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The New Elm Is Coming

The New ‘Elm’ Launches Thursday, Feb. 7

The Elm, the dynamic, collaborative website the Office of Communications and Public Affairs created in 2013 to allow the UMB community to interact online, is getting even better. The new Elm will debut Thursday, Feb. 7, offering the following features:

  • Each of UMB’s seven schools has a dedicated page of its own to tailor content to its specific audience.
  • Enhanced filters allow users to find information they are interested in, by filtering content by topic or audience, whether for students, faculty, staff, or alumni.
  • A section called Accolades has been added where UMB people can be acknowledged for the work they do — be it by co-worker or someone in the community.
  • Voices & Opinions allows you to share your perspective on an issue that matters to you.
  • An improved UMB social media component aggregates social media content from all UMB social media accounts.
  • The new Elm’s homepage and each school’s corresponding homepage include navigational links at the bottom that help you find the most important UMB resources fast.
  • An improved Elm Weekly, greater access to University news, and many other enhancements are part of the new Elm. See for yourself by visiting this preview.

Beginning Thursday, content from the original Elm will be available at wp.elm.umaryland.edu/

 

Communications and Public AffairsBulletin Board, UMB News, University Administration, University Life, USGAFebruary 6, 20190 comments
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The President's Message-February

February President’s Message

Check out the February issue of The President’s Message. It includes Dr. Perman’s column on his Panel on Politics and Policy; sexual harassment addressed at Q&A; the new Elm is coming to the UMB website; Police Chief Cary reflects on her first six months; art and literary journal, 1807, to launch; 20 employees benefit from Live Near Your Work Program in 2018; campus climate survey coming in mid-February; and a roundup of student, faculty, and staff achievements.

Back issues of the newsletter can be found in the archives.

Chris ZangABAE, Bulletin Board, Clinical Care, Collaboration, Community Service, Contests, Education, For B'more, People, Research, Technology, UMB News, University Life, USGAFebruary 5, 20190 comments
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Vanessa Gonzalez-Wright

School of Social Work’s Gonzalez-Wright Wins MLK Student Award

Over the next week, The Elm will feature stories on the three Diversity Recognition Award winners leading up to UMB’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month celebration on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at MSTF Leadership Hall. You can register to attend the event here.

Today: Outstanding UMB Student Vanessa Gonzalez-Wright

Vanessa Gonzalez-Wright has turned advocacy for students into action along several avenues during her nearly three years at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), working tirelessly to make an impact that’s long-lasting and in at least one respect indelible.

A School of Social Work student set to earn her MSW degree this spring, Gonzalez-Wright has been a relentless advocate for students with diverse backgrounds, working with UMB’s Office of Interprofessional Student Learning and Service Initiatives (ISLSI), the student group Latinx Unidos for Community Healing and Awareness (LUCHA), and as co-chair of a Universitywide task force exploring the establishment of a multicultural center on campus.

“Activism has always been a part of who I am and what I strive to accomplish in my personal life as well as my career,” says Gonzalez-Wright, a Los Angeles native who earned a sociology degree from Cal State Northridge. “My parents are emigrants from Mexico and El Salvador who came to this country with a dream to provide their children with more opportunities than they could have ever imagined for themselves. They were only able to attend school up to third grade, which is why advocating for students to have an educational space that is validating and supportive is an important part of who I am.”

For these efforts, Gonzalez-Wright will receive a Diversity Recognition Award as Outstanding UMB Student at the University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month celebration on Feb. 6. Courtney J. Jones Carney, MBA, director of ISLSI and a member of UMB’s Diversity Advisory Council, says the award is well-deserved and quite fitting, particularly as it relates to a potential multicultural center.

“The exploration of a multicultural center directly connects to the ideals of Dr. King,” Jones Carney said in her nomination. “A multicultural center has the purpose of providing a safe place, lessons on advocacy for self and others, and examples of pride in one’s community. Vanessa’s role in shaping a multicultural center will have a direct impact on how traditionally underserved and under-represented racial minorities and LGBT+ students experience the UMB campus. Her efforts will help propel UMB toward its long-term diversity and inclusion goals.

“Vanessa’s dedication to working across disciplines and with various faculty and staff members on campus also shows her commitment to interprofessionalism and collaboration,” Jones Carney added. “Vanessa believes it’s important for all students to utilize their privilege to help create opportunity for students of all identities to have a supportive community on campus that provides an inclusive space for self-expression and a sense of belonging.”

Formed through student advocacy, the task force consists of representatives from UMB’s six professional schools and interdisciplinary Graduate School. Gonzalez-Wright and co-chair Patty Alvarez, PhD, UMB’s assistant vice president of student affairs, conducted focus groups with student leaders in each school and issued a survey to better understand the needs, attitudes, and recommendations related to a possible multicultural center. They plan to turn in a proposal to UMB leaders by the end of January.

“Participating as a co-leader of the student group LUCHA confirmed the need for students of color to have a space on campus where they can build community and solidarity,” says Gonzalez-Wright, who plans to stay in Baltimore after graduation and work to support students in higher education. “I look forward to witnessing the positive impact that a multicultural center can have on our campus.”

Asked how she found the time for these efforts while working on her master’s degree, Gonzalez-Wright admitted the balancing act was difficult. She thanked her husband, Jordan, for his support and encouragement and acknowledged fellow students, LUCHA co-leader BreeAnn Lopez, and mentors who champion diversity and inclusion efforts at UMB.

“Activism is working as a collective to impact the needs of the greater population. Working with other students, faculty, and staff as well as partnering with organizations is crucial to the success of student organizing at UMB,” Gonzalez-Wright says. “Receiving this award brings a moment of reflection and gratitude for the opportunities I’ve received the past three years to not only receive an education in a field I truly love, but also to advocate for UMB to be a place where students are validated and supported in their educational journey as well as in their identity.

“One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King is, ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.’ As a student advocating for systemic change, it was draining and uncomfortable at many times, but the lessons and growth that I have experienced have greatly outweighed the challenge.”

— Lou Cortina

Learn more about UMB’s Black History Month Celebration and read about all of the 2019 Diversity Recognition Award winners.

Lou CortinaCollaboration, Community Service, Education, People, UMB News, University Life, USGAJanuary 28, 20190 comments
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UMB logo

Campus Climate Survey Coming in Mid-February

As a follow-up to a 2017 survey, UMB is launching a campus climate survey that will run between Feb. 18 and March 18, 2019.

The confidential survey will measure perceptions among segments of the University community on topics such as diversity and inclusion, job satisfaction, and campus environment.

Gallup, a respected research-based global consulting organization, is partnering with UMB on the project. When your invitation arrives from Gallup via email in the coming weeks, please take part in the brief survey. Your opinions will help UMB in its efforts to become a best place to work and learn. Your identity will be kept private by individual access codes.

Stay tuned for more on this survey, and thanks in advance for your participation.

Communications and Public AffairsPeople, Research, UMB News, University Administration, University Life, USGAJanuary 25, 20190 comments
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Dr. Perman at Q&A

Strengthening Anti-Harassment Policies and Practices

University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) President Jay A. Perman, MD, devoted his first quarterly Q&A of 2019 to the issues of Title IX and sexual harassment. Beyond questions, answers, and the start of a new dialogue on these important topics, Perman announced actions he’s taking to promote anti-harassment and gender-equity efforts across the University.

With an eye on short- and long-term results, Perman says he will form a task force to strengthen the University’s anti-harassment policies and practices as well as create a permanent committee to advise him on women’s issues, a group similar to the Diversity Advisory Council he formed that promotes inclusion initiatives at UMB.

“I intend to put forth these working groups in the next 30 days,” Perman told the audience of 100-plus students, faculty, and staff that attended the Q&A on Jan. 17 at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. “Our Diversity Advisory Council has moved the needle in terms of how we behave with one another and how we respect the differences among us. I regret not having the equivalent of a women’s advisory council, but now I will make that happen.”

Two of UMB’s core values — accountability and civility — are central to these issues and were touched upon throughout the hourlong discussion. In fact, to kick off the Q&A, Perman stood in front of a large screen displaying the seven values and held a framed poster that included their definitions.

“It might sound corny, but I look at this poster every day in my office,” he said. “When I came to UMB as president nine years ago, we put forth a strategic plan and decided it needs to stand on some core values. The matter of mistreatment, sexual harassment, and concerns about retaliation all relate to civility and accountability, but in fact this is a conversation about all of those values. 

“I’m going to need the help of everybody on this campus in being committed to saying we live our core values as we tackle this problem. Because there is much work to be done.”

Perman was joined by two leaders in UMB’s Office of Accountability and Compliance (OAC) — Susan C. Buskirk, DM, MS, deputy chief accountability officer and assistant vice president, and Mikhel A. Kushner, JD, MSW, executive director, diversity and inclusion, and Title IX coordinator.

Buskirk said part of OAC’s mission is to respond to and investigate concerns about discrimination, sexual harassment, and Title IX, the law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that is federally funded. She urged the UMB community to seek out OAC on questions about compliance or ethics via an online consultation form or to report harassment concerns or incidents on the EthicsPoint hotline, a third-party website that is linked at the bottom of umaryland.edu webpages next to a whistle icon.

Saying he understands why many sexual harassment victims don’t come forward, Perman stressed the importance of the hotline, which protects anonymity but allows OAC to reply through a code that lets the complainant respond to follow-up questions if necessary or review the office’s report if one is generated.

“Too often in America victims become the villain, or they’re embarrassed to come forward, and I understand that,” Perman said. “With EthicsPoint, you can have your anonymity and still allow us a way to get back to you. When somebody stands up and complains, they have absolutely every right to get some feedback, and this is a way to do that.”

Kushner, the Title IX coordinator, says her job includes investigating reports of potential violations of the equity law and looking for patterns of discrimination within an institution but that her role goes well beyond those tasks. She described Title IX as a starting point toward taking a broader look at and discussion of discrimination and gender-equity issues.

“That’s why general conversations about civility like this are so important,” Kushner said. “The topic of sexual harassment affects every single person in this room. The conversation certainly can happen through a task force and an advisory committee, but it also needs to happen on the streets, in the hallways, and in our classrooms.”

After Buskirk and Kushner’s presentation, the floor was opened to questions. Several questioners raised the issue of accountability, saying they believed the University has fallen short in creating a harassment-free environment and responding to sexual harassment claims. Perman pledged to do better on both fronts.

“I certainly would acknowledge, for a variety of reasons, that we have not held people sufficiently accountable,” he said. “That’s why I’m standing in front of you. I feel that facts need to be put forward, people have a right to respond — because we are going to respect individual rights — but if wrongdoing is found, then there needs to be a corrective action.”

UMB’s efforts in this area come in the wake of the national #MeToo movement and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) on Nov. 30 launching a “Program in Cultural Transformation,” a major restructuring of its senior leadership positions to ensure that women are represented at the highest levels of the school. The UMSOM program is designed to transform the school’s culture into a national model for a respectful, inclusive, and professional work environment.

With his initiatives, Perman hopes to engage the entire University community in this mission, and indeed a member of the UMB Staff Senate said that group already is working on a campaign to promote civility. Perman welcomed the Staff Senate’s input and asked for suggestions from faculty and students, too, as he forms the task force and advisory committee.

And in responding to a UMSOM student who hoped that the efforts would not be fleeting, Perman promised persistence.

“This is a dialogue, but it’s not a one-and-done dialogue,” he said. “This commitment to gender equity and anti-harassment needs to be in the fabric of our institution, in our DNA. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that happens. And where I’m falling short, I always count on the students to point it out.”

— Lou Cortina

Lou CortinaCollaboration, Education, UMB News, University Administration, University Life, USGAJanuary 25, 20190 comments
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The President's Message-January

The President’s Message

Check out the January issue of The President’s Message. It includes Dr. Perman’s column on the Graduate School’s centennial. Also, former Senator Barbara Mikulski urges civic engagement at the President’s Panel on Politics and Policy; crime was down 21 percent in 2018, UMB Police Force reports; the School of Medicine launches a cultural transformation; seed grant events here and at College Park show the importance of collaboration; UMB CURE Scholars enjoy a Winter Wonderland; and a roundup of student, faculty, and staff achievements.

Chris ZangABAE, Bulletin Board, Clinical Care, Collaboration, Community Service, Contests, Education, For B'more, People, Research, Technology, UMB News, University Life, USGAJanuary 10, 20190 comments
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The President's Message - December 2018

The President’s Message

Check out the December issue of The President’s Message. It includes Dr. Perman’s column on our record-shattering year in extramural funding — $667.4 million in grants and contracts. Also, a holiday greeting; TEDx UMB showcases our big ideas; ceremonial opening for HSRF III; Project Feast serves Thanksgiving meals to those in need; Nursing, Social Work win HEED awards for diversity; students prevail in national public health interprofessional challenge; informatics pioneer saluted at UMB; University takes the fight against opioid addiction on the road; be merry, and wary, around the holidays; and a roundup of student, faculty, and staff achievements.

Back issues of the newsletter can be found in the archives.
Chris ZangABAE, Bulletin Board, Clinical Care, Collaboration, Community Service, Contests, Education, For B'more, People, Research, UMB News, University Life, USGADecember 10, 20180 comments
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Project Jump Start brown bag

Project Jump Start: Helping the Homeless

Project Jump Start is funded in part by the University Student Government Association at UMB, and our mission is as follows:

  • To assist homeless individuals in meeting their basic needs through weekly food, clothing, and toiletry drives.
  • To provide homeless individuals in Baltimore with the information and support they need to access available resources in the community.
  • To collaborate and build partnerships with others to advocate for the development of policies and programs that will meet the needs of the homeless population in Baltimore.

Learn more at this webpage.

 

Darya BarshakCommunity Service, People, University Life, USGADecember 4, 20180 comments
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Human finger while it pushes the blue register online button on aluminium computer keyboard on office desk.

Spring Semester Parking Registration for Students

Attention, student parkers at UMB:

Spring semester online parking registration begins Jan. 1, and new and returning parkers must register online. After Feb. 8, posted garage rates will apply to all students who have not purchased or renewed their permit and garage access will be denied.

Visit the UMB Parking and Transportation Services website for more information.

Jennifer CoolahanBulletin Board, UMB News, University Life, USGANovember 26, 20180 comments
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Students and faculty at tea party

Pharmacy Students and Faculty Come Together Over Tea

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Inside SOP, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

While the School of Pharmacy is world renowned for its advancements in pharmacy education, scientific discovery, and patient care, it still faces an unspoken and universal truth shared among institutions of higher learning: Students sometimes feel lost and unsure of themselves and as if they have no one to whom they can turn. This silent struggle can prevent many students from comfortably and confidently seeking out help with their academics, pharmacy careers, and research projects. In trying to keep up with the hustle of pharmacy school, students have forgotten who their biggest asset and source of support can be: faculty.

Breaking Down Barriers

On Oct. 31, members of the School of Pharmacy’s chapters of the Phi Lambda Sigma Leadership Society and the Rho Chi Society set out to nurture positive relationships between students and faculty by hosting the school’s first-ever “Student FaculTEA Party.” Students and faculty were invited to a tea party-style lunch, complete with finger sandwiches, pretzels and hummus, fruit, and tea for all to enjoy. Our goal was to have an informal yet structured gathering where faculty and students could put aside their titles and get to know one another on a personal level.

More than 40 students and nearly 20 faculty attended our gathering, including Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, FCP, FAAPS, dean and professor of the school. To kick off the event, we broke attendees into small groups, which included approximately six students and two or three faculty members each. We started with a “This or That” icebreaker, which brought a lot of laughs and set the mood for our event. Through a series of questions, students and faculty talked about their childhood memories, hobbies, failures, lessons learned, and how to move forward. Many of the questions asked were not ones that would be commonly broached in typical conversations between students and faculty, as they were not related to pharmacy school.

We then shifted the conversation to the barriers that faculty sometimes assume students encounter when trying to approach them, as well as what students consider to be the true barriers. Our goal was to transform this silent struggle into an acknowledged, spoken one. We have noticed that students primarily interact with faculty during lectures or roundtables; as a result, they often shy away from approaching faculty for advice or guidance on problems not directly related to those brief interactions. They forget that their professors, though knowledgeable and wise now, started in the same place they did — as students who faced the same anxieties and stressors that current students continue to experience and ones who can relate to almost any challenge we might currently be confronting.

By not leveraging a resource as rich as faculty insight, students are only hindering themselves. The years in pharmacy school go by fast, and it is important for students and faculty to understand how we can work together to make this time more productive. We believe that, by offering students an opportunity to get to know their professors outside the confines of the classroom, they will start to see faculty as less intimidating and more approachable — mentors to whom they can turn for advice and guidance on any academic, professional, or personal challenge they might be experiencing.

Building Productive Relationships

Although the party was only an hour long, we hope that all those who attended make the most of it moving forward. For students, we hope the next time they see the faculty members they spoke with, that they will say hello and stop to have a conversation. Hopefully, the next time they encounter an obstacle that they do not think they can overcome alone, they will know they have someone to whom they can turn. And the next time they have a question, they will know whom to reach out to for help. For faculty, we hope they have gained a better understanding of the reasons that students may not come to them for help as often as they expect, and use that understanding to guide their interactions with students.

We plan to host the “Student FaculTEA Party” each semester, with the hope of developing relationships that will ultimately help faculty and students at the school unlock their full potential.

— Leann Kwak and Saniya Chaudhry, third-year student pharmacists

Leann KwakPeople, University Life, USGANovember 19, 20180 comments
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Photographer, writer and artist

Students Needed for UMB Art and Literary Journal Editorial Review Teams

UMB’s new art and literary journal, 1807, needs students to join the editorial review team. Help choose which entries are selected for publication! Choose a team to participate on:

  • Visual arts (painting, drawing, photography)
  • Photography
  • Writing (short story, essay, poetry)
  • Other art mediums (sculpture, clay, metal, glass, wood)

Please note that if you’re picked to join a review team, you may not submit an entry to that category, but you may submit to other categories.

Please email Dana Rampolla by Nov. 27 if you’re interested.

 

Dana RampollaBulletin Board, Contests, People, UMB News, University Life, USGANovember 16, 20180 comments
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Dr. Perman talks at the TEDx UMB event

TEDx Event Amplifies UMB’s Cutting-Edge Innovations

The audience seated in an intimate ballroom at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) turned its attention to a small stage at the front of the room. The stage filled with red light as Nadine M. Finigan-Carr, PhD, MS, a research associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, entered from behind a black curtain off to the right.

“I am a P-H-Diva,” Finigan-Carr declared. “I study sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, and I’m here to tell you about the perfect combination of the three: child sex trafficking.” And with that, Finigan-Carr began her TEDx talk titled Child Prostitutes Don’t Exist, which discussed the topic of minors being manipulated and trafficked for sex.

Her riveting talk was part of TEDx University of Maryland, Baltimore (TEDx UMB), an inaugural, day-long event for the University put on through TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), a nonprofit organization devoted to “ideas worth spreading.” The goal of a TEDx program is to carry out TED’s mission in local communities around the world through a series of live speakers and recorded TED Talks.

On Nov. 9, 10 speakers from the UMB community took the stage to share their innovative ideas across a wide scope of subject areas united under a single theme culled from the University’s mission statement: Improving the Human Condition. Each speaker approached the theme from a unique perspective informed by life, work, and experience. This brought forth an engaging mix of topics ranging from pioneering augmented reality in the operating room to exploring a middle ground in gender beyond just male and female.

(View a photo gallery.)

“All of the speakers are passionate about the work they are doing,” explains Roger J. Ward, EdD, JD, MSL, MPA, UMB’s senior vice president for operations and institutional effectiveness and a member of the committee that organized TEDx UMB. “As an institution for health and human services, UMB conducts a multitude of cutting-edge research and education and we’re always looking for platforms to amplify our work.”

UMB’s cutting-edge research certainly was demonstrated by TEDx UMB speaker Samuel A. Tisherman, MD, FACS, FCCM, a professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), with his talk: A Cool Way to Save Dying Trauma Patients.

Tisherman discussed the idea of using EPR (Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation) on patients with severe traumatic injuries like gunshot or stab wounds to help stave off death during surgery. The innovative medical technique involves pumping the human body with cold saline (a saltwater solution used for resuscitation) to lower a dying patient’s body temperature to a hypothermic state. This slows the patients’ need for oxygen and blood flow, giving surgeons more time to perform life-saving operations.

“There’s this dogma in surgery that hypothermia is bad, but I would have to disagree,” Tisherman told the audience. “There are numerous reports of patients having cold water drowning, but they survived after being under water for over an hour. Think about that for a second. You’re underwater, can’t breathe, but your body cools fast enough so that your brain, your heart, and other organs are protected, and you can actually survive for over an hour.”

EPR is currently in human trials at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. If it continues to be successful, EPR potentially could lead to reduced mortality rates in trauma centers around the world, which fits right into TEDx UMB’s theme of Improving the Human Condition.

Mary J. Tooey, MLS, AHIP, FMLA, associate vice president for Academic Affairs and executive director of UMB’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library, served as emcee for the day, and UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, kicked off the proceedings with his talk, No Money, No Mission. Perman discussed how he learned to balance empathy with good business practices from his parents while growing up in their family-owned dry cleaning business in Chicago. Perman explained how he has put that lesson to use as a pediatric gastrienterologist and as the president of a university that produces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of groundbreaking research and innovations every year.

The day continued with more compelling and thought-provoking discussions. Russell McClain, JD ’95, an associate professor and associate dean at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, used the back of a cereal box to demonstrate and launch a discussion about implicit bias and stereotype threat; Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and at UMSOM, explored the idea of using the brain’s own power as a solution to the opioid crisis; and Jenny Owens, ScD, MS, the faculty executive director of UMB’s Graduate Research Innovation District (the Grid), delivered a talk about her passion project, Hosts for Humanity, an organization that connects families and friends of children traveling to receive medical care with volunteer hosts offering accommodations in their homes.

“I think events like TEDx are really encouraging,” Owens said. “Seeing all of the amazing work people are doing and how much time and commitment they’re putting into making the world a better place is really inspiring, and I hope it inspires people to go out there and get to work on their own ideas.”

Although each speaker at TEDx UMB was part of the UMB community, their audience was not limited to the 100 people seated in the ballroom. The event was livestreamed on YouTube to a global audience, allowing its outreach and engagement to go far beyond the local community.

“There are so many talented people doing important work here at UMB,” said John Palinski, MPA, a philanthropy officer at UMB and a member of the TEDx planning committee. “TEDx is a bit of education in just reminding people who we are by projecting to the world all the wonderful things that are happening here.”

Members of UMB’s TEDx planning committee hope that this year is just the beginning of an annual event that showcases UMB’s commitment to sparking deep discussions and spreading innovative ideas to improve humanity.

“I am so pleased with this year’s event and I’m already excited for next year,” concluded Palinski.

Jena FrickCollaboration, Education, People, Research, Technology, UMB News, University Administration, University Life, USGANovember 14, 20180 comments
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Students at health challenge with Dr. Perman and others

Taking Home the Gold at D.C. Public Health Case Challenge

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Inside SOP, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

Each year, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) hosts its D.C. Public Health Case Challenge to promote interdisciplinary, problem-based learning that focuses on an important public health issue facing the Washington, D.C., community. Students from all universities in the D.C. area are invited to participate in the competition, but teams must be interprofessional, and include five to six members from at least three different disciplines.

I first learned about the competition in 2017, when I read about the winning team’s proposal to address adverse childhood events from lead poisoning — a serious issue, particularly in Baltimore City. This year, the topic of the challenge was “Reducing Disparities in Cancer and Chronic Disease: Preventing Tobacco Use in African- American Adolescents.” I knew that I wanted to participate in the challenge and was very fortunate to be recruited by Gregory Carey, PhD, associate professor in microbiology and immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the faculty advisor for the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) team.

In addition to myself, Carey recruited Jennifer Breau and Erin Teigen from the School of Social Work, McMillan Ching and Dominique Earland from the School of Medicine, and Adrienne Thomas from the Francis King Carey School of Law to round out our team. We set to work as soon as we received the case. We were given two weeks and a hypothetical $2.5 million budget to spend over five years to develop a solution to this complex problem, which was presented to a panel of expert judges during the NAM Annual Meeting in October.

Taking the Road Less Traveled

Working together, our team devised a multi-tiered approach that leveraged arts and sports programming to engage middle school students as well as health promotion courses to empower members of the community to make good health care decisions. We titled our proposal “D.C. Health Passport Project,” and employed a community-based participatory research approach to build the program and a mobile app to measure community participation. Data from the app was used to assess community empowerment and incentivize participation in the program.

Our idea was inspired by UMB’s CURE Scholars Program, which recruits health profession students to mentor middle schoolers while also teaching them about better health care practices. We developed a photovoice curriculum for the arts component, which would allow students to capture elements of tobacco use in their communities and how it affected them. At the end of the program, students would have the opportunity to share their project with family, friends, city council members, and legislators.

In addition, understanding that physical activity can help protect children against certain cancers as they age and reduce stress, we included a basketball league into our weekday activities, with a tournament at the end of the season. To include all members of the family — since we know that teens are most influenced by the people closest to them — we incorporated smoking cessation courses to be held at local recreation centers, along with health screenings, health literacy courses, and employment resources. We also incorporated different elements to address societal barriers — such as access to healthy food or impoverished living conditions — that might prevent some individuals from making healthy decisions.

Our goal was to develop a non-traditional approach to addressing health inequities outside of the health care system to show that such solutions can have an indelible impact on communities, as we saw this year in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine that highlighted a six-month study of a pharmacist-led intervention in black barbershops that was shown to reduce blood pressure among 66 percent of African-American participants in the intervention group (compared to 11 percent in the control group).

Coming Home with the Gold

It was an interesting experience to work so closely with a team of students that I had not met prior to participating in this challenge. Over the two weeks of the case, we spent more than 15 hours brainstorming and strategizing together. It was an incredible team-building experience, and when we were announced as the winners of this year’s competition, I could not have been more thrilled.

As a student pharmacist, I was truly honored to have played a part on the winning team, because I saw participating in this competition as an opportunity to showcase the creativity that our profession can bring to addressing some of our region’s most critical health challenges. Pharmacists should be an integral part of any team that aims to create personal and societal solutions for health disparities. In 2010, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America noted that medical care can only prevent 10-15 percent of preventable deaths. Helping to address rising drug costs, medication adherence, unhealthy lifestyles, environmental factors, and the health care infrastructure are just a few of the ways in which pharmacists could intervene as members of the health care team.

Recognizing the Pharmacist’s Value

Pharmacists have the power and the capability to change how Americans interact with the health care system. Being part of the grand prize-winning team at this year’s D.C. Public Health Case Challenge affirmed to me that we are creative thinkers who are well-equipped to partner with other health care professionals to address the challenge of health care reform. I hope to be part of this ever-expanding field as I move forward in my career.

— Chigo Oguh, third-year PharmD/MPH dual-degree student

 

 

Chigo OguhCollaboration, Education, USGANovember 14, 20180 comments
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Students and police officers at Drug Take-Back Day

Helping Baltimoreans Safely Dispose of Medications

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Inside SOP, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

On Wednesday, Oct. 24, and Saturday, Oct. 27, student pharmacists from the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists’ (APhA-ASP) Generation Rx joined forces with the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Police Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to host our bi-annual Drug Take-Back Day at the SMC Campus Center. An initiative started by the DEA in 2010, Drug Take-Back Day has led to the collection of almost 10 million pounds of prescription and non-prescription medications across the United States.

National Initiative, Local Impact

Drug Take-Back Day is a nationwide initiative aimed at addressing a critical public safety and public health issue. According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), more than 50 percent of individuals ages 12 and older received pain relievers, stimulants, and sedatives from a friend or relative for a nonmedical use in the past year, with 5.7 percent of those individuals taking the medication without asking the original owner. By offering a convenient location for community members to bring in these medications, we are helping to reduce the risk of those medications being diverted and protecting our most vulnerable populations from misuse or abuse of these drugs.

Set up in the heart of the UMB campus, the drug take-back boxes are available to the public beginning at 9:50 a.m. These boxes are completely free, anonymous, and open to anyone to use. All members of our community are encouraged to bring in their unused or expired medications for safe disposal. In the three years during which I have participated in Drug Take-Back Day events led by the School of Pharmacy, our group has collected more than 300 pounds of medications for safe disposal. This means those medications are no longer taking up space on people’s shelves and no longer have a chance of being improperly disposed of or detrimentally impacting our environment.

Nationwide, more than 910,000 pounds of medication were collected and disposed of at EPA-approved facilities during this year’s event, with 11,119 pounds of medications collected across the state of Maryland alone.

Improving People’s Health and Protecting Our Environment

Having been involved in numerous Drug Take-Back Day events during my time as a student pharmacist, I hold these events close to my heart.

As a strong environmentalist, I approached my first Drug Take-Back Day from that perspective, really wanting to pair my environmental background with my future pharmacy career. I was immediately overwhelmed by the outpouring of support not only from the Generation Rx chair at that time, but also from community members, who shared with me their support of those same ideals. Each year, many community members thank us for providing this service, saying that they specifically set aside their old medications to bring to our Drug Take-Back Day events because they want to dispose of them properly and in a manner as safe to the environment and to those around them as possible.

In addition, the 2017 NSDUH reported that 11.4 million individuals ages 12 and older admitted to having misused opioids in the United States — a dramatic increase from the 4.3 million Americans reported to be nonmedical users in 2014. With approximately 115 Americans dying every day from opioid overdose, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency on Oct. 26, 2017, which has helped to bring even more light and attention to treating the prevalence of this substance abuse.

When we come together to host Drug Take-Back Day events, it can sometimes feel like we are only taking a small step when compared to the enormity of this crisis, but together these small actions add up to create larger impacts on our communities and among our friends. We start a ripple of awareness, and that ripple carries across communities, counties, and even states.

The October Drug Take-Back Day events marked our group’s 14th year of hosting Drug-Take Back Day events across UMB, a feat we could not have accomplished without the assistance of Cpl. J.R. Jones of the UMB Police, Special Agent Andrew Biniek from the DEA, and all of our amazing student volunteers who took time from their days to make these events possible. Each time I reflect on my involvement in these events over the past three years, I am reminded of the positive impact that Generation Rx has hopefully imparted on the West Baltimore community.

— Kimberly Cai, third-year student pharmacist

 

Kimberly CaiCommunity Service, University Life, USGANovember 13, 20180 comments
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UMB USGA Fall Formal poster

UMB 2018 USGA Annual Fall Formal on Nov. 16

The University Student Government Association (USGA) invites UMB students to attend the USGA Annual Fall Formal on Friday, Nov. 16, in the ballrooms of the Baltimore Convention Center.

The formal will take place from 7 p.m. to midnight.

Tickets are $25 for students and $35 for guests. Please use a umaryland email account to buy your tickets. Purchases are limited to one student ticket and one guest ticket per student, or until sold out. You must bring your student ID and a government-issued photo ID for age verification.

Tickets can be purchased at this Eventbrite webpage. Ticket price includes food and drinks.

For questions, please contact umb.usga.programming@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Andrea TheodoruPeople, University Life, USGANovember 13, 20180 comments
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