Title: Second Annual Outstanding Student Papers Session a Success
Author:
Section/SPIG: Maternal and Child Health
Issue Date:
A Second Annual Outstanding Student Papers Session was organized at the 2003 APHA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. This session is designed to promote academic contributions and achievement in maternal and child health among students. The number of abstracts received in 2003 more than doubled from the previous year and came from 11 different academic institutions. The top five papers (see below) were selected for the special oral session based on the normal blind review process. These students were also invited to attend section meetings and activities and were recognized at the Martha May Elliot Luncheon, where this year's Martha May Elliot Award winner, Dr. Bernard Guyer, indicated that the special session was one of the best that he had ever attended at APHA. Jane Lazar of Boston University School of Public Health received a $100 award for having the highest rated paper. Thomas Vallin, the session organizer, counted 57 in attendance and received positive comments from section members, students, and student advisors. High scoring papers not selected for the special session were presented at a poster session. Activities were funded through support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Plans for the 2004 Outstanding Student Papers in MCH session are already under way.
The 2003 Outstanding Student Authors were:
Jane Lazar
Boston University School of Public Health
"Identifying Multiple Gestation Groups Using State-Level Birth and Fetal Death Certificate Data"
Lee Chaix McDonough, MSW, MSPH & Cynthia H. Cassell, MA
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Public Health
"Perinatal depression screening practices among OB/GYN attending physicians and residents"
Pamela Jean Surkan, MS
Harvard School of Public Health
"Growth retardation and risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancy"
Tricia M. Michels, MPH
University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health and
University of California, San Francisco
"How do adolescents make decisions regarding sexual activity and safer sex?"
Deborah L. Dee, MPH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health
"Increasing Breastfeeding Duration Among Low-Income Women: The Success of the In-Home Breastfeeding Support Program"
For more information, please contact Thomas Vallin, MPH <tomvallin600@hotmail.com>.