Finals are upon us...come celebrate the semester's end at Flames on December 15

Another semester is wrapping up with finals starting Monday. To help us all unwind and celebrate, the MPH-SA Social Committee is hosting a happy hour get together next Thursday, December 15th . The event will be at Flames (across the street from the MLK library at the corner of 4th and San Fernando) from 3pm-6pm. The Social Committee will provide appetizers.

So, until then, happy studies! What are your favorite finals study tips or places to study?

World AIDS Day Tomorrow - An event in SJ and some resources

Message from Brian R. Grossman
Director, Undergraduate Program in Health Science

Hello wonderful students in the Department of Health Science, undergraduate and graduate students alike,

Tomorrow, December 1 is World AIDS Day - it is a commemoration of 30 years of the epidemic and a re-dedication to efforts for prevention, education, compassion, treatment and the search for a cure. For some of you, you have only known a world with HIV/AIDS and for many of you, you have only known sexual contact after HIV/AIDS. Take a moment tomorrow to think about how HIV/AIDS has shaped your life, the lives of those you love, and the profession and practice of health education and the field of public health.

Tomorrow night in San Jose there will be a free World AIDS Day Event from 6:30-7:30 pm in the San Jose City Hall Rotunda. Please consider attending. If you are unable to attend and looking for another way to commemorate World AIDS Day, think about hosting some friends for a showing of AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (or read the book!), a movie about the early epidemiology and advocacy efforts to identify, name, and raise awareness/dollars for treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Please take another few moments and look at the following resources that I put together to raise consciousness about people are living with HIV/AIDS, some of the strides that have been made in HIV prevention and treatment, and some of the work we still have yet to do. The information on HIV and aging is important because in the US people living with HIV/AIDS are living longer than ever before and people age 50 and over represent 1 in 4 people living with HIV and AIDS in the US.

• World AIDS Campaign 
• World Health Organization Global HIV/AIDS Response Report Summary
• 30 years of AIDS 
• CDC World AIDS Day 2011
• HIV Testing in the US
• AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPS)
• California Department of Public Health - Office on AIDS
• HIV and aging in the US 
• Center on HIV and Aging at ACRIA

Your dedication to community health is essential to stop the spread of HIV and to ensure continued quality of life and access to life-sustating programs for people living with HIV/AIDS. Thank you and good luck with the rest of the semester.

December 1 is World AIDS Day

A local commemoration ceremony will be held on December 1 from 6:30-7:30 pm in the San Jose City Hall Rotunda. This year's theme is Getting to Zero

Zero new HIV infections
Zero discrimination
& Zero AIDS related deaths

View the invitation here.

Second Annual Go Viral to Improve Health: IOM-NAE Health Data Collegiate Challenge

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) invite college and university students to participate in the Second Annual Go Viral to Improve Health: IOM-NAE Health Data Collegiate Challenge. Interdisciplinary student teams can capitalize on an abundance of available health data to develop effective, innovative, new applications that take on the nation's pressing health issues.

This sounds an awful lot like some of the innovative health data/data liberation projects Todd Park talked about in the SOPHE annual meeting closing plenary!

$10,000 in prize money will be awarded to the Challenge winners. Teams can register between now and February 10, 2012 at http://www.iom.edu/goviral.

For more information, visit http://www.iom.edu/goviral or http://www.facebook.com/goviraltoimprovehealth.

APHA Opening Session

Missed APHA and need some inspiration? View the opening session here:

Pamela Hyde, SAMHSA administator, Opening Session

Linda Rae Murray, APHA president, Opening Session

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, CEO Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Opening Session

Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, Opening Session

Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority leader, Opening Session

Getting the Inside Scoop to the CPH Exam

What's so awesome about attending APHA as a Health Science student? Professors take you around introducing you to people in the field. Dr. Mamary introduced Tracy and I to Molly M. Eggleston, MPH, CPH, MCHES, Executive Director to the National Board of Public Health Examiners. We got the scoop on the format of the test, types of exam questions and even reviewed some of their sample questions. Try this one out!

The epidemic of methyl mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan, in the 1950s illustrated contamination of which of the following?

A. Dairy products

B. Feed grain

C. Fish

D. Soil

E. Water

Answer: C

For more information on the CPH Exam visit their website at: www.nbphe.org

Cited and Sighted

One of the biggest advantages of attending SOPHE's annual meeting is that it provides the opportunity to meet and network with a broad array of health education researchers and educators. I was thrilled to meet two researchers in particular, whose work informed a lot of my assignments in my first year in the MPH program.

Me, Tom LaVeist, and Riisa K.

Me, Collins Airhihenbuwa, and Erica E.

We also got a chance to hear from Larry Cohen from the Prevention Institute. His talk was inspiring - read more in the posts below.

T.G.I.M.

Do you know about the Monday Movement?

It's Monday here at APHA and I was excited to pick up some Meatless Monday schwag, since I've been observing Meatless Mondays since I started the MPH program two years ago.  But today I learned that it's now going beyond Meatless Mondays to Healthy Monday.

The idea is that Monday is a great day to reset; the weekend or a hectic week is in the past and Monday is a time to engage or re-engage in a health-supporting activity. People tend to do this naturally, but we as health educators can leverage this tendency to facilitate moving people from thinking about a change (or contemplation, thank you Dr. Prochaska) to action, or even from precontemplation to contemplation to action by educating others about the Monday Movement. Learn more about it at http://www.mondaycampaigns.org.

We're Not Buying It - New Message from the Prevention Institute

Check out this new ad from the Prevention Institute that Larry Cohen showed us during a panel discussion on Friday at SOPHE 2011. The ad was recently produced to help stop marketing junk food to kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab9zbqHJ_p4

Watch...and tell us what you think.

Who's Who at SOPHE 2011

The San Francisco Rebel Giant, Brian Wilson, made a special appearance and put smiles on the faces of the SOPHE attendees!

The energetic Todd Park from Health and Human Services addresses the power of mobile health innovations to improve the nation's health over the next decade in America.

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services addresses SOPHE attendees about winnable battles in public health.

Photo Opp with Honorary Fellow Lecturer Dr. James O. Prochaska, Dr. Daniel Perales, and Mary Nacionales, SOPHE National Treasurer. Dr. Prochaska is best known for developing the Transtheoretical Model. Also in attendance are Erica Eilenberg, Danielle Cohen, Morgan Holland, and Rebecca Krueger, current MPH students.

Drizzly Day in D.C.

While the weather's a little gray in the Washington, D.C. area, it's not damping the spirits of health educators and other public health students and professionals as we await the SOPHE and APHA annual meetings! The damp weather gave us good reason to explore through the underground passages throughout downtown Arlington today, where we saw public health at work...and the conferences haven't even begun yet!

See more public health messages from the Arlington underground.

SOPHE/APHA Travel Scholarships Available Through MPH-SA

SJSU Associated Students has funded $500 in travel scholarships for MPH students to travel to the SOPHE and/or APHA annual meetings. Awards will be distributed equally among all eligible applicants. The award amount will vary based on the number of applicants. To apply, you must:

• Be an SJSU MPH student in good standing
• Be currently enrolled in at least one fall semester class
• Attend either the SOPHE 2011 Annual Meeting, APHA 2011 Annual Meeting, or both in Washington, DC in October and November
• Commit to sharing your experiences with the broader MPH community by contributing to a Harbinger blog post
• Contribute at least 2 thoughtful posts or comments on the Harbinger blog no later than one week following the annual meetings (by November 9)
• Optional but highly encouraged: Include one or more photos in your post or send photos to the Harbinger blog team for posting

All applicants who meet criteria will be awarded travel scholarships.

To apply, please complete our application form here.

Mark your calendars!

Can you believe the fall semester is already underway? Here are some important dates to get on your calendar:

• September 14 @ noon - Applications for Health Science travel scholarships to SOPHE and APHA annual meetings due in HS office
• September 19 - Last day for SOPHE annual meeting early registration price
• September 23 @ 5 pm - Health Science Living Legacy 2011 Student Scholarship applications due in HS office
• September 23 - Last day for APHA annual meeting regular registration price 
• September 26 @ 5:30 pm - Living Downstream Regional Film Premiere in Barrett Ballroom in SJSU Student Union
• October 7 - Last day for SOPHE annual meeting pre-registration price
• October 27-29 - SOPHE annual meeting in Washington, DC
• October 29-November 2 - APHA annual meeting in Washington, DC

Stay tuned for more info on these events!

Health Science Living Legacy Student Scholarships available - application due September 23

The Health Science Department is offering Living Legacy student scholarships to undergraduates majoring in Health Science and MPH students. Applications are due Friday, September 23 at 5 pm in the Health Science office.

Learn more about the Health Science Living Legacy student scholarship or download the application.

Health Science travel scholarships to 2011 SOPHE and APHA annual meetings

San José State University's  Health Science Department is generously making travel scholarships available to help Health Science and MPH students travel to the 2011 SOPHE and APHA annual meetings in Washington, DC. Applications are due this Wednesday, September 14 at noon in the Health Science office.

Learn more about the Health Science travel scholarships or download the application.

iPhone and Condoms

Philadelphia Looks to Condom-Locating iPhone App to Help Slow Spread of AIDS

Webinar: HHS' Action Plan to Reduce Health Disparities

This Monday, April 25, 2011, at 1 p.m. ET, Today's Topics in Health Disparities webcast examines the new Department of Health and Human Services’ Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Link

5th Annual Global Health Conference

Catalyzing Knowledge in Dangerous Times | UCB Center For Race Gender

Catalyzing Knowledge in Dangerous Times | Center For Race Gender | CRG

Got an hour? Boost your grades. Stanford psychologists design 60-minute exercise that raises GPAs of minority students

Got an hour? Boost your grades. Stanford psychologists design 60-minute exercise that raises GPAs of minority students