NEWS

Graduate student in nutrition receives 2002 Abraham Lilienfeld student prize

Lisa Bodnar, a graduate student from the UNC School of Public Health department of nutrition, jointly housed in the UNC School of Medicine, is the recipient of the 2002 Abraham Lilienfeld Student Prize presented by the Society for Epidemiological Research.

Bodnar received the award, which recognizes excellence in research, for her paper titled "Who Should Be Screened for Postpartum Anemia? An Evaluation of Current Recommendations." The prize included travel and meeting expenses for the society’s 35^th annual meeting in Palm Desert, Calif., where she presented her paper, and a monetary award of $1,000.

The Lilienfeld award was established by the society to honor Dr. Abraham Lilienfeld, a teacher, influential scholar and founder of the American College of Epidemiology.

Bodnar earned her bachelor of science degree in public health in 1998 and her master’s degree in public health in 1999, both from UNC. She is now pursuing her doctorate.

Past UNC recipients of this award include Dora Il’yasova, 2001; Beverly Rockhill, 1997; Glinda Cooper, 1994; and Andrew Rowland, 1990.

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UNC professor plays key role in writing, adoption of public health code of ethics

Dr. Jim Thomas, an associate professor of epidemiology and associate dean for academic affairs at the UNC School of Public Health, was the principal author of the public health code of ethics.

The code, passed by the American Public Health Association earlier this year, was written to morally ensure the public’s health and to serve as a standard guide for public health institutions and practitioners. This is the first time the association has passed a code of ethics for public health in its 130-year history.

Each institution must decide for itself whether it chooses to adopt the code. Institutions adopting the code will have to build the ethical principles into their policies and procedures and train their employees in ways that ensure the principles are being implemented correctly.

"The importance of a code of ethics is especially important as public health has become more prominent in the wake of 9-11," said Thomas. "The current debate over trade-offs between civil liberties and public safety is a central issue in the code. It does not resolve this tension, but it mentions factors that must be considered."

Prior to the passing of the code, public health ethics had been implicitly assumed. But, with the new advances in technology and challenges to health, it was decided that a set code of ethics would be beneficial to set a standard for practice and to make clear all the elements of public health.

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UNC biostatistics professor to give distinguished lecture at Harvard

Dr. Danyu Lin, who in 2001 was named the Dennis Gillings distinguished professor of biostatistics in the UNC School of Public Health, has been chosen as the 2002 Myrto Lefkopoulou distinguished lecturer at Harvard University.

Each year the lectureship is awarded to a statistician who has contributed to research in the applications of statistical methods and-or who has shown excellence in the teaching of biostatistics. The lectureship includes travel to Boston, a reception following the lecture and an honorarium of $1,000.

Lin is scheduled to deliver the lecture, titled "Selection and Assessment of Regression Models," on Sept. 19 at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The lectureship was established in memory of Dr. Myrto Lefkopoulou, a faculty member and graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health, who died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 34.

Lin’s research interests include survival analysis, longitudinal data analysis, designs and analysis of medical studies, health economics and statistical genetics.

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Doctoral students win awards at international research meeting

Two doctoral students from the UNC School of Public Health’s department of health policy and administration received awards at the seventh annual meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research held recently in Arlington, Va.

Anu Krishnan, a rising third-year doctoral student from Bombay, India, was awarded the best student poster presentation for her study on the impact of prescribing antibiotics for acute otitis media, a common medical condition in children, at the initial doctor’s visit on the probability and frequency of acute otitis media-related return visits among North Carolina Medicaid patients. She co-wrote the study with Dale Christensen, the chair of the division of pharmaceutical policy and evaluative sciences in the UNC School of Pharmacy.

Krishnan shared the award for best student podium presentation with Wingham Jacqueline Kwong, a fourth-year doctoral student from Durham. They received the award for their work on an item analysis of DisQ-24, a questionnaire that measures disability in the 24 hours following the onset of headache pain, using classical test theory and item response theory methods to provide recommendation on further revisions.

Krishnan and Kwong are both enrolled in a joint doctoral program studying health policy and administration in the UNC School of Public Heath and pharmaceutical policy and evaluative sciences, housed in the UNC School of Pharmacy.

The organization acts as a scientific leader in pharmacoeconomics research, health outcomes assessment and related issues of public policy. It represents health-care researchers and practitioners including pharmacists, physicians, economists and other professionals involved in pharmacoeconomic analysis and health outcomes assessment.

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Min receives award for outstanding research abstract

A researcher at the UNC School of Medicine received an award from the International AIDS Society for an abstract submitted to the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Dr. Sherene S. Min, a fellow in the division of infectious diseases, received the IAS Young Investigator Award on July 12.

She was honored as author of an abstract titled "Differential Penetration of Protease Inhibitors [PI] and Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors [NNRTI] into the Female Genital Tract [GT]."

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Note: Krishnan and Kwong both work at GlaxoSmithKline and can be reached at (919) 483-2100.

Photo note: To download a photo of Lin, click on http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/lin_danyu.jpg

School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu
School of Medicine contact: Tom Hughes, (919) 966-6047
News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415