May 1, 2023
Whether you’re local or global, student or alumni, the Abstract’s weekly news digest will help you stay in the loop with our amazing Gillings School community.
De Marco named to Delta Omega Honorary Society
Dr. Molly De Marco
Congratulations to Molly De Marco, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of nutrition, who was recently named to the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health!
The Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health was founded in 1924 at Johns Hopkins University within the School of Hygiene and Public Health (now known as the Bloomberg School of Public Health). Membership in Delta Omega reflects the dedication of an individual to increasing the quality of the field, as well as to the protection and advancement of the health of all people.
Currently, Delta Omega has expanded to more than 100 chapters at CEPH-accredited schools and programs and has more than 20,000 members.
Parcesepe to co-lead NIMH project to study COVID-19’s impact on mental health and HIV outcomes
Dr. Angela Parcesepe
Angela Parcesepe, PhD, MPH, MSW, assistant professor of maternal and child health, is a co-PI, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins collaborator and PI Keri Althoff, PhD, on a newly funded R01 funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), titled “The COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on mental health and HIV outcomes.”
An estimated 50% of people with HIV (PWH) in the United States have one or more mental health disorders, and the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have increased and exacerbated this burden. This research aims to advance understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – a worldwide disruption to HIV research and care – on the mental health diagnoses and HIV treatment outcomes of PWH with (compared to without) mental health disorders.
Their findings will clarify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on (a) new diagnoses of mental health disorders, (b) psychiatric-related hospitalizations, (c) HIV suppression efforts necessary for ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S., (d) hospitalization for any cause, and inform the development of strategies to mitigate such impacts on PWH during and after future pandemics or other public health emergencies.
New grants and fellowships for Gillings researchers
Congratulations to our researchers who are leading exciting new projects that have recently received funding:
- Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD, and Alice Ammerman, DrPH: “Preventing consumer food waste: developing and evaluating household-level interventions” (funded by the Environmental Protection Agency)
- Adams Sibley and Sophie Bartels, doctoral students in health behavior, have received F31 fellowships from the National Institutes of Health. Sibley’s project is titled “Determining the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Novel Stigma Resistance Text Message Intervention for People who Use Drugs,” and Bartels’ project is titled “A Mixed Methods Assessment of Clinic Characteristics Associated with Successful Scale-up and Sustainment of Systems Navigation and Psychosocial Counseling for People Who Inject Drugs with HIV in Vietnam.”
