Faculty and Staff News

Dr. Colleen McBride will be stepping down from her role as chair of the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences (BSHES) at the end of this year. A search for a new chair is already underway. The committee is being co-chaired by Drs. Robert Krafty and Kimberly Jacob Arriola, and the committee includes faculty representation from several of our academic departments (including BSHES) as well as the Schools of Medicine and Nursing. Dr. McBride will remain actively engaged in her role through December 31, 2021, before transitioning to a faculty position in the BSHES department which will enable Colleen to more fully pursue her passions for research and mentorship, as well as continue in her position as associate director of Winship Cancer Institute’s Community Outreach and Engagement Program.

Research & Grants

Emory Centers for Public Health Training and Technical Assistance at the Rollins School of Public Health has announced a $6 million grant from Gilead Sciences, Inc. over three years to continue to build the capacity of organizations already working on the frontlines of the HIV crisis in communities across the U.S. South. Emory University will serve as one of four COMPASS coordinating to provide direct support to local community organizations to help mitigate the HIV epidemic in the Southern United States. Emory will also act as the backbone organization to align and amplify collective impact across the multisite initiative. Read more.

Researchers from the Emory Rollins School of Public Health’s Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast (RISE) recently published a study examining abortion data in the Southeast in a recent issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The researchers including Rollins faculty Dr. Whitney Rice and Emory PhD candidate and RISE fellow, Katie Labgold, examined nearly 10,000 cases of people who had called to seek support from ARC-Southeast —an abortion fund that provides financial and logistical support for people seeking abortion care in the Southeast—between 2017 and 2019 among six states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Read more.

Researchers from Rollins School of Public Health have published an 18-year prospective study in Diabetes Care, which found that a spouse who cares for their partner with diabetes is at a 24 percent higher risk of depression and/or anxiety. And, if the spouse’s diabetes limits daily activities, the risk is 89 percent higher, while those whose spouse has diabetes in combination with other chronic conditions has a 134 percent higher risk for depression and/or anxiety. Dr. Jannie Nielson, assistant professor at Emory’s Global Diabetes Research Center, was first author. Read more.

Awards & Honors

Dr. Sarah Blake, research assistant professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Rollins, was recently recognized with Emory’s 2021 Award for Excellence in Teaching and Pedagogy for her outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge surrounding women’s health. This specific honor “recognizes any teacher at Emory whose teaching methods, syllabi, and/or course design addresses women’s issues or matters of feminist importance with innovation and success. The award honors a teacher whose record demonstrates a willingness to bring gender issues into the classroom in creative and inspiring ways.” Read more.

Dr. Mike Kutner, professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, received the 2021 American Statistical Association (ASA) Karl E. Peace Award for Outstanding Statistical Contributions for the Betterment of Society.

Publications

Rollins students and faculty are frequent authors and collaborators on articles that advance research, provoke thought, and inspire action. Read recent publication highlights.

In The Media

Rollins faculty are frequently quoted in the media and their research often cited. Read recent media articles featuring our faculty.

In Memorium

This spring we lost several Rollins faculty members - Dr. John Young, Jr., Dr. Charles R. Hatcher, Jr., and Dr. Stanley O. Foster all passed away in March.

John L. Young Jr., PhD, MPH passed away on March 11, 2021. Dr. Young was a Professor of Epidemiology at Rollins from 1998-2013 and is considered to be the "father" of cancer surveillance in North America. He was instrumental to establishing and advancing the principles of this field worldwide. While serving in the Public Health Service, Dr. Young helped establish the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program within the National Cancer Institute. He also worked closely with the International Association of Cancer Registries, serving as president, as an editor of Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, and as an advisor to population-based registries worldwide.

On March 14, 2021, our longtime friend, collaborator, educator, and alumnus, Stanley Owen Foster, MD, MPH, OBN passed away after a prolonged illness. Dr. Foster's public health career encompassed more than 60 years as an international epidemiologist and teacher. Among the many achievements of his prolific career include his role in containing the last case of variola major (the deadliest form of smallpox) in the world while leading the World Health Organization’s smallpox program in Bangladesh. To commemorate the life and contributions of this global health legend, our CDC colleagues hosted a virtual tribute in his honor.
A memorial service will be held for Dr. Foster on Saturday, May 29 at 2:00 pm in the sanctuary of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church. For details on attending in person or virtually visit: https://afosterri.org/sofoster/?page_id=306

Charles Ross Hatcher, Jr., MD, former vice president for Health Affairs at Emory University and director of Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center, passed away peacefully on March 27, 2021, at the age of 90. Dr. Hatcher's relationship with our school can be traced back to the very beginning. He was a fearless and enthusiastic supporter of public health and integral to our establishment as a school. We can credit Dr. Hatcher for engaging O. Wayne Rollins’s interest in funding what would become the Grace Crum Rollins Building and the Rollins School of Public Health (the first named school of public health). He hired our first dean, Ray Greenberg, and later Jim Curran. We established the Charles R. Hatcher, Jr. Award upon his retirement. This award, a glass sculpture of intertwining hearts speaks to Dr. Hatcher's illustrious career in cardiac surgery paired with the “heart” of public health. Read more about Dr. Hatcher's life and career.