Dr. Steve Jay to speak on Climate Change at IU

The School of Public Health–Bloomington is proud to welcome Dr. Stephen J. Jay, M.D. as part of the Dean’s Public Health Lecture Series. His lecture is titled “Climate Change and Public Health” and will take place Friday, October 16, 2015 at 12:30pm in the Tony A. Mobley Auditorium (PH C100). 

Dr. Jay is currently a professor of Medicine and Public Health and was the founding chair of the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. His areas of expertise include history of health and environmental policy, bioethics, tuberculosis, and tobacco control. Dr. Jay has performed in many different capacities throughout the health world, including staff appointments with IU Health, Indiana University Hospitals, and the Methodist Hospital of Indiana. He has served in many different organizations, committees, and boards, has had his work published 139 times, and has been quoted in many other publications.

Lynn Jamieson named Interim Chair of RPTS

Lynn Jamieson

Lynn Jamieson has been appointed as the interim chair of the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies for the School of Public Health – Bloomington. This appointment took place on July 1 and will continue through the 2015-16 academic year. She is succeeded by Dr. Bryan McCormick, who is stepping down to devote more time to research and teaching after serving many years in the leadership role of the department. Dr. Jamieson has previously served the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism at IU as Full and Associate Professor, Assistant Chair for Academic Affairs, and as Chair of the Department for seven years. She has also been the president and owner of Leisure Visions, a recreation and tourism-planning firm, since 1986.

“Lynn first joined our school’s faculty in 1993, and has been a dedicated and loyal colleague in a variety of ways,” School of Public Health-Bloomington Dean Mohammad Torabi said of her appointment. “The Department and School are indeed fortunate to have someone of Lynn’s qualifications to serve in this interim role.”

School receives grant to promote health programs in schools around Indiana

The School of Public Health-Bloomington is continuing its focus on promoting wellness not just within the university, but throughout the community as well. The School was rewarded a three year AmeriCorps grant from Serve Indiana, which will be used to promote a program called Healthy Schools Corps in ten counties in Indiana. Studies of Indiana school districts reveal that the main problems in having well-organized health programs were an absence of central leadership and coordination, an inability to recruit outside volunteers, and a lack of structured management of volunteers. The Healthy Schools Corps will provide a solution to these problems. Members of AmeriCorps will assist the school districts with recruiting and managing volunteers and coordinating health programs.

This program will be implemented with help from Lisa Petscher, the manager of coordinated school health for IU Health Bloomington. Alongside the School of Public Health and other community partners, Petscher will work with the Monroe County Community School Corp. to promote this and other coordinated health programs to numerous school districts. Said Petscher, “Partnerships like this are essential.  It takes a village, and everyone needs to play a role in the health of future generations.” The School of Public Health is certainly playing an important role to ensure the well being of present and future generations.

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Edwin Marshall and John Seffrin awarded Founding Dean’s Medallion

The Founding Dean’s Medallion was recently awarded to Dr. Edwin C. Marshall and Dr. John Seffrin. The Medallion is awarded to those who dedicate their careers to research and education of public health, and practice healthy lifestyles by preventing disease and promoting heath. It was awarded to these two admirable individuals by Mohammed Torabi, Dean and Chancellor’s Professor at the School of Public Health-Bloomington.

Recipient Dr. Marshall was appointed to chair the IU Public Health Coordinating Council by Indiana University President Michael McRobbie. He was responsible for the creation of the schools of public health at Bloomington and Indianapolis, both of which are now accredited and renowned in the field of public health. Recipient Dr. Seffrin served as chairman of the Department of Applied Sciences and is listed to become a professor in the School.  He also served as the former CEO of the American Cancer Society. “Both Dr. Marshall and Dr. Seffrin epitomize character, passion, and dedication to the vast and dynamic field of public health,” said Dean Torabi. “Their contributions have not only provided inspiration, they have made concrete differences in the world. For this, we should all be deeply appreciative.”

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The School of Public Health to offer a new undergraduate degree in Environmental Health

The School of Public Health-Bloomington is offering a new Bachelor of Science in Public Health degree in Environmental Science. It is already offered as a Master and a Ph.D, but now will be available to undergraduate students as well.

Environmental health is concerned with all aspects of the environment that affect human health, and in the program, students will identify, control, and prevent any environmental factors that can impact human health. They will be taught principles of environmental health ranging from food safety to exposure assessment. The professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Health stated, “An increased awareness of physical, biological and chemical hazards in our world coupled with greater knowledge of their potential effects on human health has led to great demand for trained environment health professionals. By offering an undergraduate degree in environmental health, we are directly addressing the critical need for educating tomorrow’s workforce in an academically robust way.”

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