Faculty and Projects
Kim
Blankenship, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist, Division of Chronic
Disease Epidemiology
Working on structural interventions in HIV
prevention as co-principal investigator with Alycia Santilli, M.S.W.,
on a Center
for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) Community Research Partnership
Program project exploring, as a secondary prevention intervention,
supportive housing for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Linda Degutis, Dr.PH., MSN Associate Professor of Surgery (Emergency
Medicine) and Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences
Director
of the newly established Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness.
Research focuses on educational strategies in the area of disaster preparedness,
as well as injury and violence prevention interventions.
Serves as Chair
of the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association (APHA)
and is an active member of the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services
Section of APHA. Other activities include membership on the Healthy People
2010 Task Force of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and the Board
of Directors of the American Trauma Society. Served on the Steering Committee
for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Acute Care Research
Agenda development, leading the workgroup on disaster preparedness. Co-chairs
the workgroup on Community Preparedness and Response as part of the Core
Team for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agency-wide
research agenda development process.
Research Director for the Section of
Emergency Medicine and is Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing at
Yale.
Durland Fish, Ph.D., Professor
of Epidemiology, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Research
on deer tick control for Lyme disease prevention involves a multi-center
trial of an insecticidal self-treatment device for white-tailed deer
developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The six-year study has
so far shown a 71% reduction in the deer tick population in communities
with treatment devices, compared to untreated controls. This translates
to an equivalent 71% reduction in Lyme disease risk for residents in treated
communities.
Using satellite imagery to predict mosquito species composition and
abundance emanating from Connecticut's wetlands. This information, combined
with measures of West Nile virus activity from the Connecticut Department
of Health (human cases, dead birds, infected mosquitoes) will provide local
communities with an assessment of West Nile virus risk for implementing disease
prevention measures (mosquito spraying, personal protection measures). Land-based
mosquito surveillance data cannot be available for all 169 towns in Connecticut,
each of which must make intervention decisions.
Developing a spatial model for Lyme disease risk based upon the local density
of deer tick vectors and genotypes of the Lyme disease spirochete carried
by these ticks. The model will predict Lyme disease risk throughout the
range of the deer tick in the U.S. and will help improve the accuracy
of clinical Lyme disease diagnosis by physicians, as well as facilitate
more precise targeting of Lyme disease prevention measures by local health
agencies.
Lauretta
Grau, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist, Division of Epidemiology
of Microbial Diseases
Conducting multisite, longitudinal evaluations
of syringe exchange programs, and HIV and Hepatitis C prevention
among injection drug users, with particular focus on female and minority populations.
Serving as co-principal investigator with Subasree Srinivasan, M.D., researching
new HIV infections among people over 50 in Fair Haven and Bridgeport,
Connecticut.
Nora Groce,
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Public Health, Division of Global
Health
Overseeing a project on the impact of the AIDS epidemic
on individuals with pre-existing physical, sensory, intellectual
and mental health disabilities. In addition to publishing and conducting
a series of field studies, the project runs a website based
at CIRA that provides a central
resource for those working on HIV/AIDS and disability issues. Recently,
Dr. Groce has consulted with grassroots and national AIDS and disability
advocacy projects in 27 countries on the practical implementation of inclusive
AIDS outreach efforts, and traveled widely to present her findings to public
health practitioners and disability advocates.
Chairing the Expert Consultation Panel
on Violence Against Disabled Children for UNICEF. The panel's
recommendations will be part of the forthcoming United Nations Secretary
General's Study on Violence Against Children, a collaboration between the
UN Secretariat, UNICEF and the World Health Organization, due to be issued
early in 2006.
Serving, with Laura Minor, as co-principal investigator on
a CIRA
Community Research Partnership Program designed to improve sexual
communication between parents and their deaf teens at the American
School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Connecticut.
James L. Hadler,
M.D., M.P.H., Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Epidemiology
of Microbial Diseases
State Epidemiologist and Director of
the Connecticut Department of Public Health's Division of Infectious
Diseases. This division works to reduce the occurrence of preventable
diseases in Connecticut through disease surveillance, case and
outbreak investigation and control, screening, immunization, preventive
therapy, outreach, case management, and professional and public
education.
Principal investigator, Emerging Infections Program, a collaborative
program between the Connecticut Department of Public Health and
the Yale School of Public Health, and principal investigator on the CDC/State
of Connecticut Bioterrorism (BT) Cooperative Agreement, providing
funding for BT aspects of the CT Partnership Projects. (see entry for Elaine
Anderson above)
Course lecturer in the Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases course,
Investigation of Disease Outbreaks.
Kari Hartwig,
Dr.PH., Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Global Health
Conducting
monitoring and evaluation activities in five countries in southern
Africa as part of Bristol Myers Squibb's Secure the Future project.
Project activities, including evaluation training presentations, mentoring
presentations, and workshops, have enabled participants to initiate
change in their own organizations.
Mentoring scholars from the Circle of Concerned
African Women Theologians as part of a joint CIRA-Divinity
School initiative on HIV/AIDS research projects. Scholars are able to
conduct action research with direct implications for their home communities
and churches by reducing stigma, improving HIV prevention service delivery
addressing rooted cultural belief systems, and strengthening a compassionate
response to those living with AIDS.
Participating in the Global Health
Division's work with Oxford Health
Alliance's Community Action to Prevent Chronic Disease (CAPCoD) initiative
to support the development of community-based chronic disease research
intervention demonstration projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America and
Eastern Europe. The group will provide on-going technical assistance in
research design and assure community involvement and transfer of knowledge
in the designs.
Working with the Greater New Haven Partnership for a Healthy
Community to document the increased challenges in obtaining access
to specialty care for the uninsured and publicly insured in the New Haven
area. The results will be used to advocate for policy changes at the state
level and increased networking among local providers.
Serving as co-principal
investigator for a demonstration project to design a social marketing
campaign on HIV prevention messages with urban African-American and Hispanic
youth.
Serving, through the Yale-Griffin
Prevention Center (PRC), as co-investigator in a 9-agency consortium
led by Community Campus Partnerships for Health to identify successful
characteristics of institutional-community partnerships. The group
is currently developing a training curriculum in community-based participatory
research partnership development and maintenance, and has conducted
several demonstration trainings at national and international conferences.
Acting as co-investigator with PRC and
Yale University School of Nursing colleagues on a community-based participatory
research diabetes prevention project among African-Americans in New Haven
working through local churches. Members of representative church congregations
have been trained as community health advisors to assist peers and community
members in identifying early symptoms of the disease and acting as a
catalyst for change in diet and exercise.
Providing training and advice
to the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program at Yale University
School of Medicine and the Griffin Hospital Preventive Medicine program
in community-based participatory research, and linking practice, research
and training with community based organizations and learning to work with
community partners in the identification of community health problems and
possible solutions.
Robert Heimer,
Ph.D., Associate Professor, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial
Diseases
Principal investigator and co-principal investigator
on several projects doing field-based prevention work concentrated
on the scientific evaluation of prevention programs serving drug users,
including syringe exchange, hepatitis vaccination, and overdose prevention
programs.
Jeannette
Ickovics, Ph.D., Professor, Division of Chronic Disease
Epidemiology and Director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Program
Leads
the Connecticut
Women's Health Project, which is committed to HIV/STD prevention
and promoting reproductive health among at-risk women.
Serving as principal
investigator on a prospective study of HIV risk among pregnant teens.
David Katz,
M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor Adjunct in Public Health Practice
Partners
Reducing Effects of Diabetes: Initiatives Through Collaboration & Teamwork
(PREDICT), a project of the Yale-Griffin
Prevention Research Center (PRC), is a 3-phase, highly participatory
intervention dedicated to sustainable reductions in diabetes, its complications,
and related health disparities in the African-American communities
in New Haven and Bridgeport. Phase I was dedicated to formative
research, Phase II applied the findings of Phase I to design and implement
tailored community interventions in New Haven, with Bridgeport serving
as the control site, and in Phase III, the PREDICT partners will identify
suitable means for sustaining, institutionalizing, and disseminating
effective intervention components/strategies.
Wellness Initiative for Improved Tomorrows (WINFIT) is an employee
wellness initiative developed through joint collaboration between the PRC and
Griffin Hospital. The primary objective is to develop a comprehensive initiative
that incorporates intervention components, focusing primarily on physical
activity and nutrition, designed to educate employees and to provide a social
and physical environment supportive of adoption of healthy behaviors.
Kaveh
Khoshnood, Ph.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology
of Microbial Diseases
Working on control of tuberculosis among
Russian soon-to-be and released prisoners in the city of St.
Petersburg in partnership with the Medical Department of Prison Administration,
the City TB Center, St. Petersburg State University and the Biomedical
Center.
Trace
Kershaw, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Chronic Disease
Epidemiology
Serving, with Mark Bond-Webster, as co-principal
investigator on a CIRA
Community Research Partnership Program exploring HIV/sexually transmitted
infection (STI) prevention with men in virtual public sex environments.
Serving as principal investigator on a community-based HIV/STI intervention
for pregnant women in Haiti.
Linda Marc, Sc.D., M.P.H., Lecturer in Public Health Practice
Principal Investigator on a grant that will document Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) recruitment, retention, promotion and procedures, with regard to faculty from underrepresented minorities (URMs). Results will be used to compare the YSPH efforts to best practices nationwide, as documented in the literature and a review of practices at comparable institutions. This research effort is intended to develop new and improved practices and to establish guidelines and resources for URM faculty, serving as a national model. It is expected that (1) URM faculty will enrich the clinical and research education, for both faculty and students, as it relates to minority health issues and special populations; and (2) research generated by URM investigators will contribute to disease prevention, health promotion and the elimination of
health disparities which disproportionately impacts the underserved populations (i.e., lower socioeconomic status, immigrant, multilingual and multiethnic populations). Dr. Marc initiated this study with the Emerging Majority Affairs Committee (EMAC), a subcommittee instituted by the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health. She serves as an EMAC Executive Member and chairs the EMAC Scientific and Faculty Recruitment Subcommittees.
Gary Moore, Dr.PH., Associate Clinical Professor in Public Health
Practice
Develops distance learning curricula for the Connecticut
Partnership for Public Health Workforce Development (see entry for
Elaine Anderson above). Courses
developed and offered recently include Emergency Preparedness Basics, Fundamentals
of Crisis and Emergency Risk Management, Basic Epidemiology for Public
Health, Emergency Preparedness for Public Health Nurses, and Disaster
Preparedness for School Nurses.
Leonard Munstermann, Ph.D., Senior
Research Scientist, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Principal
investigator on a grant, centered at Yale's Peabody Museum,
that is a middle school curriculum development program for health-related
science. Current focus is on West Nile virus and Lyme disease.
Linda
Niccolai, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Division of Epidemiology
of Microbial Diseases
Working with the Connecticut Department
of Public Health's Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (STD) Control Program providing analytical support
to various projects that use existing health department data. To
date, the partnership has performed a descriptive epidemiologic
and geospatial analysis of syphilis cases in Connecticut, and has
analyzed an electronic medical record database from public STD
clinics, producing information that is used by the health department
to target resources and prevention efforts for STD control.
Serving as principal investigator
on a project exploring sexual partnership characteristics, patterns,
and condom use among persons infected with HIV.
Serving as co-principal
investigator with Robina Albrandt, L.C.S.W., M.P.H., on a project developing
a peer to peer HIV prevention intervention for mature women.
Marie Roberto, Dr.PH., Assistant
Clinical Professor of Epidemiology, Division of Environmental
Health Sciences
Dr. Roberto is project manager for the Connecticut
Partnership for Public Health Workforce Development (see entry
for Elaine Anderson above).
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