Dear Friends of the College,
Classes for the Spring 2023 semester have ended, and only final exams remain! Our MEZCOPH Spring 2023 Convocation takes place this coming Saturday morning, May 13! We look forward to celebrating all our new graduates.

This spring, we accomplished many things we can take pride in, and we also continue to mourn the passing of our founding benefactor, Mel Zuckerman.

A Tribute for Mel Zuckerman
Thank you to everyone who was able to join the tribute event for Mel on April 17, Mel Zuckerman – A Life of Philanthropy and Impact. Hundreds of friends, colleagues, faculty, staff, and students gathered to remember Mel and all he accomplished through his philanthropy and passion for wellness.

Mel’s innovative vision, generosity, and support for our college and so many other organizations touched millions of lives. We are so grateful for the time we spent with him, and we are humbled by the legacy he left.

Recent Events
Our Office of Student Affairs recently hosted a student panel discussion as part of the kickoff event for the Spring 2023 Virtual MPH Internship Conference that featured several outstanding students including Elizabeth Mangone, Chad Peterson, Ryann Quick, and Sam Sneed.

At the end of March, students, staff, and faculty came together to showcase the outstanding student research and public health projects at the annual 2023 Public Health Poster Forum, a celebration of student research, all organized by students! Thanks to all our amazing students, staff, and faculty who supported the Poster Forum, and congratulations to all the students whose posters won awards!

Also at the end of March, our Academic Health Department organized a Public Health Career Fair to bring students together with county health departments, community organizations, and regional non-profits who know the quality of our graduates and want to hire them.

We are grateful to all our alumni who attended our Wildcats Lunch event in San Diego, hosted by Nicole Zuckerman-Morris, granddaughter of Mel Zuckerman. It was wonderful to connect with our California alumni and we look forward to building those relationships!

Last Thursday, May 4 we hosted a retirement event for our longtime professor and researcher Dr. Robin Harris who taught and mentored hundreds of public health students over the course of her career. Robin has been a beloved teacher for her students, a dearly valued colleague for her fellow faculty and researchers, and a cherished collaborator in the communities where she worked. She also had a unique ability to make things happen. Robin dedicated her career to serving others through public health. Thank you Robin for all you have given to the college and the world!

Last Friday May 5, the college hosted the National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day of Awareness Symposium organized by Dr. Felina Cordova-Marks and doctoral student William Carson who together coordinate the IndigiWellbeing program. We are all grateful for the attention and experts that Dr. Cordova-Marks brought together to elevate this issue, build community, and find solutions.

Also on Friday, the college hosted the third One Health Symposium that highlights our collaborative expertise in One Health research at the University of Arizona. Thanks to Dr. Frank von Hippel for his outstanding leadership of the One Health Initiative for the university, and to coordinator Griselda Ruiz-Braun for organizing the Symposium that brought together researchers from across campus and cultivated collaboration for this vital cross-disciplinary research.

Faculty, Staff, and Students: Honors, Profiles, and Awards
We are very proud of all that our students, staff, and faculty accomplish and appreciate the recognition that comes their way. Please join me in congratulating the following:

• Paloma Beamer, PhD, will be the Principal Investigator for a new Center grant from the EPA called the Western Environmental Science Technical Assistance Center for Environmental Justice (WEST EJ Center) that will serve Region 9 in the Western US and will include several other MEZCOPH faculty. We will announce this award with a news release soon.
  • EPA announcement: www.epa.gov/newsreleases/university-arizona-san-diego-state-unveiled-centers-help-communities-access-historic
• Felina Cordova-Marks, DrPH, MPH, MSc, was given an Outstanding Service Award by the National Indian Health Board for her leadership of the IndigiWellbeing program that has enhanced Indigenous health and wellness.
• Patrica Haynes, PhD, CBSM, DBSM, received an RO1 award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to study worksite sleep coaching efficacy among firefighters.
• Kristen Pogreba-Brown, PhD, MPH, was awarded a research support grant from the Arizona Biomedical Research Center that provides funding for the CoVHORT research study that is generating vital data about long-COVID.
  • healthsciences.arizona.edu/newsroom/news-releases/0423/arizona-covhort-research-study-receives-award-continue-investigation

Gratitude for Our Community
I thank all of you for your ongoing support of the College and our public health mission. We live in troubling times, and so often public health offers solutions to the widespread suffering in this world. 

As we approach the end of the Spring 2023 semester and prepare to celebrate our new graduates, I look forward to working with you to support our diverse communities, both locally and globally, with the best public health education, service, and research.

Best Wishes for your Health and Safety,
Iman

What you need to know about who is eligible for another COVID-19 booster approved by the CDC and FDA

Elizabeth T. Jacobs, PhD, comments on a new FDA approved bivalent COVID-19 booster dose for older adults and people with weak immune systems in an effort to bolster protection against the virus this spring.

Nosotros program helps identify liver disease with free fibroscans

David Garcia, PhD, is quoted on how liver disease disproportionately affects the Hispanic community and what the Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud public health program is doing to help the underserved community.

State begins to shed thousands from Medicaid, push them to other care

Daniel Derksen, MD, comments on the roughly 600,000 people who will be shed from the Medicaid program in Arizona.

Naloxone initiatives continue to expand on and off campus

Inspired by a student-led effort started in the Zuckerman College of Public Health, the Emergency Medical Services Club at the University of Michigan recently launched an initiative to install boxes containing Narcan around campus.