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.