Dear UCI Community,
In recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility taking place later this month, I would like to take this opportunity to stress how important place matters in giving space to our diverse community. At an institutional level and even within UCI Public Health, we can do more to support, elevate, and integrate the LGBTQIA+ community and advance inclusive excellence as we move our academic mission forward.
Our featured article is written by Associate Professor-in-Residence of Health, Society, and Behavior, Sean Arayasirkul, PhD (they/them), who shares with us why giving space and resources to deepening our support for trans people, their well-being, and visibility starts with all of us.
Arayasirkul’s research falls in the intersection of multiple, marginalized identities, and serving sexual and gender minoritized communities of color on the frontlines of HIV prevention, care, and research. I encourage you to read about their important research goals below and to join me in recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31, in helping to build a community where all can expect equity, diversity, inclusion, and free speech.
Sincerely,
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Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH
Director and Founding Dean
UCI Program in Public Health
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Sean Arayasirikul, PhD, challenges the UCI community to ask themselves what they can do to liberate public health for trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people during the upcoming Transgender Day of Visibility.
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Professor Jun Wu, PhD, led a study that demonstrated that exposure to green space at street level and tree coverage were linked to reduced risk of postpartum depression, physical activity intensified the decline.
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Big data, Big goals: Biostatistician, Min Zhang, bolsters precision public health at UCI
With a background in both medicine and science, our new faculty member, Min Zhang, MD, MS, PhD has made it her life's work to tackle the gap between clinical outcomes and basic science.
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Assistant Professor Brittany Morey, PhD, and affiliated faculty Sunmin Lee, ScD, analyzed the relationship between sleep disturbance, sleep apnea and multiple chronic diseases among Chinese and Korean Americans.
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Researcher Margaret Schneider, PhD, helped develop a tool to help school administrators and education professionals determine what actions to take when presented with students at risk for spreading infection, like COVID-19, at schools across Orange County.
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Advancing Nutrition Equity in the 21st Century
Wednesday, April 5 | Noon to 1PM
Sue Gross Auditorium
Register Now for In-person | Zoom Webinar
With soaring food costs and diet-related chronic disease rates, there is an urgent need to advance nutrition research and promote food innovations at local and global levels.
Join us during National Public Health Week (April 3-7), as UCI faculty and community leaders discuss emergent and ongoing nutrition-related research, partnerships, and where we can go from here to advance nutrition equity in the 21st century – with a particular focus on regional efforts in Orange County.
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Ulrike Luderer, PhD, MD, MPH, was the senior and corresponding author on a study that cannabis use in adolescent years may create reproductive complications in women. THC component was shown to deplete ovarian egg cells in mice models by 50 percent. Full study link.
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Denise Payán, PhD, co-authored a study that found foreign medical teams in Honduras were perceived as assets to the community, but that there was a need for culturally – and linguistically – tailored medical care and health education interventions. Full study link.
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Oladele Ogunseitan, PhD, contextualizes the cross-cutting themes in the life cycle of electronic products and waste generation and shares case studies to learn from in the journey for environmental justice. Full commentary.
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Denise Payán, PhD, co-authored a study that determined that telehealth uptake during the pandemic resulted in a higher continuity of care, including diabetes and blood pressure testing. Full study link.
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Tim Bruckner, PhD, and a research team analyzed nearly 100,000 emergency department cases from Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, and found that visits for psychiatric care in the U.S. reportedly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. They assume that their results are reflective of the country's broader ED care. Full study link.
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Leading public health journal Health Promotion Practice has awarded a UCI Public Health team with the title of Paper of the Year, which documented the impact of COVID-19 on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities through voice and image.
READ MORE >
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UCI Public Health, Saurabh Chatterjee, PhD, and collaborators, to lead a cross-country clinical trial that could result in approval of a new drug to improve veterans’ quality of life and relieve symptoms of Gulf War Illness. Trial made possible with a Veterans Affairs award of $2.5 million.
READ MORE >
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Office of Inclusive Excellence awarded Sean Arayasirkul, PhD, with an award to continue their research on evidence-based strategies to better understand and disrupt extremism through intersectionality, health humanities, and public discourse.
READ MORE >
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Voices of Public Health: Equity in hearing healthcare isn’t just a public health problem
Doctoral student and licensed clinical audiologist, Shade Avery Kirjava (they/them), reveals the inequities that exist in our healthcare system and why the need for reform in hearing health care must happen now.
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UCI Public Health alumna, Jasmine Ker ‘22, kick started her career at local Karate Dojo, Karate For All, and turned her practicum experience into a blossoming career in alternative health interventions.
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