A Few Words From Dean Iman Hakim
Welcome back for the Fall 2008 semester! I am proud and excited to return in my new role as Dean, and promise to guide our College to more success in teaching, research, and public health service. This edition of E-News shows how dedicated our faculty, students and staff are to the success of MEZCOPH and public health in Arizona and around the world. Enjoy!

$1 Million Grant Received From FEMA to Aid Firefighters
Associate Professor Jeff Burgess is principal investigator of a new, two-year study to determine the risk of sudden death from undiagnosed cardiovascular disease in firefighters. The Tucson and Phoenix fire departments will participate in the study. More...

More Graduates Than Ever!
One hundred and seven undergraduate and graduate students were honored at the Spring 2008 Convocation ceremony for the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) on May 17, 2008, the largest graduating class of the College to date in its eight-year history.  Bob England, MD, MPH, gave the convocation address.  "Dr. Bob," as he is known to coworkers, is the Director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, the third-largest local health jurisdiction in the country.  More...

Summer MPH Internship Conference
Twenty Masters of Public Health (MPH) students presented the results of their hard work at the MEZCOPH Summer 2008 MPH Conference on August 22 in Drachman Hall. Dileep Bal, MD, MS, MPH, the District Health Officer of Kauai, Hawaii, gave the keynote address. More...

New Scholarship Announced
Jane and Bruce Ash of Tucson, right, have announced a commitment to fund an annual scholarship for exceptional Native American, Latino and African American students at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH). The scholarship will focus on public health students who have demonstrated a desire to work in underserved communities in Arizona after graduation. More...

Health: A Requirement for Development
Julio Frenk, MD, MPH, PhD, renowned health policy scholar and former Minister of Health of Mexico, spoke on "Globalization and Health: Risks and Opportunities On Our Common Border" to a large, appreciative audience on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in Drachman Hall. Dr. Frenk's speech was the inaugural lecture of the James E. Dalen, MD, MPH Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture Series. View the speech. Since visiting MEZCOPH, Dr. Frenk was appointed to be the new Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. More...

2008 Social Justice Symposium and Resilience Workshop
Dr. Alejandro Toledo, the 46th President of the Republic of Peru, was the keynote speaker at the 2008 Social Justice Symposium held at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. The title of his enthusiastically received speech was "A Presidential Perspective: Can the Poor Afford Democracy Without Democratizing Health and Education?" Other speakers at the event were Elian karp-Toledo, former First Lady of Peru, and Samia Goudi from Australia, and indigenous health lecturer. See article in the upcoming November 4 edition of the MEZCOPH Dean's Report.

HRSA Administrator Visits the Hopi with MEZCOPH Faculty
Dr. Elizabeth "Betty" Duke was warmly welcomed by the Hopi Nation in rural Arizona on a visit to explore their health care and culture first-hand.  MEZCOPH faculty members Alison Hughes and Gary Hart invited Dr. Duke to visit Arizona. Dr. Duke is Director of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Hopi health administrators gave presentations about their Hopi Health Care Center, Hopi Regional Health Care Network, and their telemedicine program. She also met with tribal chairman Benjamin Nuvamsa, who presented Dr. Duke with a ceremonial armful of corn. More...

Alison Hughes Receives Rural Health Award
Alison M. Hughes, MPA, a lecturer on the MEZCOPH faculty and director of the Arizona Rural Hospital Flexibility ("Flex") program, received the Exceptional Rural Health Professional of the Year Award from the Arizona Rural Health Association (AzRHA) an organization which works for the preservation and enhancement of rural health in the state of Arizona. This prestigious award was presented at the 35th Annual AzRHA Conference Awards ceremony in Flagstaff, Arizona, on August 5, 2008. More...

Annual AzPHA Conference Held in Tucson
"Eighty Years of Public Health in Arizona!" was the theme of the 2008 Arizona Public Health Association's conference which was held from September 17th through the 19th at the Marriott University Park on the University of Arizona campus. MEZCOPH was a sponsor and cohost of the event. An article will be released in the November 4 edition of the MEZCOPH Dean's Report.

AZ Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results
Presented At Family Health Forum
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Steps to a Healthier Santa Cruz County Initiative developed a collaborative of eleven local health and social service agencies in the development of the Santa Cruz County Family Health Leadership and Advocacy Forum. Samantha Sabo, Program Director for Transborder Initiatives (right) was an active member of the planning group, along with Returned Peace Corps Fellow, Hannah Carlson, a Master of Public Health student, who used participatory methods to evaluate the event. More...

DELTA OMEGA Induction
The Alpha Nu Chapter of Delta Omega at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health inducted 19 new members at a reception held at the Swede Johnson building on September 12, 2008. Delta Omega is the honorary society for graduate studies in public health. More...

MEZCOPH Co-hosts ACE Epidemiology Conference
The American College of Epidemiology (ACE) met in Tucson at the 2008 Scientific Sessions titled The Dawn of Evolutionary Epidemiology: Applying Evolutionary Theory in an Epidemiologic Context. The keynote speaker was Randolph Nesse speaking on "Evolution, How it Works and Why Epidemiologists Should Care." An article on this event will be included in the November 4 edition of the MEZCOPH Dean's Report. Visit the conference home page...

New Books on Vitamin E and Nutrition in the Aged
Tocotrienols: Vitamin E Beyond Tocopherols was published in August, 2008, by the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) Press. Dr. Ronald Watson, Professor and Interim Director of the Division of Health Promotion Sciences at MEZCOPH, and Victor Preedy, are editors of the book. Later this fall the Handbook of Nutrition in the Aged, Fourth Edition, edited by Professor Watson, will be released by CRC Press. More information about Prof. Watson's books will be posted soon on the MEZCOPH web news site. Click here for purchasing information on the Vitamin E book.

MEZCOPH Is On iTunes U!
The MEZCOPH PMPH public health lecture series and other items are available NOW on iTunes through the University of Arizona's iTunes U site. Check it out at http://itunes.arizona.edu. On that web page, click on the big blue button that says Go to UA on iTunes U. Once the UA site opens in iTunes, click on Health and Medicine. Note: you have to have iTunes installed on your computer, a free download from Apple for Macs or PCs.

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Found in 25% of Heterosexual Men Preliminary research by University of Arizona scientists Robin Harris and Alan Nyitray (right) suggests that almost 25% of heterosexual men test positive for a virus linked to cervical cancer in women, a surprisingly high percentage.   The effects of HPV are well documented in women; this study shows that sexually-active heterosexual men may be more likely to have anal HPV than was previously realized.  More... Hip Bone Density Helps Gauge Breast Cancer Risk Measuring a woman’s bone mineral density can provide additional information that may help more accurately determine her risk of developing breast cancer. This is the conclusion of a new study published by Zhao Chen, PhD, MPH, right, and colleagues in the September 1, 2008 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Dr. Chen is a MEZCOPH associate professor and is director of the Healthy Aging Laboratory. This study is the first to investigate the relationships among bone mineral density, traditional breast cancer risk assessment tool results, and breast cancer incidence among the same group of women. More... Pycnogenol Helps Control High Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetes Patients Patients with type 2 diabetes were able to cut back on their blood pressure medication after they began taking the flavonoid-rich supplement Pycnogenol,a natural plant extract from pine bark, according to Sherma Zibadi, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in The University of Arizona (UA) Department of Nutritional Sciences and the UA College of Medicine. Also working on this research is Ronald Watson, PhD, a MEZCOPH professor and interim director of the Health Promotion Sciences division. UA scientists have also shown that Pycnogenol lowers blood pressure and is beneficial in treating asthma. More... Jeff Burgess Receives $1 million FEMA Grant to Aid Firefighters See headline story, above.

ON THE MOVE New MEZCOPH Dean Iman Hakim, MbbCh, PhD, MPH, a national leader in health promotion, prevention and education, has been appointed dean of The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH). A professor of public health and noted research scientist, Dr. Hakim has served as interim dean of the college since June of 2007. The appointment, which began on July 1, 2008, was announced on June 17, 2008, following a national search. More... New Faculty Chengcheng Hu Joins EPI-BIO Faculty Chengcheng Hu, PhD, has joined the faculty in the Epidemiology-Biostatistics division. (News article will be released soon.) Peter Giaccobi Joins HPS Faculty Peter Giaccobi, PhD, has joined the faculty in the Community, Environment, and Policy (CEP) division. This new assistant professor promotes physical activity. More... Lisle Hites Joins CEP Faculty Lisle S. Hites, MS, MEd, PhD, has joined the faculty as an assistant professor in the Health Promotion Sciences (HPS) division. Dr. Hites performs evaluation and assessment of a wide range of sources of danger including chemical, radiation, and explosive hazards for public-health emergency preparedness, and is a Co-PI of the Arizona Center for Public Health Preparedness (AzCPHP). More... New Staff Jessica Skarda, Research Specialist in the Health Promotion Sciences division. She is also working on her MPH degree. Jessica Wakelee, Research Specialist in the Community, Environment and Policy division. Sabrina Hadden, Outreach Counselor Danielle Oldson, Outreach Counselor Dustin Holloway, Outreach Counselor for ASHline Crystal Schemp, Research Specialist in the Community, Environment and Policy Division Awards Sally Littau received the 2008 Arizona Health Sciences Center (AHSC) Georgia Reynolds Dedicated Service Award. More... Margaret Kurzius-Spencer received the AHSC Award for Excellence in MEZCOPH Research. More... Alan Beaudrie received the AHSC Award for Excellence in MEZCOPH Administration. More... Jennie Mullins received the 2008 MEZCOPH Award for Outstanding Community Service/Practice. More Dr. Gail Barker received the 2008 MEZCOPH Outstanding Teaching Award. More... Dr. Stefano Guerra was chosen for the 2008 MEZCOPH Outstanding Research Award. More...