Optometry dean joins CPH faculty
Melvin Shipp, OD, DrPH, dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry, has recently joined the College of Public Health Division of Health Services Management and Policy as a joint professor.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Shipp into the Division of Health Services Management and Policy. He has a long standing interest in health policy and the tremendous potential to influence public health policy nationally and internationally,” said Allard Dembe, ScD, chair, Division of Health Services Management and Policy.
Dr. Shipp is president of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and has been an active member of APHA for more than 25 years, serving in a variety of leadership positions.
Shipp has advised several federal institutions, notably, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health. In 2006, he co-chaired the development of a CDC-sponsored vision health initiative, “Improving the Nation's Vision Health: A Coordinated Public Health Approach.”
Shipp is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and a diplomate of the academy's Public Health and Environmental Optometry Section, chairing the Section from 1999-2001. He is a past president of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry and is a member of the national board of directors of Prevent Blindness America.
Shipp earned his Doctor of Optometry from Indiana University, his Master of Public Health from Harvard University, and his Doctor of Public Health from the University of Michigan.
Schweikhart named AUPHA chair-elect
Sharon Schweikhart, PhD, MBA, associate professor in the Division of Health Services Management and Policy (HSMP), was selected to become chair-elect of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA).
Schweikhart was elected to the position of chair-elect by the AUPHA membership at the annual business meeting and will begin her one-year term in June 2012.
Schweikhart has been active in AUPHA for 15 years, most recently serving on the board as chair of the finance committee. She has worked at The Ohio State University College of Public Health for 22 years.
“Getting to know my colleagues in other management programs and working together to improve healthcare management education are the two things I enjoy most about AUPHA,” Schweikhart said in a recent interview.
Schweikhart plans to contribute her enthusiasm for merging academic knowledge and theory with practice to the chair-elect position, as well as her passion for improving student preparedness for leading change in the U.S. healthcare system.
Wickizer poster presentation performs well at ISPOR conference
Professor Tom Wickizer’s poster presentation was selected as a research poster presentation award finalist among 1,500 entries at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 14th Annual European Congress.
Wickizer’s poster presentation, “Improving the Quality and Reducing Costs in Workers’ Compensation Health Care: A Population-Based Intervention Study,” was evaluated by a team of judges at the ISPOR meeting held in November in Madrid, Spain.
Wickizer, PhD, MPH, is director of the Center for Health Outcomes, Policy and Evaluation Studies (HOPES) and the Stephen F. Loebs professor in the Division of Health Services Management and Policy at the College of Public Health.
“The great majority of the presentations were for pharmacoeconomics. My presentation reported the results of a successful quality improvement intervention. I was gratified the judges recognized the importance of this work,” said Wickizer.
The ISPOR best research poster presentation awards were established in 1998 to recognize the scientific merit of poster presentations of the ISPOR conferences.
CPH to offer B.S. degree in fall 2012
The College of Public Health will offer a new bachelor of science in public health (BSPH) degree starting fall 2012 in conjunction with Ohio State’s conversion to semesters.
The BSPH has two interdisciplinary specializations that were developed and will be delivered collaboratively with the College of Arts & Sciences: public health sociology or environmental public health. BSPH students will be required to select one interdisciplinary specialization.
The BSPH degree will focus on public health issues in the US and internationally. The program will expand learners’ knowledge and comprehension of issues affecting humans worldwide. The College of Public Health will have primary administrative responsibility for the new program but will collaborate with the College of Arts & Sciences for shared governance of the overall program.
The new degree program was developed for a variety of reasons, one of which is an increased demand for highly educated and trained public health professionals. The Association of Schools of Public Health projects an impending shortage of qualified public health workers due to current employees retiring and a rising need for public health knowledge and skills. The new BSPH degree was also requested by several students who have completed the College’s undergraduate minor in public health.
“To accommodate incoming undergraduate students, we will offer additional sections of existing courses and have hired a new faculty member, Gail Kaye, PhD, to serve as the program director. We have also hired an undergraduate student advisor/recruiter in our Career Services department,” said Michael Bisesi, PhD, senior associate dean for academic affairs; director of the Center for Public Health Practice; and associate professor, Division of Environmental Health Sciences.
In addition to highly-qualified faculty and staff resources, BSPH students will have state-of-the-art classroom and lab facilities available for their use in the newly-renovated Cunz Hall.
“BSPH graduates will be prepared for early career, entry-level positions in public health. However, the intent is for most students to pursue the undergraduate degree as a foundation for preparation for graduate and professional studies. We anticipate that a popular option will be for students to pursue a dual degree and complete both their undergraduate and graduate education in five years instead of six,” said Bisesi.
The Ohio State University Council on Academic Affairs and the Senate have approved the proposal for the interdisciplinary BSPH degree. After review and approval by the OSU Board of Trustees, approval by the Ohio Board of Regents is anticipated.
U.S. Ambassador to Cuba visits College of Public Health
The United States Ambassador to Cuba, Jorge Bolaños-Bolaños, visited the College of Public Health on Thursday, November 17.
The Ambassador met with Dean Stanley Lemeshow to discuss the state of public health in Cuba and tour the newly renovated Cunz Hall.
According to the Ambassador, public health is very highly valued in Cuba.
“Total medical costs are held to a low level in Cuba because people are encouraged to participate in preventive care including smoking cessation, annual physical exams and recommended cancer screenings. As a result, Cuba ranks better on some key health indices, such as infant mortality rate, than the United States,” Lemeshow said.
The Ambassador was accompanied by his assistant and second secretary Rodney Amaury Gonzalez Maestrey. During his two-day visit to The Ohio State University, he met with a wide variety of faculty and toured the campus. This was the Ambassador’s first visit in the United States outside of Washington D.C.
CPH, Nanjing University host joint seminar about health care quality
A joint seminar between the College of Public Health (CPH) and Nanjing University on Nov. 8 is the first activity of a mutual cooperation agreement signed earlier this year.
Allard Dembe, chair and associate professor in the college’s Division of Health Services Management and Policy (HSMP), traveled to China earlier this year to develop the agreement with Nanjing University’s School of Government, specifically its Center for Health Management and Care Security Policy Research.
Under this agreement, the two institutions will be organizing several activities including faculty and student exchanges, joint research projects and educational programs.
The seminar, linked via video-conference between CPH and Nanjing University, was held on Nov. 8, in Cunz Hall in a conference room with built-in video-conferencing technology.
Professor Guhai, the center director from Nanjing University’s program, participated in the video-conference along with 15 doctoral students from the program. From Ohio State, Dembe participated along with 15 HSMP students. Xioashi Yao, one of the HSMP doctoral students, served as interpreter for the exchange.
This first seminar was entitled “The Physician’s Role in Helping to Improve the Quality of Care in Hospitals.”
This topic was selected because it is a relevant issue for hospitals both in the United States and in China.
Nanjing will organize a follow-up seminar. Dembe plans to revisit Nanjing University later this year.