December 20, 2012
 
“To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science,” Albert Einstein wrote.
 
Leaders at Gillings School of Global Public Health at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill have aimed for those new possibilities and perspectives through the School’s SPH2020, which supports learning environments that are innovative, interdisciplinary, responsive to issues of diversity and inclusion, and which prepare students to solve a range of significant public health problems in domestic and global settings.”In November, our academic affairs office solicited ideas for new courses that would meet SPH2020 criteria,” said Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of nutrition and of epidemiology at the School. “After a proposal review process by the academic programs committee and the senior leadership, the School is pleased to announce approximately $70,000 in funding for six new or revamped courses that will be taught in spring 2013 and the following academic year.”
 
The Teaching Innovations Awards were presented to:
 
Dr. Hobbs

Dr. Hobbs
Dr. Ramaswamy

Dr. Ramaswamy

Rohit Ramaswamy, PhD, clinical associate professor in the Public Health Leadership Program; Sue Hobbs, DrPH Anita Farel, DrPH, professor of maternal and child health; and Kurt Ribisl, PhD, for a “Gillings Global Health Implementation Lab.” This new course will be a graduate-level, interdisciplinary, field-based course in which teams of students apply their knowledge and experience to design and implement systematic solutions to complex public health problems around the world and in North Carolina and to build problem-solving and implementation capacity in areas most in need of support. In addition to providing students with valuable field experience, a key objective of the lab will be to teach about generalizable insights and best implementation practices. Encouraging sustainability through systematic documentation of solutions, development of easy-to-use implementation toolkits and online resources also will be an important component of course activities. Funds will be used to develop the content and to plan two pilot field trips, one global and the other local.

 
Dr. Ammerman

Dr. Ammerman
Dr. Pomp

Dr. Pomp

Alice Ammerman, DrPH,

and Daniel Pomp, PhD, nutrition professors, for a course in “Public Health Entrepreneurship” (NUTR 780/HPM 780), to be taught in spring 2013, on Mondays from 5 to 8 p.m. in 228 Rosenau Hall. Students will learn basic concepts underlying commercial and social entrepreneurship applied to public health, including guest lectures by Don Holzworth, Joe DeSimone, Holden Thorp, Don Rose (http://tracs.unc.edu/carolina-kickstart) and Buck Goldstein. Funds will be used to redesign the course to include its adaptation for a large class, videotaping course sessions for online learning and future courses, and the addition of a “Wicked Problems” component, which this year will focus on a global water challenge. Ammerman also directs the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

Dr. Carney

Dr. Carney

Timothy Jay Carney, PhD, MPH, MBA, cancer health disparities postdoctoral fellow in nutrition who will join the health policy and management faculty, for the course, “Public Health Informatics: Diagnosis and Design of Public Health Intelligence,” to be offered during the 2013-2014 academic year. Students will learn about public health information resources and development of information technology applications. The course will incorporate both multidisciplinary and systems science views of public health. Students will be asked to design a model for a well-functioning U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Funds will be used to hire a teaching assistant for content development.

 
 
 
Ms. Golden

Ms. Golden
Dr. Ribisl

Dr. Ribisl

Shelley Golden, MPH

, lecturer in health behavior, with co-instructors Sue Hobbs, DrPH, associate professor of health policy and management and of nutrition, Deborah Tate, PhD, associate professor of health behavior and of nutrition, and Kurt Ribisl, PhD, professor of health behavior, for a course in “Smoking, Diet and Physical Activity: Promoting Health Behaviors to Improve Population Health,” to be taught in fall 2013. The course will be an alternative section of the public health core course HBHE 600 and will focus on smoking, diet and physical activity as behavioral risk factors. For students interested in these topics, this section will provide a behavioral foundation for careers in obesity and cancer prevention. Funding will be used to plan activities that enhance student-instructor interaction, foster collaborative learning and facilitate student understanding of real-world issues.

Dr. Porto

Dr. Porto
Mr. Levy

Mr. Levy

James Porto Jr., PhD, clinical assistant professor of health policy and management and Jay S. Levy, adjunct lecturer in health policy and management, for “FranklinStateSim: An Interdisciplinary Learning Game.” This simulation project supports The Department of Health Policy and Management’s executive master’s program. Students attend a two-day workshop at the end of term, during which they participate in an integrated simulation on concepts learned that term. Funds will be used to further develop databases, rules and simulation structures to construct a rich gaming environment that will generate running simulations with other departments in the School.

Ms. Roggenkamp

Ms. Roggenkamp

Kathy Roggenkamp, MA, biostatistics instructor, for the course, “Data Management in Clinical and Public Health Research” (BIOS 613). Funds will be used to redesign course content so as to introduce students to terminology and concepts underlying research data management; describe and provide experiences with data management activities accompanying each stage of a Phase IV clinical trial or large-scale epidemiological study; prepare students conceptually and technically to contribute to such studies; and include targeted e-lectures to cover technical topics. The new course will appeal to students in biostatistics, epidemiology, maternal and child health, nutrition, health behavior and others who expect to be in a position of responsibility on large study teams or in governmental organizations.

 
 
For more information about these courses, contact the instructors. For more information about the Teaching Innovations Awards, email Anna Maria Siega-Riz at am_siegariz@unc.edu.

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UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.

 

 

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