Chair’s Corner
Here in Atlanta, we have benefited from a slow transition into spring and summer this year. Temperatures stayed cooler than usual for longer than usual, and for the first time in my memory, we did not bake outside at graduation. In some ways, the slow transition of the weather has caused the time of year to sneak up on me. It doesn't seem possible that the June 1 NIH deadline is mere days away, or that summer classes start this week, or that the temperature outside has suddenly shot into the high 80s. Yet I know that our graduate students have graduated and the campus is significantly quieter. The parents I know are anticipating the impending end of their school year and the official beginning of summer vacation. Many of my colleagues and yours (and even you perhaps) are beginning to count the days until summer vacations to enjoy the pleasures of life outside of work. And we find ourselves five months from the APHA Annual Meeting.
I know five months sounds like a lot of time, but it was just five months ago that we were all getting back into the groove after the holidays. Once our collective summer sigh of relaxation passes, we'll be in the home stretch to the meeting. Whether your world settles down this summer or hums along at the usual pace, please consider adding PHEHP to your plate. While several committees are winding down already, others are just gearing up. We need folks to help plan the social, to moderate sessions, and to staff the booth. Get in touch with me and I'll get you in touch with the right committee chair. After all, before we know it, we'll be turning our thoughts back to cooler weather.
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APHA Members: Register to Vote
This year's Election Day (Nov. 7, 2006) will happen during the APHA Annual Meeting in Boston. Make your voice heard in the ballot box by registering to vote and requesting an absentee ballot before your state deadline!
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APHA Third Annual Film Festival Call for Submissions
The Health Communication Working Group Steering Committee is pleased to announce its 3rd annual Film Festival to be held during the APHA Annual Meeting this November. This call for submissions is limited to productions created or audiences in the United States, but is not limited to English language productions.HIGXYZ73HIGZYX
We are looking for examples of good health communication strategy paired with professional production values. In keeping with Healthy People 2010 Health Communication Objective 11-3 “Increase the proportion of health communication activities that include research and evaluation”, all submissions must have undergone either formative or summative evaluation. Evidence of the evaluation must be included in the application.
Evidence of Formative or Summative Evaluation: Formative evaluation typically occurs prior to the development of a production. Evidence should demonstrate that the producers connected with the target audience to assess needs. Summative evaluation typically occurs after exposure to the production. Evidence should demonstrate that the producers attempted to measure the impact of the work on the target audience.
We would like your help in identifying and soliciting worthwhile productions.
Eligible productions should:
- Be recent (no more than three years old);
- Address a public health issue;
- Be 5-10 minute in length (outstanding longer works will be considered but they cannot exceed 30-minutes);
- Provide evidence of evaluation in the application; and
- Show evidence of collaboration between the producing agency and
the intended audience.
The submissions will be collected, converted to a common media for playback, and featured at the APHA Annual Meeting in Boston this November. If you have a video to submit, would like to nominate an outstanding video, or would like to volunteer, please contact Linda Bergonzi King, MPH, at
bellapro@aol.com .
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Students’ Corner
What is going on in the Student Assembly?
With the end of the semester coming to an end, students are bringing school to a close and moving on with their summer plans. Whether it is an internship, fellowship, summer job, or even summer classes, students are moving on to bigger and better things. All the while, the board members of the Student Assembly are working feverishly on various projects targeted toward bringing students to the forefront of public health.
This year, the Student Assembly successfully re-launched the National Mentoring Program. This program matches public health professionals with public health students who are interested in similar fields or areas of research. One of the goals of a program such as this is to better prepare students for the challenges of the workforce by providing an opportunity for students to gain insight into a variety public health fields. In order for this program to be successful, public health professionals are needed to train the next generation of professionals. Please encourage professors, your own mentors, or other practitioners to enroll as mentors in National Mentoring Program. For those of you already in the field who would like to lend your time and expertise, you can also enroll at the Student Assembly Web site. Also, for students interested in signing up as mentees, log on to http://www.aphastudents.org/mentoring.php for more details and links to the enrollment Web site. As many students have been fortunate enough to find out on their own, having a mentor to guide you through your graduate studies or the development of your career can prove to be extremely beneficial.
Recently, the Student Assembly has also developed a forum on their Web site (http://www.aphastudents.org/forum/) to provide students the opportunity to interact with others by providing an outlet to post questions and respond to questions other students may post. Currently, there are forums for campus liaisons, the National Mentoring Program, the action committee, and a general forum for anything related to the Student Assembly. This forum is brand new, and it is our hope that public health students utilize this service to answer any questions they may have regarding the activities of the Student Assembly or other pertinent inquiries related to students.
The Student Assembly is also working on their Second Annual APHA Student Meeting, a one-day meeting targeting public health students. It provides a venue for students to interact with other students, present their research, and learn about topics of particular interest to students. This year’s theme is Turning Research into Practice. The meeting will be held Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006 in Boston, prior to the beginning of the APHA Annual Meeting. Registration for this event will be limited, so be on the look out for registration information toward the end of the summer. You can also log on to http://www.aphastudents.org/meetings.php for more information on the Second Annual APHA Student Meeting, as well as the 134th APHA Annual Meeting.
While the aforementioned programs are just a few of the initiatives the Student Assembly is working on, there are many more ongoing projects to become involved in. The Campus Liaison committee is always looking for people to expand their program to other universities they have yet to reach. The Opportunities Committee is continuing to work on providing students with as many fellowships, internships, conferences, and funding sources as possible. This committee is also working to establish a Student Assembly Alumni Database as another means of students interacting with public health professionals. With so many projects in the works, I just wanted to provide just a taste of the many initiatives of the Student Assembly.
If you want to become involved in these or any other projects, please log on to http://www.aphastudents.org for more details, or feel free to contact me at jlcremeens@bama.ua.edu.
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Cancer Information Service
The National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service is the country’s most trusted and reliable source of the latest information about cancer. The CIS has been educating people about cancer for over 30 years. Currently, the CIS operates a virtual contact center providing toll-free telephone access for cancer information (1-800-4-CANCER) and smoking cessation (1-877-44U-QUIT), as well as instant messaging (LiveHelp) and e-mail services. The CIS also includes a Partnership Program focused on cancer control with an emphasis on populations affected by cancer health disparities.
In addition to the contact center and partnership program, the CIS is continuing its participation in research. The CIS Research Program is designed to study, apply, and disseminate effective new communication approaches to educate the public about cancer and contribute to national cancer prevention and control efforts. The CIS has a 20-year track record of involvement in over 50 investigator-initiated research projects, ranging from pilot feasibility studies to full-fledged clinical trials. The studies focused on clinical trials education, risk counseling, tailored messaging, decision-support technologies, and other cancer-related topics.