) to conduct research guiding their program devel-opment. Her thesis explored the water usage habits and attitudes of residents of the village of Old Fangak, South Sudan. This project involved collaborating with leadership of a non-governmental organi-zation, exploring research gaps and op-portunities, and traveling to Old Fangak to administer a survey to village residents. The results indicated that the wells were an accepted source of water but were not utilized by all due to the significant time and effort required to travel to the limit-

ed number of wells and wait in line to obtain clean water. Village residents demonstrated strong belief in the negative health effects that resulted from drinking water from the nearby branch of the Nile River. Results of this research have been shared with the board of ASMP and have the potential to guide project planning and strategic infra-structure development of water resources. Megan’s experiences demonstrated the wide range of possibilities that exist within the UAA MPH program to partner with global health focused agencies while completing degree requirements. To learn more about her thesis and practicum expe-rience, please contact Megan at mltompkins@uaa.alaska.edu.

Faculty Profile (cont. from front page)In April 2012, Dr. Kemberling began work-ing at the Mat-Su Health Foundation (MSHF) as the Director of Program Planning and Evaluation. She has been leading a commu-nity health needs assessment in the Mat-Su Borough. This effort includes starting a data repository on the MSHF website of Mat-Su specific health data. The MSHF is the official business name of Valley Hospital Associa-tion, Inc., which shares ownership in Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. MSHF invests its assets into charitable works that improve the health and wellness of Alaskans living in Mat-Su. “We are transitioning to a more

focused approach to grant-making – one that focuses on the priority health issues for Mat-Su.” These approaches include facilitating healthy and independent seniors, promoting healthy minds, and raising resilient children. “I help design our programming approach and also evaluate our efforts to make a dif-ference in the health of the population in the Mat-Su Borough.” Additionally, the MSHF is considering starting an internship program that would accept graduate students such as those in the UAA MPH program. When not working, Dr. Kemberling enjoys cooking, running, hiking, gardening, and raising her two daughters, ages 9 and 11 years.C

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Alumni Profile: Amy Hockenberry

Amy Hockenberry defended her thesis in May 2013 and plans to graduate in August 2013. She entered the MPH program in early 2009 while living in Homer and working as a chiropractor’s assistant. She wanted to learn more about health and nutrition, as well as broaden her scope to include popu-lation-level health. Amy now lives in Bellingham, Wash-ington and works as a prevention coalition coordinator for a nonprofit organization. She focuses on substance abuse prevention, prevention of gang involvement, and suicide prevention among youths. Amy’s thesis focused on youth health. She received Institutional Review Board permission to add a number of questions to a State of Washington youth survey that was given to an entire middle school pop-

ulation in Bellingham. Her questions focused on the students’ experiences with adverse childhood events, often called ACEs, and protective factors in their life. Amy’s data showed that students with more adverse childhood events were more likely to use alcohol, marijuana, or others drugs in the 30 days prior to the survey. Students who had protective factors – including an adult to talk to, family connectedness, and a commitment of service to others in the past 12 months – had lower rates of drug and alcohol use, even if they had experienced a high number of adverse childhood events. Amy plans to stay in Bellingham for now. She would also like to start a PhD program.

Food Summit (cont. from front page)MPH students Liza Root and Shaina Seid-ner, and recent alumni Carol McCarty, are scheduled to attend. Liza Root is involved in a GIS mapping of local food access points in correlation with demographic characteristics project. Carol McCarty is involved in a food security project on the development and assessment of school gardening and educa-tional materials. Carol and Shaina will also be presenting posters at the summit. Professor Liz Snyder will be presenting two posters. One is an overview of MPH and undergrad student projects. “The attention that food security is receiving is exciting and we are looking forward to presenting our own findings and learning about the work of others at the food summit,” said Dr. Snyder. The second poster is on a project funded by Rasmuson Foundation that she just conclud-ed in partnership with Shannon Donovan, PhD, UAA, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, about understanding current food security needs, challenges, and opportunities in Alaska.

Dr. Snyder reports that food security is a growing important topic of interest among MPH students, and include the following projects: • Ryan McWilliams is developing a safe

urban gardening guidebook, • Shaina Seidner is developing a business

plan for a mobile local food market, and • Melissa Wilson is involved in mapping

various food security research project activities.

For more information about the summit, visit: http://www.uaf.edu/cac/about-the-conference/.C

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MPH Alumni Newsletter

Coordinator’s CornerWhat an amazing summer, with record-setting sun-ny days! As the fireweed blooms, we look forward to a productive semester. Want to catch up on circumpolar health? The proceedings from the Inter-

national Congress on Circumpolar Health, held in Fairbanks last August, have just been published on-line at: http://www.circumpo-larhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch Save the date for the World Congress of Epidemiology in Anchorage August 17-24, 2014. Dr. Betty Monsour, Executive Chair, leads this conference with an international team of UAA MPH faculty and others. The theme is “Global Epidemiology in a Chang-ing Environment: The Circumpolar Perspec-tive.” For more information, visit: http://www.epidemiology2014.com/ As many of you know, Dr. Monsour plans to retire in 2014, so we have launched

a national search for a new faculty member. We are advertising widely and hope to bring finalists to campus in Spring 2014 with the goal of hiring the next excellent public health faculty member by Summer 2014. Thank you to the students, alumni, and faculty who will staff our APHA booth this November in Boston. http://www.apha.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting/ We are actively engaged in self-study to maintain our Council for Education in Public Health (CEPH) accreditation, with our site visit scheduled for September 2014. We are planning several forums and opportuni-ties for you and others to provide feedback and advice on how we can best continue to support ”frontiers of excellence in public health.” Drop a line when you get a chance. We love to hear from you.Rhonda M. Johnson, DrPH, MPH, FNPMPH Program CoordinatorDepartment Chair, Health SciencesRhonda.Johnson@uaa.alaska.edu907-786-6545 C

“Congratulations on your ten year anniversary of the Mas-ters in Public Health program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. I know this program’s success is essen-tial for training public health professionals in Alaska. Your program provides leadership and service to those with the desire to enter health services. Programs such as yours greatly benefits not only those practicing public health, but also our community who receive these services from well-educated alumni. I am positive your program has contributed to educating our next generation of health professionals with your quality standards. Again, congratulations to your program in your ten year anniversary. I hope to see many more successes in the future.”-US Senator Mark Begich

Congratulations to Dr. Liz Snyder on the birth of baby boy Deacon Webb Snyder, born on 7/23/13 and weigh-ing 7 lbs 6 oz. Deacon joins two-year-old big brother Finn.

Save the Date!The MPH Alumni Meet and Greet has been set for Monday, December 9, 2013. More details to come. The MPH Symposium will take place December 9-10, 2013.