Presidential Pop-In, Aging Lecture, Clothing Swap Mark Founders Day at YSPH

The Yale School of Public Health opened its doors Wednesday to the larger Yale community on the 314th anniversary of the university’s founding.

The school’s Founders Day activities featured a “pop-in” visit from President Peter Salovey, a centennial Dean’s Lecture by Jay Magaziner and a sustainable clothing swap organized by the Student Association of Yale Public Health.

“It always feels like a homecoming to come to LEPH,” said Salovey as he greeted students, staff, faculty and many collaborators from his days as a researcher. Salovey, the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology and Professor of Sociology, holds a secondary appointment in epidemiology and was one of the founders of CIRA, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale.

In his brief remarks, he called attention to the University’s recently released roadmap for the years ahead and its goals to be a top research university that truly cares about teaching and learning; to share its “unsurpassed” humanities and arts treasures with the world; and to be a genuine community. While proud of the many renovation and building projects that are in the works on campus, Salovey said, “It’s not just buildings; it’s how we create opportunities to get out and take advantage of this amazing community, great colleagues and inspirers.”

Magaziner, Ph.D., M.S.Hyg., addressed the issue of hip fractures to a joint audience from the School of Public Health and Yale Program on Aging. An award winning researcher, Magaziner’s work over the last 30 years has built a body of descriptive epidemiologic understanding of the magnitude and consequences of hip fractures in older adults. Worldwide, there are more than 3.9 million cases each year. In the United States alone, there are nearly 300,000 thousand fractures that require hospitalization of adults over the age of 65. Most patients do not regain full functionality after hip fractures, and it is one of the top 10 types of events that precipitate disability in older adults.

The Baltimore Hip Studies, which Magaziner directs, have enrolled over 4,000 patients and 25 area hospitals into their research over the last 30 years. They have examined physiological changes that accompany hip fractures (such as inflammation, bone loss, loss of muscle, changes in mobility, gait and balance, cognitive problems and depression) as well as patterns in recovery and interventions.

“There is no magic bullet for recovery interventions and their timing,” said Magaziner, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Patients present their own unique blend of issues. “We need multi-disciplinary interventions that treat a whole person.” His current work focuses on such interventions and how to evaluate out their effectiveness when conditions such as dementia pose a barrier to retention of physical or occupational therapy efforts.

To cap Founder’s Day, School of Public Health students hosted a sustainable clothing swap and donation drive on the quad outside the School of Medicine. Their goal was to increase awareness of the resources that are used in the production of clothing. In 2009, the world used 3 trillion gallons of fresh water to produce 60 billion kilograms of fabric. It takes 700 gallons of water and 1.2 pounds of fossil fuels to make, produce and transport just one cotton T-shirt. Clothing items left over from Wednesday’s swap are being donated to area homeless and refugee shelters.

The Yale School of Public Health is celebrating its centennial through the end of 2015. Upcoming events include the October 15 Milbank Lecture with Ana Diez Roux, dean of the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University; and the October 23 C.-E. A. Winslow Award and Lecture with Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. For more information on the School’s centennial events visit: https://publichealth.yale.edu/about/history/.