Full Magazine - UCLA School of Public Health

UCLA
PUBLIC HEALTH
NOVEMBER 2006
TROUBLED
WATERS
Science, Policy and the Fight
to Preserve Our Natural Resources
UCLA
School of
Public
Health
Jeff Luck is among
SPH faculty and
alumni who are
using informatics
to change the way
hospitals, health
departments and
the public use
health information.
Angie Otiniano
and her fellow
members of
Students of Color
for Public Health
work toward
effecting positive
change for diverse
populations.
As a physician
in Kenya, Charles
Otieno saw
deaths emergency
services could
have prevented.
With his SPH education,
he plans
to change that.

PUBLIC HEALTH
UCLA
UCLA
Norman Abrams
Acting Chancellor
Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H.
Dean, UCLA School of Public Health
Sarah Anderson
Assistant Dean for Communications
Anita Mermel
Executive Director of Development
Dan Gordon
Editor and Writer
Martha Widmann
Art Director
features
4
EDITORIAL BOARD
Richard Ambrose, Ph.D.
Professor,
Environmental Health Sciences
Thomas R. Belin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biostatistics
Ralph Frerichs, D.V.M., Dr.P.H.
Professor, Epidemiology
F. A. Hagigi, Dr.P.H., M.B.A.
Associate Professor, Health Services
William Hinds, Ph.D.
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Michael Prelip, D.P.A.
Assistant Professor,
Community Health Sciences
Kevin Loh
President, Public Health Student Association
Christopher Mardesich, J.D., M.P.H. ’98
President, Alumni Association
Troubled Waters – Science,
Policy and the Fight to Preserve
Our Natural Resources
Pollution. Drought. Overdevelopment. Overconsumption. SPH faculty, students and
alumni lead the effort to keep our oceans, streams, wetlands and drinking water
healthy, clean and abundant.
School of
Public
Health

Charlotte
Neumann:
Pediatrician
Provides Food
for Thought
12
Her seminal work in Africa
shows that adding small
amounts of meat to
malnourished children’s
diets improves school
performance. In Los
Angeles, she tackles
a very different nutritional
problem.
14
Making Healthy
Connections:
Unleashing
the Power of
Information
Technology
Systems
As computers have gotten faster
and cheaper, health care and
public health are beginning to
apply informatics and other
strategies to improve the way
they do business.
Students of Color
for Public Health:
Engaging Diverse
Communities,
Supporting
Each Other
18
Group making its mark by
fostering discussion and
action among SPH students
committed to working
on behalf of populations
of color, and helping
members succeed.
in every issue
22
28
30
32
RESEARCH
Salad’s benefits...hypertension
and long work hours...air pollution’s
risk to infants...health
benefits of marriage...weight
obsession and exercise motivation...risky
behavior after
new HIV infection...correcting
refractive error in elderly.
STUDENTS
NEWS BRIEFS
FACULTY
PHOTOGRAPHY
Reed Hutchinson / Cover: Luck, Otiniano; TOC: Students of Color for Public Health;
pp. 4-7, 9-12, 15, 19, 21, 28; p. 32: Keeler
Lisa Hancock / p. 17: Balgrosky; p. 32: Rice
Glenn Wong / Cover: Otieno; p. 29
Judith Ernst / TOC: Neumann
Danny Moder / p. 31
Courtesy of Shannon Pankratz / TOC: Water; p. 8
Courtesy of Paul Fu, Jr. / p. 16
Courtesy of Jeff Luck / p. 17: CHIS website home page
Courtesy of Raphael Travis / p. 18
Courtesy of the UCLA School of Public Health / pp. 2, 20, 30, 31: Oppenheimer; p. 32: Symposium
Getty Images © 2006 / Cover: Water; pp. 22, 24-25
Punchstock © 2006 / TOC: Making Healthy Connections; pp. 14, 27
School of Public Health Home Page: www.ph.ucla.edu
E-mail for Application Requests: app-request@admin.ph.ucla.edu
UCLA Public Health Magazine is published by the UCLA School of Public Health for the alumni, faculty,
students, staff and friends of the school. Copyright 2006 by The Regents of the University of California.
Permission to reprint any portion must be obtained from the editor. Contact Editor, UCLA Public Health
Magazine, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772. Phone: (310) 825-6381.

2
dean’s message
“EITHER YOU BRING THE WATER TO L.A., or bring L.A. to the
water” is a memorable quote from 1974’s Chinatown. The movie, based in the
1930s, told a tale of politics, murder and betrayal — all having to do with water. As
discussed in our cover story (see page 4), the water issue is highly charged and
extremely complex. In Southern California we worry about the cleanliness of our
beaches, about surfing and about the seafood we eat. We seem at times less concerned
about our drinking water as long as tap water is safe and bottled water continues
to be delivered to our homes and offices. But should we worry more?
Research and work currently conducted by UCLA School of Public Health
faculty, students and alumni confirm that we are on a dangerous course. We learn
why we need to address critical water issues now in order to plan for the future.
The issues on our horizon have evolved into a global crisis linked directly with
poverty, malnutrition and disease caused by inadequate sanitation and water
scarcity. In addition, we are witnessing an increase in water-related disasters,
including the Indian Ocean tsunami; hurricanes in the Caribbean, west Pacific and
United States; floods in Central and Eastern Europe; and extensive droughts in
Niger, Mali, Spain and Portugal. These extreme events are among the most prominent,
but serve to illustrate the profound global impact of water.
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
Annual Meeting along with advisory board member Cindy Horn. It is the second
year in a row that former President Bill Clinton hosted the event to find and fund
solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. This year global public health was
introduced as one of four main themes. Attendees included more than 50 current
and former heads of state, plus a high-profile group of CEOs, philanthropists,
journalists and representatives of nonprofit organizations. The meeting is unique
because of the action-oriented focus; participants are not only expected to bring
ideas, but concrete investments and plans for change.
Being in the company of those attending CGI was inspiring. I was encouraged
by listening to leaders from all over the globe with the means and resolve to make
a difference in our world. Upon reflection, the resolve and goals of the meeting
embody what we strive to do in the field of public health. We have the unprecedented
opportunity and responsibility to help people meet their needs.
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

3
Armed with training in public health, our students and faculty are actively
engaged in research and consultation in nearly 70 countries throughout the world.
And the work we do at UCLA has a global reach. A new high speed, high volume
laboratory network (see page 30) will utilize technology to allow real-time disease
surveillance around the globe. Meanwhile, our faculty and alumni are utilizing
advanced information technology to change the way health care services are delivered
and public health is practiced — work that transcends all borders (see page 14).
Attending the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting and reflecting on the global
importance of work currently underway at the school has reinforced, in my mind,
the necessity to continue broadening our vision and extending our reach. Our
strategic plan written nearly five years ago charted a course for expanding our
global efforts. Much as the movie Chinatown foreshadowed the importance of
water, our plan correctly focused more of our efforts abroad.
Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H.
Dean
TOTAL EXPENDITURES
Grants and Contracts
State-Generated Funds
Gifts and Other
Fiscal Year 05-06
$51.4 million
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

4
POLLUTION.
DROUGHT.
OVERDEVELOPMENT.
OVERCONSUMPTION.
SPH FACULTY,
STUDENTS AND
ALUMNI LEAD THE
EFFORT TO KEEP
OUR OCEANS,
STREAMS,
WETLANDS AND
DRINKING WATER
HEALTHY, CLEAN
AND ABUNDANT.
Troubled
WATERS
Science, Policy and the Fight
to Preserve Our Natural Resources
For an essential natural resource, water – in
our oceans, lakes, reservoirs, streams, wetlands or coming out of our taps – hasn’t
always gotten the protection it warrants.
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
The stakes are high. Clean water is critical for human health and ecosystem
survival – a point that is particularly pronounced in the Los Angeles region, no
stranger to droughts or closed beaches. Here, leaders in the scientific and policy
struggles on behalf of our aquatic resources – many of them faculty, students, or
graduates of the UCLA School of Public Health – report mixed results.
Significant progress has been made in the Santa Monica Bay, thanks in part
to the science, education and advocacy of Heal the Bay, the nonprofit organization
led by Mark Gold (D.Env. ’94). In the 20 years since Heal the Bay was
founded, plant and animal life has been restored to the “dead zone” that previously
existed in the middle of the bay and the amount of sewage solids discharged
into the bay has been reduced by 90%. Beach water quality during the
summer has taken a dramatic turn for the better. But there is still a long way to
go. “The biggest challenge before us is storm water runoff, where there has been
little progress,” Gold says. “The runoff is still found to be toxic to aquatic life
almost everywhere it’s tested, and our beaches look like landfills after every rain.”
In September, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board
implemented the nation’s most stringent bacteriological regulations for beach

5
water quality. In making the case to government
officials, the board argued that any further delay
in enforcing the stricter standards would carry substantial
economic and public health costs. One of
the key studies cited was published in July by Dr.
Linwood Pendleton, associate professor of environmental
health sciences at the school, who teaches in
the Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE)
program, an interdisciplinary, policy-oriented doctoral
program based in the school.
On the downside, Pendleton’s research focus is
prompted by the reality that coastal waters are not
always treated with the care they deserve. “People
don’t appreciate how important beaches are, because
they’re largely free,” he says. “But they’re an important
part of the coastal economic engine. My work
is pulling together how big that economic contribution
is, and then looking into the damages to that
economic contribution caused by having dirty water
and closed beaches.”
Exciting new technologies are being developed
to treat drinking water – including a desalination
process currently being studied by Dr. Mel Suffet
and two of his students that could one day lead to
a feasible way of treating water from the ocean so
that it’s acceptable for drinking. “I predict desalination
of ocean water will be cost-effective in 10-20
years,” says Suffet, professor of environmental health
sciences and a member of the ESE faculty. “If that
occurs, it could solve the water-quantity problems
of Southern California. Of course, then we would
really have to keep the ocean clean, and right now
too many people don’t care about that.”
Water issues fall into two major classes: those that
have to do with water that is treated, delivered and
consumed by humans, and those related to water in
the environment – from streams, lakes and reservoirs
to coastal waters. In some cases there is overlap.
Contaminants in a reservoir used for drinking water
affect both the population that consumes it and the
ecology it supports.
Faculty and students at the school are studying
both classes of water issues. “We have people concerned
with the chemistry – the effects of what goes
into the water; the ecological consequences of these
effects; and the human health and economic impact
of these interventions,” says Dr. Richard Ambrose,
professor of environmental health sciences and
director of the ESE program. Again, the distinctions
often blur. When oceans are contaminated by bacteria
from sewage spills or storm water, for example,
“The huge
unknown is
what’s going to
happen with
global climate
change. That
covers every possible
dimension
—the quality of
water and its
sources, as well
as what will happen
from our
local rainstorms.
We may have
more extreme
storms and more
flooding, as well
as more droughts.
All of these will
have human and
ecosystem consequences
that
will have to be
dealt with.”
— Dr. Richard Ambrose
cover story UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

6
“People don’t
appreciate how
important
beaches are,
because they’re
largely free.
But they’re an
important part
of the coastal
economic engine.
My work is pulling
together how big
that economic
contribution is,
and then looking
into the damages
to that economic
contribution
caused by having
dirty water and
closed beaches.”
the people who depend on the ocean’s fish supply
suffer along with the sea life.
Suffet, an environmental chemist, studies potentially
toxic compounds and their effects on drinking
water as well as on the ecology of streams and coastal
waters. In his research on drinking water, he focuses
not only on health concerns but also on palatability –
studying compounds that, even if not unhealthful,
may result in taste and odor problems. In one study, he
is tackling the taste and odor problems caused by two
nontoxic chemicals found in natural waters: geosmin
and 2-methylisoborneol. Both are released by algae,
making them a concern in Southern California wherever
there are lakes and warm weather. The Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California and the
Los Angeles Water Department have begun using
ozone at water treatment plants to remove these
chemicals. Suffet is studying the effect of that approach,
as well as strategies of adding chlorine or
chloramines to minimize the flavor of these materials.
He has also begun applying his work in drinkingwater
odor issues to air pollution, particularly from
compost facilities and wastewater treatment plants.
Taste and odor are minor concerns in parts of
the world where water is particularly scarce. An estimated
1.1 billion of the world’s nearly 7 billion people
lack access to clean water. Developing countries
currently bear the brunt of the crisis, but if current
trends continue, water scarcity could one day become
a major problem for Southern California. “The global
climate change models indicate that in the future
we’re going to get a much higher percentage of
our precipitation as rain rather than as snow,” says
Ambrose. “Right now, one of nature’s services is that
it stores the water for us in the form of snow, and
then releases it over an extended period of time so
that we can use it. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is
currently serving as a huge water reservoir, but if the
precipitation comes in as rain, a lot of that water is
going to fill the reservoirs to capacity, run out to the
ocean, and not be available later in the year.”
That’s where the research of Suffet and others
to improve water treatment technology comes in.
Working with the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California, Suffet and his students are
focusing their desalination effort on the Colorado
River, a major source of water for the region that has
experienced deterioration in quality as its chemistry
changes and demand increases. Among other things,
the salt content in the Colorado River water must
be decreased to be acceptable for drinking. The ideal
solution would involve the use of membrane filtration,
but the technology’s cost has been a barrier.
“The future of drinking water is developing
membranes that are inexpensive and can be used by
the water industry not only for desalination, but also
— Dr. Linwood Pendleton
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

for removing bacteria, viruses, hazardous chemicals and chemicals that cause
taste and odor problems,” Suffet explains. “The key to the expense of the membrane
is that it fouls or gets clogged and fails to operate for long periods of time.”
Suffet and colleagues are studying the fouling process in the hopes that a better
understanding will help to identify ways to prevent it. They have found that a
mixture of a high-molecular-weight natural background organic matter, humic
material, fouls the small-sized membrane channels. In field studies in Yuma,
Ariz., Suffet’s group is exploring how to overcome that hurdle. “It’s a long-term
effort, but if we can get a handle on this, it could one day lead to making desalination
of ocean water cost-effective,” Suffet says.
As housing developments continue to go up in Southern California, water
scarcity looms as a major issue, as do potential issues of contamination caused
by urban runoff. Suffet heads another group working with Sweetwater Reservoir,
which supplies the drinking water for Spring Valley and the surrounding area
near San Diego. When rain runs off the soil and roads, it picks up pesticides and
poly-aromatic hydrocarbons – carcinogenic compounds deposited by automobiles
– and brings them into the reservoir. To combat this concern, Sweetwater
created a wetland to intercede between the reservoir and the runoff and treat
the water. Suffet’s and Ambrose’s groups are studying ways to optimize this urban
runoff diversion system so that the pollution going into the reservoir is minimized.
Ambrose’s work spans the gamut from water chemistry to human health, with
a focus on how contaminants that are put into fresh water, often as a result of
urbanization of watersheds, affect the health of ecosystems. In addition to studying
ecosystem changes, he and his students are exploring how to assess their
effects. “We need to determine how we should measure an ecosystem’s health
and how we can integrate that information to better understand the policies or
management changes that would ensure that it remains healthy – or regains its
Shannon
Pankratz
Pankratz, a student
in the interdisciplinary
Environmental Science and
Engineering (ESE) program,
based in the School of Public
Health, works with Dr. Mel
Suffet in focusing on storm
water runoff pollution. Two
storm water sampling projects
that she has been involved
in, locally for Ballona Creek
and at Sweetwater Reservoir
in Spring Valley, Calif., characterize
various pollutants in
urban runoff. The Sweetwater
project also involved the
characterization and evaluation
of the Sweetwater
Authority Urban Runoff
Diversion System, which had
been constructed to protect
the Sweetwater reservoir
and drinking water supplies.
Pankratz is now involved in
an assessment of the fate
of urban runoff pollutants
in simulated wetland microcosms.
“The major goals of
this Sweetwater greenhouse
project are to determine the
most important environmental
compartments involved in
the sequestration of the pollutants,
ultimately in order to
develop best-management
practices for maintaining and
constructing wetlands to treat
urban runoff and improve
water quality,” she says. The
findings will also be used to
help protect drinking water
sources and aquatic ecosystems.
“Urban runoff issues
are a major hurdle to be
overcome in addressing
non-point source pollution
in watersheds,” explains
Pankratz, who is working
for the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Regulatory Branch
while completing her doctoral
studies. “The Sweetwater
greenhouse project is just
one small step forward in
investigating a cost-effective
and semi-natural means of
treating urban runoff.”
Fred
Gerringer
More than 1 billion people
throughout the world lack
safe drinking water and basic
sanitation. Gerringer, a doctoral
student in the ESE
program working with Dr.
Richard Ambrose, hopes to
contribute to alleviating the
problem through water treatment
research. “As my education
and career progress,
my goal will be to help society
maintain the balance
between economic prosperity,
access to clean water,
and a healthy environment,”
he says. Gerringer’s dissertation
research involves water
treatment technologies that
may be used to desalinate
Colorado River water diverted
to Southern California. “This
crucial source of water carries
millions of tons of salt
into the region each year,”
Gerringer explains. “Much
of this salt accumulates in
the soil and leaches into the
ground during irrigation,
threatening agricultural productivity
and aquifers used
for drinking water.” One
approach to this issue is to
separate salts from the water
using reverse osmosis (RO)
membrane desalination,
which can achieve removals
greater than 95%. But the
water must be pre-treated
to remove particulates,
microorganisms, and other
constituents that can impair
RO desalination. Gerringer’s
research compares potential
pre-treatment processes that
could be used to optimize
RO membrane performance.
7
cover story UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

8
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Suzan Given
As a requirement of the ESE
program, Given is conducting
her internship at the County
of Orange, Watershed and
Coastal Resources Division,
where she has been working
on various projects related to
implementation of national
pollution discharge elimination
system permit requirements.
Given sees the Clean
Water Act, which mandates
the requirements, as “a vehicle
to improve not only water
quality, but also the quality of
life for the public.” She
recently co-authored a paper
with her adviser, Dr. Linwood
Pendleton, in which she modeled
health impacts from
bathing in water polluted with
fecal indicator bacteria. “The
most important accomplishment
of the publication of this
paper was getting people to
think about and discuss
water quality issues,” Given
says. “It also helped to make
possible the L.A. Regional
Water Board’s decision to
protect beaches by putting
teeth in the storm water permit
for Los Angeles County.”
Given was asked to present
the paper at a conference on
Sustainable Management of
Coastal Recreational
Resources in Malta. She will
soon begin her dissertation,
which she hopes will lead
toward better understanding
of the bacterial/water pollution
problem at Los Angeles
and Orange County beaches
as a way to better protect the
beach-going public.
Steven Lee
An aquatic ecologist with
diverse interests and experiences
in marine and freshwater
research, Lee’s
investigations have led him
to far reaches of the globe to
study intertidal and subtidal
community ecology in temperate
and tropical systems.
He came to the school in
1999 to work as a staff
researcher with Dr. Richard
Ambrose, professor of environmental
health sciences
(EHS). Since then, Lee has
managed numerous research
studies involving long-term
ecological monitoring of the
rocky intertidal, coastal wetland
restoration, ecological/
hydrological monitoring of
stream/riverine systems, and
the assessment of wetland
regulatory programs. In
2003, Lee entered the EHS
Ph.D. program. For his dissertation,
he is investigating
whether wetland mitigation
projects, required as compensation
for affected wetlands,
have been successful
in meeting the goals of state
and federal regulations, and
whether the national goal of
“no net loss of remaining
wetlands” is being achieved.
He has produced two lengthy
reports on the topic, and
believes his results are having
an early impact on the
regulatory practices of both
state and federal agencies.
Following his doctorate,
Lee plans to continue his
pursuits in the ecology and
environmental management
of California’s coastal
aquatic ecosystems through
some combination of
academic, nonprofit, and
consulting work.
health,” he explains. One of Ambrose’s current
research directions focuses on how degraded systems
can be restored back to health.
In addition to his interest in ensuring that the
aquatic environment for animals and plants is a
healthy one, Ambrose’s research is documenting the
benefits that healthy ecosystems provide to society.
It’s an area of research that has gained momentum
among ecologists in recent years. “If we lived in
Louisiana and people were going out and trapping
Students of Drs. Mel
Suffet and Richard
Ambrose study ways
to optimize an urban
runoff diversion system
designed to minimize
pollution at Sweetwater
Reservoir, which supplies
drinking water for
areas near San Diego.
fur-bearing animals or catching fish from the wetlands, people would appreciate
that the wetlands were supplying goods to them, and they would see a value,”
Ambrose says. “But in areas like Southern California, where not that many people
are getting goods out of wetlands or other habitats, it becomes more important
to describe the benefits.”
Among them are reduced flooding – wetlands can hold water and release it
slowly. They can provide a habitat for birds and other wildlife. And they appear
to have a protective effect on water quality in ways that Ambrose is attempting
to better understand. In more than one ongoing study, Ambrose and colleagues
are looking into the extent of this effect, and whether restoring the health of
wetlands could improve water quality. Under the federal Clean Water Act,
developments that are going to affect streams need to mitigate the impacts.
Ambrose recently completed a study looking at 129 mitigation projects throughout
California to determine whether the developers were compliant with the
permits, and, moreover, whether the outcomes were naturally functioning wetlands
with adequately protected water quality. Preliminary findings suggest that
in the latter two areas, the developers are falling short. Ambrose and colleagues
issued a final report to the state Water Resources Control Board, and are working
with the board on implementing the recommendations.
In some cases, wetlands may be able to act as cleansers. “We’ve known for a
long time that certain wetlands can clean up the water by removing pollutants,
potentially including bacteria,” Ambrose says. “But there has been little work
done on whether that is the case for salt marshes – coastal wetlands that are
tidal.” That information is of particular interest in Southern California, where
wetlands were once a significant part of the landscape. “At one time, every major
river went through a wetland before it went into the ocean, and the plants that
lived in those wetlands would have been removing the contaminants,” Ambrose
says. “But now that we’ve eliminated approximately 90% of all wetlands, the

question is whether those that are left are doing anything
to remove contaminants.”
Ambrose is specifically researching the impact
of wetlands on so-called fecal indicator bacteria going
into the ocean. Fecal indicator bacteria are used as
indicators of contamination by human sewage, and
have been associated with human health risks. The
study was prompted by recent findings that in one
area of Orange County, Calif., more fecal indicator
bacteria were going into the ocean after the water
went through a wetland than had gone into the wetland.
“It looked like wetlands were actually producing
these bacteria, and degrading water quality in the
ocean,” Ambrose says. Given that hundreds of millions
of dollars are being spent trying to restore wetlands
along the coast, the finding was especially
troubling. Ambrose’s team is currently doing a more
extensive study involving four wetlands up and down
the coast, with preliminary results suggesting that if
anything, the wetlands are reducing the bacteria.
Water pollution typically falls under two classifications.
Point source pollutants are what comes out of
a pipe, whether from a water treatment plant or an
industrial facility, and goes into a stream or ocean.
These discharges are regulated by federal, state and
local laws. Nonpoint source pollutants are less traceable
– they come from a wide range of sources, from
driveways and streets to the storm-drain system.
“Since the Clean Water Act took effect, we’ve done
a good job addressing the point sources – the pollution
that comes out of pipes is significantly lower
than it was 30 years ago,” says Eric Stein (D.Env.
’95), who heads the Watershed Department of the
Southern California Coastal Water Research Project
(SCCWRP). “But we’ve been much less effective at
dealing with the nonpoint source pollution because
it’s much harder than putting a control measure at
the end of a pipe or improving a treatment process.”
SCCWRP is a joint-powers agency formed by
several government entities that sought to pool
resources and knowledge to learn more about the
marine environment. In his position, Stein oversees
a variety of projects related to storm water and mass
emissions monitoring, watershed and water quality
model development, and assessment of wetlands and
other aquatic resources.
He notes that there are technical measures that
could be taken to reduce nonpoint source pollution,
but their cost is often considered prohibitive. “It’s a
combination of needing better technologies – ones
that are cheaper and easier to implement – and
appealing to the public on the amount of resources
people want to put into solving this problem,” Stein
says. A considerable body of research indicates that
the easiest way to solve the problem would be to
reduce the amount of pollution that’s generated.
“That involves changing people’s behaviors – how
they fertilize their lawns and clean their yards and
what types of products they use in their homes,”
Stein notes. “It’s a more cost-effective, long-term
solution, but much more difficult to implement.”
As executive director of the Santa Monica Bay
Restoration Commission, Shelley Luce (D.Env. ’03)
is among those who make the case that the Santa
Monica Bay is vital to the regional economy, local
ecology, and collective well-being of the community.
The commission brings together a diverse group of
stakeholders to work toward the goal of pollution
prevention and restoration programs.
“The beaches and ocean of Los Angeles are a
huge tourist attraction, with billions of dollars spent
each year within a few miles of the coast on parking,
eating, hotels and shopping,” Luce says. “There
is a major recreational fishing industry, along with
scuba diving and surfing, that all contribute a great
deal to our economy. And if people who swim, surf
or scuba dive in the bay are getting sick, that has
economic impacts as well. The bay provides food for
thousands of subsistence fishers who are affected
when the fish they catch are not healthful to eat.
And the diversity of life in the bay is enormous.”
The Santa Monica Bay is undoubtedly cleaner
than it was 20 years ago, she says, but many problems
remain, including DDT on the ocean floor, which
contaminates fish that people eat as well as moving
through the food chain to contaminate marine mammals;
and sewage effluent that contains both hormones
and chemicals that mimic hormones, leading
to reproductive problems along the food chain.
Storm water in the region was recently
addressed at the policy level with the establishment
of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), which sets
a cap on aggregate bacterial levels in the coastal
waters. Storm water pollution occurs when rain
picks up pollutants on the land surface and transports
them through the storm drainage system and
into the rivers, streams, and coastal waters. When
“These issues
don’t get solved
overnight, as
much as we
would like them
to be. You have
to stay with them,
and you have to
use creativity in
coming up with
solutions. Solving
complex environmental
problems
is not a one-sizefits-all
approach.
Whether you
need a legislative
remedy, an engineering
remedy
or an educational
remedy, you have
to have the ability
to be successful
in all arenas.”
— Mark Gold
(D.Env. ’94)
9
cover story UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

10
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
“I predict
desalination of
ocean water will
be cost-effective
in 10-20 years.
If that occurs,
it could solve the
water-quantity
problems of
Southern
California.
Of course, then
we would really
have to keep the
ocean clean,
and right now too
many people don’t
care about that.”
— Dr. Mel Suffet
the federal Clean Water Act was amended in 1987, it
required controls in urban areas to reduce pollution
transported by storm water. Xavier Swamikannu,
D.Env. ’94, has led the effort by the California Water
Quality Control Board and the Los Angeles Region
to set the cleanup framework for municipalities and
industries. In addition to helping to develop the
TMDLs for trash, bacteria, and heavy metals in
storm water discharges, Swamikannu was central to
the Los Angeles board’s action that amended the L.A.
County Municipal Storm Water Permit to incorporate
enforceable provisions to protect public health
during summertime beach recreation.
“This is a long-term matter, but things are
improving,” says Swamikannu. “At first it was difficult
to get people to understand why it is so important
to clean up storm water. But once studies began
to demonstrate the health impacts, the problem was
better understood, and now officials are serious about
reducing this form of pollution.”
Pendleton’s study made a strong argument that the
board ultimately heeded in passing the guidelines.
Publishing in the journal Environmental Science and
Technology, he and his colleagues estimated from
their data that in Los Angeles and Orange counties
in the year 2000, 1.5 million people became sick as
a result of swimming in bacteria-contaminated
coastal waters. Using a conservative estimate, the
authors concluded that annual public health costs
associated with these illnesses – including gastroenteritis,
skin rash, and ear, eye, and respiratory infections
– are $51 million.
Pendleton’s research looks at the economic
impact of water quality changes, including both the
costs associated with pollution of coastal waters and
the economic benefits associated with cleaning
them. His focus is entirely on day-use beachgoers in
Los Angeles and Orange counties, who log 80 million
beach visits per year. “So many cities have resisted
regulation and have called storm water management
procedures too expensive,” Pendleton notes. “So it’s
important to determine the costs of not cleaning up,
and how the benefits of cleanup compare to the
cleanup costs.”
Costs associated with polluted coastal waters
include fewer people going to the beach, which represents
an economic loss for businesses that cater to
beachgoers as well as other businesses in the immediate
area, Pendleton explains. People who pay higher
housing prices to be near the beach also suffer, as do
those who become sick from swimming in the polluted
waters. And Pendleton invariably finds that the
benefits of cleanup are greater than expected. In one

study, he estimated the annual recreational value of beach-going in California to
be more than $2 billion a year. While continuing to delve further into these topics,
he is increasingly focused on bringing them to the attention of policy makers.
Pendleton is the lead non-market economist for the National Ocean Economics
Program, which compiles studies on the economic value of coastal and ocean
resources and makes the information available through an online database.
Pendleton wasn’t the only person with a UCLA School of Public Health
connection who testified at the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control
Board hearing on TMDLs. Swamikannu and Gold, both alumni of the school’s
ESE program, also provided important input. “So many of our students and
alumni are playing an important role in Southern California,” Pendleton says.
“Without a doubt, UCLA is the leader in the region in the water quality field.”
The expertise and leadership that come out of the school will be much
needed in the future, since the issues won’t get any easier.
“The huge unknown is what’s going to happen with global climate change,”
says Ambrose. “That covers every possible dimension – the quantity of water and
its sources, as well as what will happen from our local rainstorms. We may have
more extreme storms and more flooding, as well as more droughts. All of these
will have human and ecosystem consequences that will have to be dealt with.”
Gold, whose success at Heal the Bay has served as a model for other environmental
advocacy organizations, believes that persistence and flexibility are
two of the keys to progress. “These issues don’t get solved overnight, as much as
we would like them to be,” he says. “You have to stay with them, and you have
to use creativity in coming up with solutions. Solving complex environmental
problems is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Whether you need a legislative remedy,
an engineering remedy or an educational remedy, you have to have the ability
to be successful in all arenas.”
Ryan Vaughn
Vaughn, a doctoral student in
the Department of Environmental
Health Sciences
program, is working with
Dr. Linwood Pendleton on
a study to assess the nonmarket
values of recreation
in the Channel Islands and
Monterey Bay national
marine sanctuaries. The study
addresses a gap in information
needed to assess the
economic magnitude of
private non-consumptive
activities within marine
sanctuaries and the ways
in which marine protection
affects these values. Nonconsumptive
recreation
includes any recreation
activity that does not involve
removing sanctuary
resources, including scuba
diving, snorkeling, whale
watching, bird watching,
viewing other wildlife, viewing/photographing
scenery,
canoeing, kayaking and
sailing. Study outcomes will
include the first geographically
organized inventory of
private non-consumptive
users and values, insight into
how biological and physical
attributes influence user
behavior and values, and the
economic impacts associated
with these users in terms of
local expenditures and social
welfare. Vaughn is interested
in investigating the consequences
of the spatial distribution
of environmental
resources on the practice
of economic valuation, and
hopes to develop and interpret
an econometric modeling
technique that takes into
account individual preferences
for environmental
services that are spatially
bundled, as well as latent
effects that a resource’s
spatial location may have
on its value.
Robert Gilbert
Gilbert, a doctoral student
in environmental health
sciences, is using highresolution
mobile sensing
to elucidate the impact
of urban development on
streams. “Freshwater streams
are critical natural resources
that have complex physical,
chemical and biological
processes,” he says. “Urban
development degrades these
systems, reducing their ability
to perform human services
such as water retention and
chemical processing.” One
effect of urbanization is that
algal biomass may reach
nuisance levels. In excess,
algae can be unsightly, odiferous,
and harmful to aquatic
stream life. “Trying to assess
and reduce the urban impacts
leading to nuisance algae is
difficult given the complexity
of these relationships,”
Gilbert says. The mobile
sensing system is part of a
multi-method approach to
characterizing these complex
relationships. The technology,
developed at UCLA’s
Center of Embedded
Networked Sensing, enables
the determination of shortterm
temporal and spatial
patterns of biologically
important stream conditions.
These patterns are determined
by deploying the
technology at a stream and
then performing repeated
autonomous scans of the
stream reach with a payload
of water quality sensors.
For his dissertation, Gilbert
is attempting to combine this
technology with static sensor
arrays and an algal productivity
bioassay to quantify
physical, chemical, and
algal conditions in a way
that enables comparability
both within and between
stream reaches.
11
cover story UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

12
HER SEMINAL
WORK IN AFRICA
SHOWS THAT
ADDING SMALL
AMOUNTS OF MEAT
TO MALNOURISHED
CHILDREN’S DIETS
IMPROVES SCHOOL
PERFORMANCE.
IN LOS ANGELES,
SHE TACKLES A
VERY DIFFERENT
NUTRITIONAL
PROBLEM.
CHARLOTTE NEUMANN:
Pediatrician Provides Food for Thought
In choosing where to devote her energies after her medical,
pediatric and public health training, Dr. Charlotte Neumann was motivated by a desire to make a maximum
impact. And for a pediatrician looking to have the most effect, the choice was clear.
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
“If you want to make a difference in the lives of large numbers of children in the developing world, you
have to deal with malnutrition,” she says. “It affects everything – diet quality and quantity, physical growth,
mental development and learning, infection risk, and mortality. Malnutrition is the basis for more than half
of all the deaths of children in developing countries – and it is almost completely preventable.”
Neumann has spent more than three decades addressing the problems of under-nutrition among children
in developing nations – specifically the lack of energy and insufficient level of micronutrients (vitamins and
minerals essential in small quantities for normal growth) in the diet. Much of her work has been in India and
West and East Africa, where poverty, poor infrastructure, HIV/AIDS, droughts and military strife have only
compounded an already bleak situation. “We have serious problems in the United States, but the most severe
health problems in developing countries are light years away from the worst problems here,” she says.
Neumann was introduced to these concerns shortly after she completed her training. While at Harvard’s
School of Public Health, she and her husband, Alfred K. Neumann – who was also interested in international
health – were approached by a prominent nutritionist, Jean Mayer. A leading expert on hunger who would
later serve as president of Tufts University, Mayer had a new training grant to bring researchers to developing
countries. He invited the Neumanns to spend a summer in Ghana. “We went with our one-year-old son and
were overwhelmed with the nutrition and infection problems of mothers and children we encountered,”
Charlotte Neumann says. “From that point, we were hooked and determined to work in developing countries.”
Their early research was in rural India. In 1969, when Alfred Neumann was recruited to join the faculty
of the UCLA School of Public Health (where he is currently professor emeritus), Charlotte joined the UCLA
Department of Pediatrics. In 1975 she also became part of the School of Public Health faculty, lured back to

her work in international health and nutrition by the
arrival of the late Dr. Derek Jelliffe. “Dr. Jelliffe was
the hero of all in international nutrition and health –
he played a pivotal role in bringing pediatrics to
Africa – and I always said that if he ever showed up,
I was going to work with him,” Neumann recalls. In
addition to co-teaching courses and developing curricula
with Jelliffe, Neumann began to move her
studies to Ghana and then Kenya, where she has been
conducting seminal research since the late 1970s.
In collaboration with researchers at the University
of Nairobi and Kenyan government agencies,
Neumann carried out studies on infection, immune
function and immunization response in newborns
born malnourished. Ultimately, Neumann and her
colleagues conducted a randomized controlled schoolfeeding
intervention study in which they found that
a high proportion of schoolchildren were lacking in
the vitamins, minerals, and energy they needed for
adequate functioning, learning and growth. They proceeded
with a randomized controlled study of more
than 9,000 schoolchildren in rural Kenya in which
they confirmed that adding a small amount of meat
to the diet dramatically increased the children’s school
performance, physical activity, muscle mass and ability
to ward off infection. (Populations in rural Africa
consume little or no animal food due to poverty and
inaccessibility.)
Any large-scale effort to enhance nutrition in a
developing country such as Kenya has to consider the
economic realities. “Many of the people we’re trying
to reach are subsistence farmers who can’t purchase
much, but rather are dependent on their abilities to
raise food to be eaten by the family and sold for
money,” Neumann says. While it would be costly to
try to add beef to their diet, Neumann believes a feasible
approach would be for households to raise small
animals such as rabbits and chickens as food sources,
along with fish from the lakes. So far, though, she
and her colleagues in Kenya have had difficulty persuading
officials to take action. “It’s been a slow
process and frustrating, particularly given the striking
differences in children’s cognitive performance and
growth with what could be a relatively inexpensive
addition to their diets,” Neumann says.
In Los Angeles, Neumann has often looked at
the other end of the spectrum, studying over-nutrition
and obesity in children. In the early 1990s, after
the Los Angeles Times ran a series of articles about
local children who were going to school malnourished,
Neumann decided to investigate the nutritionrelated
problems in UCLA’s backyard. Sure enough,
she found that 11% of the children in the Los
Angeles Unified School District schools studied were
malnourished – and that approximately half of the
children surveyed were overweight or obese. So
Neumann, working closely with faculty colleagues
Dr. Wendelin Slusser and Dr. Michael Prelip and staff
research associate Dr. Stephanie Vecchiarelli, began a
series of projects aiming to improve the nutrition
environment in schools.
Their Nutrition-Friendly Schools and Communities
concept has been testing the impact of
eliminating junk food, adding salad bars, promoting
physical activity and integrating nutrition into the
classroom curriculum at eight low-income elementary
schools in Hollywood and East Los Angeles.
Neumann initially obtained a grant and played a
leading role in UCLA’s evaluation of the educational
programs and activities established through the
California Nutrition Network, a state initiative
funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “I
have thoroughly enjoyed working in the schools in
Los Angeles to try to turn around this obesity epidemic,”
Neumann says. “I think we have called attention
to some very important problems.”
Neumann has also been actively involved with
the Venice Family Clinic since the early 1970s, when
she helped to obtain a grant to introduce pediatric
care at the then-nascent facility, which is now the
largest free clinic in the nation. As a volunteer pediatrician
she sees patients at the clinic, albeit less than
in past years because of a heavy travel schedule.
She and her husband, along with their friend,
philanthropist and School of Public Health Dean’s
Advisory Board member Robert Drabkin, have given
back in another important way. Each year, the
Neumann-Drabkin fellowship program sends UCLA
School of Public Health students to developing countries
for their first overseas field internships. “A lot of
students say they are interested in going into international
health, but unless they get that first experience,
they can’t really know what it’s like and it can be
just a pipe dream,” Neumann says. “This has been a
great way for these students to get some real experience
working in a developing country to see if that’s
what they want to do. Quite a few have stayed in
international health, and some have ended up in the
agencies where they interned.”
In addition to these students, Neumann has
trained a number of students who come to the school
from developing countries and then return home to
assume leadership positions. “There’s more interest in
global health at our school than ever before,” she
says. “In our research and training we’re adding to a
body of knowledge and helping to build infrastructure.
Eventually I think we’ll be able to look back
and say that has made a difference.”
“If you want
to make a difference
in the lives
of large numbers
of children in the
developing world,
you have to deal
with malnutrition.
It affects everything
– diet quality and
quantity, physical
growth, mental
development and
learning, infection
risk, and mortality.
Malnutrition is
the basis for more
than half of all the
deaths of children
in developing
countries —
and it is almost
completely
preventable.”
—Dr. Charlotte Neumann
13
faculty profile UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

14
AS COMPUTERS
HAVE GOTTEN
FASTER AND
CHEAPER, HEALTH
CARE AND PUBLIC
HEALTH ARE
BEGINNING TO
APPLY INFORMAT-
ICS AND OTHER
STRATEGIES TO
IMPROVE THE
WAY THEY DO
BUSINESS.
Making Healthy
Connections
Unleashing the Power of
Information Technology Systems
Computer technology isn’t new to health care or public health. But in the
last few years, as traditional barriers have been removed, the potential for information systems to improve
clinical performance and contribute to healthier populations has become clear – and in many cases, the
benefits are already being seen.
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Whether it’s developing electronic medical records or mining local-level health data for important
trends, the management of large amounts of health-related information through the use of computer technology
– sometimes called medical, health, or public health informatics – has been slow in developing,
particularly when compared to other industries. In health care, two problems have long stood in the way.
“Health care data are challenging to manage and transmit in computerized form because of their diversity
and volume,” says Dr. Jeff Luck, associate professor of health services at the UCLA School of Public Health
and a leading scholar in public health informatics. Patient files often include many images, which are considerably
larger than digital text, and the amount of documentation from even a short hospital stay can be
massive. As a result, Luck says, the hardware infrastructure required to store patient records electronically
was prohibitive.
That has changed in this decade with the increasing power and decreasing cost of computers.
Combined with the spread of the Internet and broadband connections, it has become economically feasible
to leave the paper world behind. “With that being the case, a lot of us are interested in how to take advantage,”
says Luck, “because we are all too familiar with how inefficient health care processes are, and those
inefficiencies contribute to quality and cost problems. Ideally, information technology could increase quality,

educe cost, and enhance access to services.”
Luck believes the conversion in health care
to electronic medical records – the accumulation of
health information about patients (accessible only to
authorized users) that can be managed in ways that
create opportunities for new clinical knowledge,
administrative efficiencies and safety provisions – has
great potential for impact. A 2003 General Accounting
Office study concluded that more than $8.6 million
was saved in a large teaching hospital by replacing
paper medical charts with an electronic records system.
Other studies have found that numerous laboratory
and imaging tests are repeated because of the
unavailability of prior results.
A major perceived benefit of going digital is
patient safety. To Err is Human: Building a Safer
Health System, an influential report by the Institute
of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, estimated
that as many as 98,000 patients die each year
from medical errors. Many of these adverse events
could be prevented, Luck suspects, through the use
of simple clinical information systems that would
offer reminders and treatment plans, and education
for physicians and their patients. The IOM report
pointed to the need for making better use of information
technology in combating the problem.
Douglas Bell (M.D., Ph.D. ’00) started medical
school nearly two decades ago, before the IOM
report put the issue of medical errors on the national
agenda. But even then, he says, “I was conscious of
the mistakes we often make in medicine and the
ways we harm patients, and it bothered me.” Bell,
who had a computer science background, notes that
the research literature is now replete with evidence
of all-too-common errors involving drug administration,
diagnosis and poor communication in patient
handoffs. “I sensed that better management of information
could improve the delivery of care,” he says.
“We could make fewer mistakes and amplify the
process of learning from what we do.”
Bell did a postdoctoral research fellowship on
developing information systems for health care, and
then went on to get his Ph.D. in health services at
the UCLA School of Public Health. He is currently
an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA and a
research scientist at RAND, where he is leading one
of the electronic prescribing pilot studies authorized
in the Medicare Modernization Act to evaluate standards
for advanced e-prescribing transactions.
Computerized physician order entry systems are
seen as having great potential for reducing medication
errors. Physicians enter prescriptions and other
orders directly into a computer in a standardized format,
eliminating the miscommunication that comes
from illegible handwriting or use of confusing terms.
Beyond eliminating errors, electronic systems
facilitate measurements of the quality of care that
would be much more costly and time-consuming to
compile by going through paper records. As director
of Resource and Outcomes Management at Cedars-
Sinai Medical Center, Bruce Davidson (M.P.H. ’79,
Ph.D. ’90), also an adjunct assistant professor at the
school, uses electronic data to establish measures of
patient-care quality and efficiency, then provides
analyses that help to inform clinical performance
improvement activities and administrative decisionmaking.
Among other things, Davidson’s department
analyzes large data sets to assess where health care is
failing to follow the best practices based on research.
Promoting evidence-based practice has been a
high priority in public health and medicine. Bell
serves as co-director of a project designed to facilitate
more research in primary care environments,
where patients tend to be most representative of
the general population. The UCLA Practice-Based
Research Network is charged with developing systems
for integrating research studies into routine
clinical care environments.
In the short run, says Luck, the goal of the
electronic medical record is to computerize paper
records for efficiency and ease of communication.
The hope is that these records, along with computerized
physician order entry systems, will eventually
incorporate “clinician decision support systems” –
ways in which computers could aid providers in the
decisions they make at the point of care by integrating
patient-specific data with computer-represented
clinical knowledge.
“The number of diagnostic tests, medications
and other treatments is so dramatically increasing,”
“We are all too
familiar with how
inefficient health
care processes
are. Ideally,
information
technology could
increase quality,
reduce cost, and
enhance access
to services.”
— Dr. Jeff Luck
15
feature UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

16
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
“By aggregating
large, disparate
data sets,
standardizing
terminologies,
and developing
techniques
to mine electronic
medical records,
we can assist
policy makers by
painting a much
more detailed
picture of health
status and the
needs of the
population.”
—Dr. Paul Fu, Jr.
Luck says. “Decision support systems are designed to
check the physician’s order against a database of
evidence or best practice.” If the physician orders a
medication that would interact adversely with one
the patient is already on, for instance, an alert would
immediately appear. Ultimately, Luck says, in an era
in which it is has become impossible to keep up
with all of the latest medical advances, such a system
could bring medical knowledge to the point of care.
Health insurers have always been computerintensive,
but as the field of health informatics
matures, they are finding new non-administrative
uses for information technology. Kaiser Permanente’s
HealthConnect, a decade-long, $3.3 billion initiative,
is a program-wide system that will integrate the clinical
record with appointments, registration, and billing,
enhancing patient care and service. HealthConnect
gives Kaiser Permanente clinicians access to the health
plan’s knowledge base at the point of care, along
with decision-support tools to enhance quality and
patient safety. When a provider opens a patient’s
chart, automatic alerts note clinical best practices
indicated by the patient’s demographics and medical
history. “Health maintenance reminders” ensure that
patients and their doctors don’t overlook appropriate
screening tests, and that patients with chronic
conditions are following the prescribed regimens.
The new system has great potential for improving
patient education, notes Josh Kohrumel, M.P.H.
’05, a project manager working on Health-Connect
outpatient applications. After the provider documents
the visit in the system, a print-out can be
given to the patient summarizing the findings and
recommendations. “Patients walk away feeling
empowered and much more involved in their care,”
says Kohrumel.
Public health informatics has lagged behind medical
informatics, but that has begun to change. In the last
several years the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention has promoted the development of software
solutions that can be used by multiple public
health jurisdictions.
The most direct application for public health
informatics is in the data collection and dissemination
functions. Currently, Luck notes, infectious disease
reporting is done on paper, and the vast majority
of cases go unreported; electronic reporting would
likely save money and improve adherence. Similarly,
an electronic immunization registry would simplify
the dissemination process for childhood vaccinations.
“Informatics is being applied first to streamline
standard public health functions such as collecting
disease data,” says Luck. “Potentially, there is the
hope that information technology will be used to
analyze and disseminate data in ways that were not
feasible with paper reports and documents.”
Writing in the July/August 2006 issue of the
journal Health Affairs, Luck and colleagues argued
that with the development of proper information
technology systems, public and private organizations
would be able to collect valuable local-level health
information that could assist communities in pinpointing
problems and developing targeted solutions,
serving as a “powerful vehicle for improving health.”
Though cost is much less an issue than in the past,
they wrote, there is still a need for the development
of flexible tools that can be used by a variety of
organizations, including Web-enabled systems that
assist users in obtaining the information they require
in predefined, customized or interactive formats.
Luck, a senior research scientist with the UCLA
Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR), based in
the school, has led the center’s effort to develop a
user-friendly, interactive database for its California
Health Interview Survey, the largest state health survey
and a key source of information on health and
access to health care services. “The survey design is
very complicated, so downloading the data sets and
trying to run analyses on your own computer would
require a lot of statistical training as well as some
specialized software,” Luck explains. Instead, a
CHPR team headed by Luck have created AskCHIS
(www.chis.ucla.edu), an Internet query system that
is free to all users and requires only a browser. The
system’s strength is its flexibility and simplicity –
users can run customized searches on hundreds of
health topics related to the survey. “It’s one of the
only places you can go to get complete access to full
survey data sets with real-times calculations and a
simple menu system,” Luck says. AskCHIS has more
than 10,000 registered users, including personnel
from government agencies, health care and community-based
organizations, academics and others.
Linking different data sets, such as surveys about
health behaviors, access to care, and information on
hospitalizations for particular medical conditions, is
an important application of informatics, Luck says.
Dr. Paul Fu, Jr., a member of the school’s faculty who
serves as chief medical information officer for the
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services,
is pursuing that goal in his research. “By aggregating
large, disparate data sets, standardizing terminologies,
and developing techniques to mine electronic medical
records, we can assist policy makers by painting a

much more detailed picture of health status and the needs of the population,”
says Fu, who co-teaches a course on health informatics with Luck in the School
of Public Health.
There are myriad other applications. In response to the need for more public
health training, distance learning is being pursued in many places, including
at the school, using information systems to transmit knowledge through audio,
video and text, both in real time and archived. The school has also become a
major player in the use of informatics for the rapid analysis of potential pandemics
or bioterror attacks. The UCLA High Speed, High Volume Laboratory
Network for Infectious Diseases will help to guide emergency outbreak control
efforts (see page 30).
The Internet can be a valuable tool for rapidly solving urgent public health
problems. Dr. Marc Strassburg, M.P.H. ’75, Ph.D. ’81, an adjunct professor of
epidemiology at the school and chief of the Division of Web Development and
Informatics for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Services
(http://ladhs.org and http://lapublichealth.org/), notes that during the flu vaccine
shortage last year, when it became clear that some physicians in the county
held an excess of vaccines, his division quickly developed a Web-based software
program in which physicians could log on to the website to indicate whether
they needed or had excess vaccines to share; with such an information system,
data were quickly centralized, and the necessary parties could be connected.
When Dr. Jonathan Fielding, professor at the school, was appointed director
of public health for the county in 1999, he asked Strassburg to build the site into
an important and trusted resource for constituents. “Our goal has been to better
present both resource data and statistical data and reports to the public and,
most importantly, to make it easy for users to find what they are looking for,”
Strassburg says. His group is currently pursuing improved search engines to
enable users to find information tailored to their needs – for example, a physician
typing in the same key word would get different hits than a layperson.
For all of the benefits to be reaped from new applications of information technology
in the health care and public health settings, significant barriers remain.
Data standards are still needed to overcome problems of incompatibility when
multiple sources are sharing or combining information. Privacy issues continue to
be an important requirement of information systems, with concerns about protecting
privacy and adhering to existing legislation needing be addressed. There
is also a shortage of personnel who have information systems training, particularly
in the public health field.
Jean Balgrosky (M.P.H. ’80), a doctoral student at the school with nearly 20
years of experience as a chief information officer at Scripps Health and Holy
Cross Health System, sees organizational resistance to change as one of the
biggest challenges to overcome.
“Automation of various health care processes requires rethinking how we do
our work, and we still have many people who for a variety of reasons are resistant
to doing things differently,” she says.
That resistance has lessened significantly, though, particularly since the
Institute of Medicine report. “That was a huge wake-up call,” says Balgrosky.
“Until then, people were in their comfort zones and didn’t feel an imperative
that there was something to fix. Now, no one can deny that we need to make
changes – or that information technology has the potential to usher in dramatic
improvements in how we operate.”
AskCHIS, a simple and flexible Internet query
system, allows any registered user with a browser
to take advantage of the wealth of data coming out
of the California Health Interview Survey, based in
the school’s Center for Health Policy Research.
“Automation
of various health
care processes
requires rethinking
how we do our
work, and we still have many
people who for a variety of
reasons are resistant to
doing things differently.”
—Jean Balgrosky
17
feature UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

18
GROUP MAKING
ITS MARK BY
FOSTERING
DISCUSSION AND
ACTION AMONG
SPH STUDENTS
COMMITTED TO
WORKING ON
BEHALF OF
POPULATIONS
OF COLOR, AND
HELPING MEMBERS
SUCCEED.
Students of Color
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Engaging Diverse Communities,
Supporting Each Other
Above: Raphael Travis
(lower right), a doctoral
student and a founder of
the school’s Students of
Color for Public Health
(SCPH), also serves as
youth liaison at the
UCLA Center for
Adolescent Health
Promotion. Here, he
leads a Youth Community
Advisory Board meeting
at the UCLA Challenge
Course, along with
Typhanye Penniman
(standing, third from left),
also a doctoral student
and SCPH member.
for Public Health:
What started in 2001 as an informal support
network among a handful of students has blossomed into a major asset at the
UCLA School of Public Health and beyond. Students of Color for Public Health
(SCPH), now an officially recognized UCLA student group with funding from
the school and the California Wellness Foundation, is making its mark as a
leader in recruiting populations of color to the field of public health, supporting
students from diverse communities, and fostering discussion on critical issues
affecting these communities.
SCPH was the brainchild of several students who bonded over common
backgrounds and interests, including a commitment to working on behalf of
populations of color. “We would get together and talk about classes and the
work we were doing, work in the communities we were from, and to generally
support one another as we were going through the program,” recalls Raphael
Travis, who came to the school in the fall of 2000 and is now completing his
doctoral studies. “Eventually it got to the point where we thought we should do
something more formal.”
One of the group’s primary goals was to help entering students of color feel
welcomed. “We wanted to make sure these students knew they had a place in

the school, and a community available to them that
was committed to public health as a profession,
committed to working with disenfranchised populations,
and committed to supporting them during
their time as students,” says Travis.
“Some of us always seemed to be bumping
heads in the same circles and talking about the same
issues,” adds Taigy Thomas, a doctoral student who
was also among the founders. “So we decided to
become more organized, so that we could have a
collective voice and advocate as a group for the
communities we worked in, and for ourselves.”
Once that decision was made and SCPH was
established, the ranks of the group quickly grew.
SCPH – open to any student interested in public
health issues affecting communities of color – now
has approximately 100 members, including students
in the master’s and doctoral programs, as well as
alumni who are active supporters. It is dedicated to
the recruitment, retention and graduation of students
of color at the UCLA School of Public Health,
and to strengthening the social support, career networking
and advocacy efforts for the school’s students
and alumni of color.
The first participants were so committed to making
a difference in their communities and in each
other’s lives that initial activities were funded out of
their own pockets. But before long, they were receiving
support from the Dean’s Office. “We approached
Dean [Linda] Rosenstock to get her buy-in and she
was 100 percent behind it, both in her words and in
her actions, which made it a lot easier for us,” says
Dr. Kynna Wright, one of the group’s original members,
who has since been awarded her Ph.D.
In addition to offering SCPH support through
the school’s discretionary fund, Rosenstock assisted
the organization in writing grant proposals for additional
funding. Since 2002, SCPH has received
financial support from the California Wellness
Foundation.
“This extraordinary organization was built from
within from the passions of several students and
their knowledge that we as a school could do better,”
says Rosenstock. “In a few short years, SCPH
has grown and become increasingly influential and
respected.”
Increasing attention is being paid to the persistent –
and in many cases widening – health disparities
across racial and ethnic groups, with underserved
minority populations being disproportionately
afflicted when it comes to many health conditions.
Among SCPH’s aims is to facilitate efforts among
students interested in working to address these concerns.
“In public health we work toward social justice
and making things more equitable, and it’s
difficult to do that when you are constantly bombarded
by the negative aspects of your community,”
says Vincecia Garcia, a second-year M.P.H. student
who currently serves as SCPH co-chair. “We think
it’s important to take a more optimistic point of
view and help shed light on what students can do
in a way that will inspire them to go in and make
a difference.”
Adds Angie Otiniano, also a second-year M.P.H.
student and SCPH co-chair: “Students in SCPH are
passionate about these issues because these are
things that are happening in their community, not
just things they’re learning about. Having this network
gives us the opportunity to meet people who
are interested in and knowledgeable about different
aspects of public health affecting populations of
color, and to bounce ideas off of each other.”
Discussions on health issues of concern to populations
of color range from the informal to the
more structured, including presentations by faculty
and public health professionals, many of whom are
involved in community-based activities similar to
what SCPH members plan to pursue after graduation.
“Sometimes issues affecting low-income
communities don’t get as much attention as they
should,” says Jabar Akbar, a doctoral student and
SCPH member. “This organization not only keeps
these issues at the forefront, but ensures that diverse
voices are heard when we’re talking about communities
of color, and that those voices include people
from those communities.”
SCPH members note that given how much of
the effort to eliminate health disparities affecting
Doctoral student
Taigy Thomas, here
giving a lecture on
meditation as a form
of stress reduction,
was an SCPH founder.
19
feature UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

20
Below: Dean Linda
Rosenstock with
students from the Youth
Into Health Professions
program, an introductory
public health course
offered to high school
and community college
students in South Los
Angeles; SPH staff; and
members of Students of
Color for Public Health.
populations of color involves grassroots, communitylevel
strategies, it is important that more of the people
implementing those strategies be people who
are from those communities and understand their
dynamics. “There is a heavy push to get more people
of color into public health so that they can go into
the communities and do the work that needs to be
done,” says Typhanye Penniman, a doctoral student
who has been active in SCPH since coming to the
school in 2002. “If you’re familiar with the community
and you’re involving the community in your
work, you are more likely to know who the key
people are that you need to reach.”
With that in mind, SCPH has placed a high
priority on encouraging talented students of color to
apply to the UCLA School of Public Health. SCPH
members have logged many hours at community
colleges and other settings where they can talk to
undergraduates in underserved communities about
the field of public health and the school’s communitybased
efforts. “If you’re a student in an affluent community,
you tend to have a lot more opportunities to
hear about what’s out there for you,” says Penniman.
“We want to make sure students in low-income
communities are getting the same information.”
One of the key outreach efforts that SCPH has
helped to spearhead is the school’s Youth Into
Health Professions (YIHP) course. The introductory
public health course, which Penniman taught last
year, is offered free of charge in South Los Angeles
and draws high school and community college students
from the Watts and Compton areas, giving
them the opportunity to earn college credit and to
be exposed to the possibilities in public health. In
addition to serving as instructors and co-instructors
for the course, SCPH members have been paired
with the youths to serve as mentors. Among the
activities is “A Day Away at UCLA,” in which YIHP
enrollees are brought to the campus for a tour and
further guidance.
“It’s great for students from these communities
to see people who look like them,” says Wright,
who was involved in establishing the YIHP course
and served as its first instructor. “They can see what
we’re doing and know not only that we care, but
that we are there to help them if they want to pursue
education in public health.”
SCPH outreach efforts have also included talks
about public health to members of other student
organizations at UCLA, including those that support
students of color at both the graduate and undergraduate
levels; participation in community health fairs
throughout Los Angeles; and presentations at conferences
such as the Pilipinos for Community Health
Pre-Health Panel, the California State University,
Northridge Pre-Health Panel, and the 4th Annual
Womyn of Color Conference at UC Santa Barbara.
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

21
SCPH also works closely with the school’s Student Affairs Office at orientations
and other student events.
This year’s group is interested in expanding on SCPH’s reach to become
involved in more off-campus activities, as well as working with other student
groups to assist with recruitment and other forms of supporting youths in underserved
communities. “We feel that since we have the privilege of being at this
excellent institution in this amazingly diverse city, we should be doing more to
apply what we learn in the classroom to assisting the communities we’re learning
about,” says Jennifer Garcia, a second-year doctoral student.
Upon entering the school as a Ph.D. student last year, Jennifer Garcia was immediately
drawn to the sense of community she felt at SCPH’s social events. She
was asked to serve as the group’s treasurer, and is now in her second year in that
position. “Many of us have similar situations, going through the stresses of balancing
school with family and work, and when you are in academia at this level
as a student of color, it’s easy to feel a common bond,” Garcia says. “Knowing
that there are other students I can count on for support and encouragement is
extremely valuable.”
Indeed, many SCPH activities have nothing to do with recruitment of new
students or outreach to the community, but are simply about enhancing the
social and academic environment for current students. Members of SCPH have
set up their own mentoring system in which new students are given guidance by
second-years and second-years by doctoral students. Many alumni also continue
to be active supporters, including Wright, whom Penniman continues to identify
as a role model. “Mentoring is central to the cultures of many communities of
color,” Wright explains. “It’s a part of who we are and what we do in the community,
and it shouldn’t stop once we get to the academic level.”
“This is a group in which everyone cares about making sure that we all succeed,”
says Thomas. “I know that if I have a problem, these are the first people
I’m going to go to for help or advice.”
At the end of each academic year, a small celebration event is held for
graduating students of color, allowing SCPH members to celebrate their achievements.
Many of the SCPH members point to that event as an annual highlight –
emblematic of the level of mutual support and the sense that they and their
peers are on to something important.
“Whenever I feel overwhelmed,” says Vincecia Garcia, “these are the people
who inspire me.”
Left: Vincecia Garcia,
SCPH co-chair, greets
incoming students at
a welcome luncheon
in September.
“Students in SCPH are passionate
about these issues
because these are things that are
happening in their community,
not just things they’re learning about.”
—Angie Otiniano (below left)
“In public health we work
toward social justice and making
things more equitable. We think
it’s important to help shed light
on what students can do
in a way that will inspire them
to go in and make a difference.”
—Vincecia Garcia (above right)
feature UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

22
research highlights
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Each serving of salad correlates with a 165%
higher likelihood of meeting the recommended
dietary allowances for vitamin C in women and
119% greater likelihood in men.
Salad Eaters More Likely to Achieve
High Nutrient Levels, but Few Are Biting
REGULAR SALAD EATERS are significantly more likely to achieve high nutrient
levels in the bloodstream and meet recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for
vitamin C, according to a UCLA School of Public Health/Louisiana State University
epidemiologic study.
Published in the September edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of the
American Dietetic Association, the study analyzed dietary data on more than
17,500 men and women and found that consumption of salad and raw vegetables
correlates with higher concentrations in the bloodstream of folic acid, vitamins C
and E, lycopene and alpha and beta carotene. The study also found that each
serving of salad consumed correlates with a 165% higher likelihood of meeting the
RDA for vitamin C in women and 119% greater likelihood in men.
This was the first study to examine the relationship
between normal salad consumption and nutrient
levels in the bloodstream, and also the first to examine
the dietary adequacy of salad consumption using
the latest nutritional guidelines of the Food and
Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings blunt concerns about the human body’s
ability to absorb nutrients from raw vegetables, as
well as concern that the structure and characteristics
of some plants undercut nutritional value.
“The consistently higher levels of certain nutrients
in the bloodstream of salad-eaters suggest these
important components of a healthy diet are being
well-absorbed from salad,” says Dr. Lenore Arab, visiting
professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of
Public Health and co-author of the study with Dr. L.
Joseph Su, assistant professor at the LSU School of
Public Health. “The findings endorse consumption of
salad and raw vegetables as an effective strategy for
increasing intake of important nutrients.”
Arab and Su found that daily salad consumption
is not the norm in any group, and is particularly
uncommon among African Americans. “We have so many food choices in this
country,” Arab says. “Increasing vegetable consumption is a wise strategy for composing
a nutrient-rich diet. In fact, our findings suggest that eating just one serving
of salad or raw vegetables per day significantly boosts the likelihood of meeting the
recommended daily intake of certain nutrients.”
The study examined the relationship between reported salad consumption
and blood serum nutrient levels, as well as dietary adequacy in pre- and postmenopausal
women and men of comparable ages. The research team analyzed
dietary data from 9,406 women and 8,282 men ages 18-45 and 55-plus contained
in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III conducted in 1988-
1994. Salad consumption was based on reported intake of salad, raw vegetables
and salad dressing.

23
Hypertension Risk Grows as Work Hours Increase
UCLA AND UC IRVINE RESEARCHERS have published the first evidence suggesting
that self-reported hypertension increases the more hours per week that
workers put in, with those who clock more than 50 hours a week being 29% more
likely to report hypertension than those who work fewer than 40. Publishing in
the journal Hypertension, the researchers also reported that nearly one in five
working Californians said they log more than 50 hours a week.
The research team from the UCLA and UC Irvine Centers for Occupational
and Environmental Health used data from the California Health Interview Survey
(based in the UCLA School of Public Health) to study the role played by the work
environment in causing hypertension and coronary
artery disease. The survey responses of 24,205 working
California adults were analyzed.
Previous research has shown that by the age of
60, three of five American workers will have developed
hypertension, a major risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular
disease.
“Work can negatively impact our health, an impact
that goes well beyond the usual counts of injuries and
exposure to toxic chemicals that we more commonly
associate with occupational health,” says Dr. Peter
Schnall, director of the Center for Social Epidemiology,
a member of the UCLA Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health, and one of the study authors. “It
turns out that the way work is organized – its pace and
intensity, the space it allows or doesn’t for realizing a
sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem, the level of
control over the work product or process, the sense of
justice or injustice, and job security or growth – can be
as benign or ‘toxic’ to the health of workers as the
chemicals one breathes in the air.”
It was unclear from the study whether the long
working hours per se are responsible for the increased
hypertension risk. Based on past findings, the authors
estimated that job strain – work characterized by high
demands and low control – accounts for one-fourth of
all heart disease-related illness and death among working people after controlling
for individual risk factors such as personality, diet, obesity, and cigarette
smoking. This might explain why clerical and unskilled workers had far higher
rates of diagnosed hypertension – 23% and 50%, respectively – than did whitecollar
workers who worked the same number of hours.
“Tomorrow’s jobs must be deliberately crafted to allow the full development
of the human spirit through work that encourages – not discourages – human
potential,” says Schnall. “A key characteristic will be the full participation of all
working people in the decision-making processes surrounding the organization
of work.”
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
14%
Increased Likelihood of Self-
Reported Hypertension When
Working 40 or More Hours a
Week vs. 11-39 Hours Per Week
17%
29%
40 hrs 41-50 hrs 51 or
more hrs
research UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

24
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
The findings concur with previous studies that
have reported associations between air pollution
and risk of respiratory-related death in infants.
Exposure to High Levels of Outdoor Air Pollution
Linked to Greater Risk of Death in Infants’ First Year
HIGH LEVELS OF OUTDOOR AIR POLLUTION in the South Coast Air Basin of
Southern California are associated with increased risk of death during an infant’s
first year of life, according to the findings of a research team headed by Dr. Beate
Ritz, associate professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health.
Ritz and colleagues obtained birth and death certificates for infants who
died between 1989 and 2000. For every infant who died during that period, they
matched 10 living control subjects and estimated average air pollution concentrations
for periods preceding each subject’s death using data from existing air
monitoring stations in the basin.
Their results, published in the journal Pediatrics, founds links between exposure
to carbon monoxide (CO) and particles in the basin and risk of respiratoryrelated
death during the first year of life. Infants exposed to the highest CO levels
two weeks prior to death (in the top 25% of exposure) experienced an almost
threefold increase in risk of respiratory-related death between the ages of 28
days and three months compared to infants who
were exposed to low levels of CO (in the lowest
25%). Infants with the highest particle levels two
weeks prior to death had an approximately 40%
increase in risk of respiratory-related death during the
ages of 4-12 months. Risk of respiratory-related
death more than doubled for infants 7-12 months of
age who were exposed to high particle levels in the
prior six months. Low birth-weight and premature
infants appeared to be more susceptible to air pollution-related
deaths.
The findings concur with previous studies
around the world that have reported associations
between air pollution and risk of respiratory-related
death in infants.
“Although post-neonatal respiratory-related
infant death is rare – about two per 10,000 live births
in our study group – the potential for disease prevention
through further air pollution abatement may
be substantial, since millions of infants are exposed
to similar or greater air pollution concentrations
worldwide,” notes Ritz.
The researchers also estimated that infants with
high nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) levels two months before
death were 44% more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) than
those with low NO 2 levels. Previous studies have reported conflicting findings for
this outcome, and the mechanisms by which air pollution may act to cause SIDS
are still to be uncovered.
Marriage Lowers Risk of Dying Young;
Social Connectedness the Likely Factor
MARRIAGE IS A POWERFUL PREDICTOR OF LIFE EXPECTANCY, with adults
who never marry having a 58% higher likelihood of dying early than those who
are married and living with their spouse, according to a study headed by Dr.
Robert Kaplan, professor and chair of health services at the UCLA School of
Public Health.
The study, which used U.S. Census data and death certificates for 67,000
adults between 1989 and 1997 and was published in the Journal of Epidemiology

and Community Health, also found that widowers were nearly 40% more likely to
die than same-aged marrieds during the study period, and that those who had
been divorced or separated were 27% more likely to die than married adults in the
same age group.
“The risks of being never married rival the risks of having increased blood
pressure or high cholesterol,” Kaplan and colleagues concluded.
Kaplan also found that the protective effects of marriage are stronger for men
than for women. Bachelors between the ages of 19 and 44 were found to be twice
as likely to die as married men in the same age group
– an outcome that could not be explained by “risky”
behaviors: Unmarried men were only slightly more
likely to smoke and less likely to drink alcohol regularly;
exercised more; and were less overweight than
their married counterparts. The risk of dying early
was found to be three times less among never-married
women under 35 than it was for never-married
men under 35.
While previous research has shown that unmarried
adults have a higher probability of early death than
adults who are married, this was the first study to differentiate
between those who never marry and those
who are separated and divorced. The findings associating
never having married with the highest probability
of early death reinforce the conclusion that social connectedness
– more likely with marriage – appears to
confer key health benefits, Kaplan says. The study
noted that widowed and divorced people are more
likely to have children and are thus more likely to be
socially connected than never-married adults.
“We showed that the impact of social isolation is
not constrained to the elderly,” Kaplan says. “In fact, it is comparatively stronger
early in life. This phenomenon may have been overlooked in previous studies
because early death is uncommon.” The project evaluated a significantly larger
sample than has been used in earlier studies.
Weight Obsession Can Undermine Motivation to Exercise
OUR MEDIA AND CULTURAL OBSESSION with achieving a certain weight
does little to convince couch potatoes of any size to abandon their favorite sofa
cushions and get active, according to a UCLA School of Public Health study. In
fact, the study concludes, those messages may actually undermine motivation to
adopt exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits.
Publishing in the June edition of the peer-reviewed journal Obesity, the
research team, headed by Dr. Antronette Yancey, associate professor of health
services at the school, found that women are more likely to categorize themselves
as overweight than men, both overall and within each ethnic group analyzed.
African Americans are least likely and whites most likely to consider
themselves overweight. Yancey and colleagues found that even among many
adults of average or normal weight – men in particular – a self-perceived weight
problem correlates with sedentary behavior.
White women of average weight were the only ethnic-gender group studied
in which the proportion of sedentary individuals was not higher among those who
consider themselves overweight vs. those who consider themselves average
weight, the study showed. White women were also the only ethnic-gender group
in which average-weight individuals constitute the majority.
The researchers noted that in addition to cultural expectations, greater
access to fitness programs, “walkable” neighborhoods, quality child and elder
The findings associating never having married
with the highest probability of early death reinforce
the conclusion that social connectedness appears
to confer key health benefits.
25
research UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

26
research
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Reported HIV Status of Partners
of Newly HIV-Infected Men Who
Have Unprotected Anal Intercourse
with Men
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Positive
52
First Interview After Diagnosis
Three-Month Follow-up
48
30
18 18
Negative
HIV Status of Partner
care, and flexible work hours all help make the choice to be active easier for
white women overall than for their Latina and African American counterparts.
“These data suggest that our society’s emphasis on weight loss rather than
lifestyle change may inadvertently discourage even non-obese people from
adopting or maintaining the physical activity necessary for long-term good
health,” says Yancey. “All groups may benefit from messages that shift the focus
away from a specific target weight and associated calorie counting, and instead
promote increased physical activity and healthy eating habits.”
The study used data from the 2002-03 Los Angeles County Health Survey,
a random telephone survey conducted by the Los Angeles County Department
of Health Services. Among the specific findings:
• The prevalence of overweight and obesity among adult Angelenos by
race/ethnicity and gender was fairly typical of national samples. The combined
prevalence of overweight and obesity was highest in African Americans and
Latinos, intermediate in whites, and lowest in Asians-Pacific Islanders. The pattern
was consistent among both men and women within each group.
• 73% of overweight/non-obese and 24% of average-weight women considered
themselves overweight, compared with 45% of overweight/non-obese and
6% of average-weight men.
• 41% of overweight/non-obese African Americans identified themselves as
overweight, compared with 61% of overweight/non-obese whites.
• Overweight self-perception, vs. average-weight self-perception, correlated
with sedentary behavior among average-weight adults (45% vs. 33%), overweight
adults (43% vs. 34%), average-weight and overweight men (38% vs. 28%), overweight
whites (42% vs. 30%), and African Americans and Latinos (42% vs. 34%).
34
Unknown
Newly HIV-Infected Men Who Have
Sex With Men Report Reduced Risk
Behaviors in First Three Months
NEWLY HIV-INFECTED MEN who have sex with
men reported a modest but significant decrease in
risk behaviors in the first three months after diagnosis,
according to the findings of a study by Dr.
Pamina Gorbach, associate professor in residence
of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health,
and collaborators at UC San Diego’s Antiviral
Research Center and Harbor-UCLA Hospital.
Beginning in 2002, the researchers invited individuals
being enrolled in an ongoing clinical cohort
study of those with acute or early HIV infection in The
Southern California Primary Infections Program multisite
NIAID Acute HIV Infection and Early Disease
Research Program to complete a computer-assisted
self interview approximately six weeks after their HIV
diagnosis and then every three months for the first
year, and every six months after that. More than 95%
of those interviewed were men who have sex with men (MSM). The researchers
were interested in whether these men would change their behavior over time as a
result of the diagnosis.
Nearly half reported fewer sexual partners in the three months following
their initial interview than in the three previous months. “This suggests that the
HIV diagnosis and/or symptomatic illness associated with HIV seroconversion
precipitated a drop, although not elimination of transmission risk,” says Gorbach.
In addition to fewer total numbers of partners, significantly fewer anonymous
and one-time partners were reported. Unprotected anal intercourse

occurred frequently within the primary partnerships – and more often than in
other types of partnerships – raising concerns about transmission within these
primary partnerships. The results were published in the Journal of Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
“As access to technologies that allow for detection of early HIV infection
increases, new prevention strategies for individuals diagnosed with recent HIV
infection that support them in achieving rapid behavior change are urgently needed
for those with new partnerships, and especially for those with primary partners, to
help them negotiate a balance between protecting that partner and achieving the
intimacy perceived to be acquired from unprotected intercourse,” says Gorbach.
The collaboration has continued beyond the results published in the first
paper, with more than 240 individuals joining the cohort and some having been
followed for more than three years. Gorbach and colleagues are now analyzing
data on those who have completed at least one interview after one year or more
to see whether the changed behavior reported in the initial study persists beyond
the first three months following diagnosis. Other papers on this study are also in
press looking at the role of substance use and Internet sex-seeking in risky
behavior reported by these men at enrollment.
Correcting Refractive Error Improves
Vision-Specific Quality of Life in Older Persons
CORRECTION OF UNCORRECTED REFRACTIVE
ERROR improves the vision-specific quality of life of
community-dwelling older persons, according to the
findings of a research team led by Dr. Anne L.
Coleman, professor of epidemiology in the UCLA
School of Public Health and professor of ophthalmology
at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
Uncorrected refractive error affects 25%-54% of
adults ages 40-80 in the United States and is the most
common cause of visual impairment in older individuals.
Visual impairment is one of the leading causes of
physical decline with aging; if left untreated, it can
increase the risk of functional decline, social isolation,
falls, hip fractures, accidents, and mortality.
Coleman’s research team screened 1,309 adults
at 48 different locations, including senior community
centers, senior apartment buildings, senior assisted
living facilities, health fairs, and Native American cultural
centers in Los Angeles County. The UCLA
Mobile Eye Clinic was brought to each location to provide
eye examinations for eligible participants, 65 or
older, whose distant or near vision could be improved by at least two lines of acuity.
Participants were randomized to receive a prescription and voucher for free
eyeglasses and/or magnifiers either immediately or after a three-month follow-up
visit. Participants were evaluated in their homes three months after randomization.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, found
that participants who had received new prescriptions and vouchers for eyeglasses/magnifiers
experienced better self-reported general vision, near vision,
distance vision, mental health, perceptions of vision-related quality of life, and
preservation of independence with activities of daily living, than participants in
the group that waited to receive their prescriptions and vouchers.
“Since the correction of uncorrected refractive error in older individuals may
improve their vision-related quality of life and help preserve their independence,
we may want to rethink our current policies regarding the provision of eyeglasses
and/or magnifiers to older individuals,” says Coleman.
Participants who immediately received new prescriptions
and vouchers for eyeglasses/magnifiers
reported better mental health and preservation of
independence with activities of daily living than
those who had to wait.
27
research UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

28
student profiles
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
“Much of the erosion and water
quality problems come down to
our development patterns.
We’re building too close to the
ocean and we’re paving too
much of our watersheds.”
— Chad Nelsen
Making Waves: Surfrider Foundation’s Environmental
Director Fights to Protect Beaches, Oceans
GROWING UP IN LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA, as a “beach kid” who surfed and
worked as a lifeguard, CHAD NELSEN saw his hometown transformed through development
– and watched the beaches he loved suffer as a consequence. “At the time,
everyone I knew accepted the beach-erosion and water-quality issues as something
that just happened, even though it didn’t sit well with us,” he says.
It wasn’t until college that Nelsen realized he could do something about it. He
got a master’s degree at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and
Earth Sciences and eventually landed his dream position: as environmental director
for the San Clemente, California-based Surfrider Foundation. Nelsen is continuing
in that position while commuting to the UCLA School of Public Health, where he is
in his third year as a doctoral student in the interdisciplinary Environmental Science
and Engineering (ESE) program.
The nonprofit Surfrider Foundation works at the grass-roots level to protect
beaches and oceans. In his role as environmental director, Nelsen provides science
and policy support for 64 chapters – volunteer-run groups
that address important coastal and ocean protection
issues in their communities through public meetings and
educational events. The 50,000-plus Surfrider Foundation
members have proved to be potent advocates in their
struggle to preserve the ocean environment they love;
some of that success can be attributed to Nelsen, who
heads a team of scientists who volunteer their expertise
to assist the chapters as issues arise.
More than 180 million people visit the beach for
recreation in this country every year, according to the
Surfrider Foundation. But the organization also warns that
beaches are disappearing at an alarming rate, with
human interventions partly to blame. “Much of the erosion
and water quality problems come down to our development
patterns,” says Nelsen. “We’re building too close to
the ocean and we’re paving too much of the watersheds.
The coastal system is very dynamic, and we’re trying to
build things that we want to stick around for hundreds of
years, which is just not compatible. Meanwhile, if more
than 10% of a watershed is impervious surface, it leads to
all sorts of water quality problems.”
Nelsen was encouraged to enroll in the ESE program by Dr. Linwood Pendleton,
associate professor at the school and a member of the program’s faculty, who had
worked with the Surfrider Foundation on issues in the past. Nelsen, who tackles a
broad array of issues in his position, was attracted to the program’s interdisciplinary
nature, as well as its focus on engineering. With Pendleton, a resource economist,
as his adviser, Nelsen is focusing on the economics of surfing – a sport that, like
many other recreational activities, has a value that is difficult to calculate.
“We always know how much money a housing development is going to bring in
to a community,” says Nelsen. “But when a recreational resource is going to be
taken away or somehow damaged, if we can’t quantify its economic value it
becomes more difficult to make the case that it should be preserved. Surfing supports
a giant economy. By applying rigorous research methods to this recreational
activity, I hope to be able to increase the appreciation for its value.”

Physician Aims to Establish EMS in Native Kenya
DR. CHARLES OTIENO HAD COMPLETED MEDICAL SCHOOL in his native Kenya
and was planning to pursue training in neurosurgery when he realized, while working
in an informal emergency department at Kenya’s main teaching and referral hospital,
that his country had a more urgent need for expertise in emergency medicine.
“Our emergency departments are just triaging zones for other specialist departments,”
Otieno says. “They are poorly equipped, with
no formal training of health care personnel and first
responders in emergency medical care. Most of the
ambulance services are just transport vehicles. Almost
all patients are brought in to the hospital informally by
private means.” The absence of a formal emergency
medical services (EMS) system has contributed to significant
death and disability, he notes.
Raised in a remote military camp in a militiainfested
region of northern Kenya bordering Somalia,
Otieno grew up watching his father, the sole paramedic
military officer stationed in the area, work tirelessly in the
only available medical facility that cared for trauma victims
of Somalia militia attacks. Otieno’s resolve to get
formal training in emergency medicine was strengthened
after the 1998 American Embassy bombings in
Kenya and Tanzania. Working with the U.S. Agency for
International Development as an instructor in the
implementation of a disaster management program in
East Africa, Otieno saw firsthand the difference that
effective triage and other features of an EMS system
could make.
So Otieno came to the United States to train in the
UCLA/Olive View-UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency
Program. Upon completing the residency in 2005, he entered the UCLA
School of Public Health’s Executive M.P.H. (EMPH) program and is now part of the
Executive Education Programs in Healthcare Management and Policy, established
earlier this year to enhance the existing program and promote health care leadership
development (see page 30).
Otieno hopes to use his EMPH education to develop an EMS system for Kenya
that could be replicated in the rest of the region. “I went into public health because I
realized that just having the emergency medicine training was not enough if I wanted
to develop a good system,” he explains. Already, Otieno and three other students in
the program, under the guidance of their adviser, Dr. Fred Hagigi, have undertaken
a needs assessment that Otieno hopes will be a first step toward building such a
system. Kenya’s Ministry of Health and three of the nation’s leading hospitals are
providing support.
The lack of an EMS system in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly troubling in a
region with a long history of wars, disasters, severe poverty and disease pandemics,
Otieno notes. “I look back and realize that so many deaths that I saw in my medical
training in Kenya were preventable,” he says. “People think that emergency care is
expensive, but there is so much that can be done even with limited resources. We
can set up a system that is tailored to the environment and would save lives.”
Once he completes the UCLA School of Public Health program, Otieno plans to
return to Kenya to address these problems as one of the first trained emergency physicians
in that region. “My dream is to be the ‘father of emergency medicine’ and help in
the development of the emergency medical system in Kenya and within the sub-
Saharan region as a whole,” he says. “My dream will be realized with more training in
health services management and health policy at the UCLA School of Public Health.”
“I look back and realize
that so many deaths that
I saw in my medical training
in Kenya were preventable.”
— Charles Otieno
29
students UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

30
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
news briefs
hagigi, dobalian
guide program
for executives
Drs. Fred Hagigi and Aram Dobalian have been
appointed director and associate director, respectively,
of the Executive Education Programs in
Healthcare Management and Policy, part of the
school’s Department of Health Services. Since July,
Hagigi, an associate professor of health services,
and Dobalian, an assistant adjunct professor in the
department, have led the expansion of the Executive
Masters of Public Health (EMPH) program.
More on the EMPH program can be found
at www.ph.ucla.edu/hs/mphhp/.
fielding awarded
sedgwick medal
Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, professor
at the school, was chosen
to receive the oldest and most
prestigious award bestowed
by the American Public Health
Association (APHA), the
Sedgwick Memorial Medal for
Distinguished Service in Public
Health, at APHA’s 134th Annual Meeting in Boston.
Since 1929, the Sedgwick medal has been awarded
annually to an individual who has demonstrated a
distinguished record of service to public health and
who has tirelessly worked to advance public health
knowledge and practice.
Fielding has worked for more than 40 years in
the public health field and is considered a leader in
evidence-based practice. In addition to his role as
professor at the UCLA School of Public Health, he
serves as director of the newly created Los Angeles
County Department of Public Health. Under
Fielding’s leadership, the health department has
launched several innovative programs, including a
restaurant inspection program that requires businesses
to post sanitation inspection results and a
chronic disease control program featuring nutrition
and physical activity.
$9 million grant from state
expands new biological lab
A $9 million grant issued by the State of California to the UCLA School of
Public Health will expand and enhance the new high speed, high volume
laboratory network capable of quickly analyzing and processing large quantities
of biological samples. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the announcement
at a recent news conference on the UCLA campus.
The UCLA High Speed, High Volume Laboratory Network for Infectious
Diseases, initially funded by a congressionally directed Department of Defense
investment, will improve the nation’s ability to make rapid and critically important
decisions to save lives in the event of bioterror attacks or infectious disease
outbreaks.
“State funding will allow UCLA’s School of Public Health to get our lab up
and running more quickly and expand our reach,” says Dr. Linda Rosenstock,
the school’s dean. “By utilizing existing technologies, the UCLA Laboratory
Network will be able to analyze data and provide potentially life-saving information
in days instead of weeks or months.
“As with any innovative, cutting-edge effort, there are many who deserve
credit,” Rosenstock adds. “Professor Scott Layne had the vision for the lab
and the good sense to enlist the support of School of Public Health Advisory
Board member Cindy Horn. Cindy has been an inspired leader, working tirelessly
to secure the necessary support and funds to launch the lab. Finally, I’d
like to thank the congressional leaders who secured initial funding for the lab,
and the governor for helping to expand our efforts.”
The lab will analyze numerous influenza viruses in great detail and
thereby assist in influenza vaccine strain selection efforts should an influenza
pandemic arise. It will enhance animal and human surveillance and permit an
up-to-date view of infectious disease outbreaks for effective decision-making
and public health interventions.

alumni and friends
goodman: an
alumnus who
keeps giving
Raymond D. Goodman, M.D., M.P.H. ’72, has
made numerous lasting contributions to the school
and the Los Angeles community. He has long been
known as the alumnus of many “firsts.” In 1976 he
was the first alumnus to endow a fellowship fund at
the school. He later became the founding president
of the Public Health Alumni Association, and later
still, he became founding chair of the Dean’s
Council, a long-standing support group of the school.
He and his wife, Betty, also founded the annual
Lester Breslow Distinguished Lecture, now in its
32nd year. The Breslow Lecture has grown to
become the school’s preeminent annual gathering
of alumni, faculty, students, staff and community
public health leaders. Goodman was inducted into
the first class of the school’s Alumni Hall of Fame in
2002. The UCLA Alumni Association also bestowed
upon Goodman the prestigious University Service
Award in 1987.
Last summer, Goodman contributed an additional
$100,000 to the endowed scholarship fund
that bears his name. The Raymond Goodman
Scholarship has benefited more than 100 public
health students since its inception in 1976. With
Goodman’s recent generosity, the endowment is
now valued at over $200,000, and will continue to
grow and support top students for generations.
As if that weren’t enough, Goodman recently
notified Dean Linda Rosenstock that he has
included $2 million in his estate trust for the school,
funds that he has stipulated will establish the
Raymond D. Goodman Distinguished Professor
in Health Services. This promised endowed chair
will strengthen the Department of Health Services’
ability to attract and retain world-class faculty.
oppenheimer’s
planned gift
supports school
Walter Oppenheimer is a man
of many passions. Whether supporting
higher education, running
a fashion business or collecting
art, he does it with dedication
and deep commitment.
Born in Berlin, he moved
first to Caracas, then to London,
before finally arriving in the United States in 1938.
Settling in New York, he found work in the retail industry
and married a budding fashion designer named
Helga, a fellow Berliner.
Their partnership brought them great personal
happiness, but little did they know just how fortitous
it would be. “While I served in the Army for three
years, Helga nurtured her talent in design,”
Oppenheimer recalls. After he was discharged, they
relocated to California and, in 1947, they launched
Helga Inc. Specializing in couture suits, gowns and
cocktail dresses, the company prospered. During
their professional and personal travels, they also
amassed an enviable art collection consisting mainly
of modern works by Picasso, Braque and others.
The Oppenheimers have always been passionate
about supporting education because, as Walter
Oppenheimer puts it, “It’s where life begins. It gives
you the tools to be successful – and UCLA is doing
a fabulous job at it.” He is a strong believer in deferred
gifts, which provide him a lifetime income.
Before Helga’s death in 2003, the couple arranged
to support the School of Public Health through the
establishment of two charitable gift annuities that
will provide funds for student education, and the
school’s main lobby was named in their honor.
Says Oppenheimer, a member of the school’s
Advisory Board: “I like that the school trains professionals
and scientists who work to benefit the health
of the general community, not just individuals.”
ACTRESS JULIA ROBERTS VISITS UCLA — During a
recent visit to UCLA, actress Julia Roberts met with
Dean Linda Rosenstock to discuss air pollution in the
Los Angeles area and its potential health risks for
young children. SPH researchers have raised important
issues with studies on the potential dangers to
children from exposure to diesel fuel exhaust while
riding school buses and the association between
high levels of outdoor air pollution and increased risk
of infant death (see page 24), among others.
For more information
on how you can combine your
philanthropic wishes
for the UCLA School
of Public Health
and personal financial
planning,
please contact
Anita Mermel
at (310) 825-6464 or
amermel@support.ucla.edu.
DID YOU KNOW...
You are
a lifetime member
of the UCLA School
of Public Health
Alumni Association
if you are a graduate
of the UCLA School
of Public Health
and its executive
programs.
If you would like
more information
about the activities
of the Public Health
Alumni Association,
please call
(310) 825-6464
or e-mail
phaa@support.ucla.edu.
•
If you are not
already receiving and
would like to receive
SPH ALUMNI e-NEWS,
which brings
information on events
and people of special
interest to alumni
three times a year,
please send your
e-mail address with
your name and current
home and business
addresses to
publichealth@
support.ucla.edu.
31
news briefs UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

32
news briefs
IOM elects sph
faculty rice, keeler
contracts & grants
2005-06
This section includes new contracts and grants awarded in
fiscal year 2005-06. Due to space limitations, only funds of
$50,000 or more are listed, by principal investigator.
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Drs. Thomas H. Rice (left) and Emmett B. Keeler (right), both
members of the UCLA School of Public Health faculty, were
honored with election to the prestigious Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies. Rice, professor of health services
and UCLA vice chancellor for academic personnel, has conducted
research projects and published in areas including
physicians’ economic behavior, health insurance for the elderly,
the Medicare program, health care cost containment, the role of
competition in health care reform, and managed care. Keeler,
adjunct professor of health services at the school and a professor
and senior mathematician at RAND, leads a large study to
evaluate a new model for helping people with chronic diseases
better manage their health. He also directs a project that provides
cost-effectiveness analyses to a variety of UCLA geriatric
interventions, and one to develop a business case for providers
to offer higher-quality care.
ADDRESSING INEQUALITY — “Dreams Deferred, Denied, Realized:
Confronting Inequality in Los Angeles and Beyond,” a two-day symposium in
October, featured participation by four UCLA School of Public Health faculty
members, including Drs. Roshan Bastani (left) and Antronette Yancey (third
from right). The event was the inaugural activity of the Social Sciences Initiative
(SSI), which combines the resources of traditionally separate disciplines to
advance social science theory, research, practice and policy. SSI was started
through the vision of the leaders of the School of Public Health, School of Public
Affairs, School of Education and Information Sciences, and the UCLA College.
RICHARD AMBROSE
Development of a Response Protocol to Spills That Can Be
Formalized into ‘Coastal Habitats Quick-Response Procedures
Kits’ for Sandy, Rocky, and Wetland Shoreline Habitats
(CA/Department of Fish and Game, $59,104 for 2 years)
LENORE ARAB
Validation of Web-Based Multimedia Dietary Assessment
Tools (NIH/National Cancer Institute, $524,597 for 5 years)
ROSHAN BASTANI
UCLA Cancer Education and Career Development Program
(NIH/National Cancer Institute, $2,330,288 for 5 years)
BARBARA BERMAN
A Breast Cancer Education Program for Deaf Women (Komen
Foundation, $250,000 for 2 years)
E. RICHARD BROWN
2005 California Health Interview Survey: Data Collection
Measuring Access and Satisfaction of Managed Care
Enrollees (CA/Dept of Managed Health Care, $353,031);
California Health Interview Survey 2005 (County of San Diego,
$300,000; CA/Department of Social Services & University of
California, Davis, $151,200; Solano County Health & Social
Services Department, $87,366 for 2 years; County of Marin,
$170,366; NIH/National Cancer Institute, $1,330,146;
CA/California Children and Families Commission, $1,000,000;
CA/Dept of Health Services, $1,855,000; DHS/Multicultural
Health, $100,000)
JONATHAN FIELDING
California Health Forecasting Model: Refining the Model and
Implementing a User Interface (The California Endowment,
$393,370); Using Health Impact Assessment to Increase
Understanding of the Linkages Between Public Markets and
Community Health (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
$149,900)
JOHN FROINES
Monitoring and Modeling of Ultrafine Particles and Black
Carbon at the Los Angeles International Airport (CA/EPA Air
Resources Board, $113,986); Southern California Particle
Center (SCPC) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
$7,999,997 for 5 years); Exposure Assessment Research and
Facilities Core of the SCEHSC (NIEHS & USC, $617,696 for 5
years); Physicochemical and Toxicological Assessment of the
Semi-volatile and Non-volatile Fractions of PM from Heavyand
Light-duty Vehicles Operating with and Without Emission
Control Technologies (Air Resources Board & USC, $279,999
for 3 years)

33
PATRICIA A. GANZ
UCLA Center of Excellence for Cancer Survivorship (Lance
Armstrong Foundation, $400,000 for 4 years)
BETH GLENN
South Asian Women with Breast Cancer: What Are Their
Needs? (UC/California Breast Cancer Research Program,
$81,951)
GAIL HARRISON
Risk for and Prevention of Early Childhood Overweight: Does
the WIC Program Play a Role? (US Dept of Agriculture/Coop
State Research & Extension Svc, $887,020 for 4 years);
Impact Evaluation of a Breast Pump Loan Program (DHHS/
Centers for Disease Control [Including CDC Foundation] &
Association of Schools of Public Health, $99,993)
WILLIAM HINDS
Cardiovascular Health Effects of Fine and Ultrafine Particles
During Freeway Travel (CA/EPA Air Resources Board,
$502,050 for 3 years)
MOIRA INKELAS
Early Developmental Screening and Intervention Strategic
Partnership (LA County Children & Families 1st Proposition 10
Commission, $5,598,136 for 5 years)
LEEKA KHEIFETS
Updated Pooled Analysis of Childhood Leukemia and
Magnetic Fields (Children with Leukemia U.K., $192,410 for 2
years); Pooled Analysis of Childhood Brain Tumors and
Magnetic Fields (Electric Power Research Institute, $121,380
for 3 years); Occupational Exposures, Cohort Evaluation and
Other Activities (Energy Networks Association, Ltd, $91,305);
Pooled Analysis of Childhood Brain Tumors and Magnetic
Fields (Southern California Edison, $90,000)
CLIFFORD KO
Patient Reported Outcomes in Long Term Survivors with
Colon and Rectal Cancer (American Cancer Society, Inc,
$1,129,000 for 4 years)
GERALD KOMINSKI
California Health Benefits Program (UCOP, $185,612 for 3
years); Access to Medical Treatment (Division of Worker’s
Compensation, $596,398)
YING-YING MENG
Access, Utilization and Quality of Care Among HMO And Non-
HMO Members with Chronic Diseases (CA/Dept of Managed
Health Care & UC/Office of the President, Systemwide,
$69,787)
JACK NEEDLEMAN
Evaluating the Success of Spreading Transforming Care at the
Bedside Across Health Care Networks (Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, $79,997)
ALEX ORTEGA
Anxiety, Depression and Asthma in Puerto Rican Youth
(NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, $421,745 for 4 years)
THOMAS RICE
Manacled Competition: Limiting Health Care Choices for the
Elderly (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $269,532 for 2
years)
BEATE RITZ
Traffic Related Air Pollution & Asthma in Economically
Disadvantaged & High Traffic Density Neighborhoods in Los
Angeles County, California (CA/EPA Air Resources Board,
$422,087 for 3 years)
KIMBERLY SHOAF
Disaster Emergency Training Plan (Santa Clara County Office
of Disaster Medical Services, $149,025); Joint Bioterrorism
Investigation (DHHS/Centers for Disease Control [Including
CDC Foundation] & County of Los Angeles/Dept of Health
Services, $298,320); Public Health Response to Disasters
2005-2006 (DHHS/Centers for Disease Control [Including
CDC Foundation] & County of Los Angeles/Dept of Health
Services, $297,573); HSD SGER: Assessing the Public Health
Impacts of Hurricane Katrina (National Science Foundation,
$92,523); Team Safe-T School Evaluation Plan (Team Safe-T:
CA Partnership for Safety and Preparedness, $50,000)
SUSAN SORENSON
Social Change for the Public’s Health Curriculum
Development (The California Endowment, $161,677)
ANNETTE STANTON
Predicting Biopsychosocial Outcomes after BRCA1/BRCA2
Mutation Testing: An Extension (The Breast Cancer Research
Foundation, $250,000)
STEVEN WALLACE
Datos Y Democracia: Building Capacity of Latino Communities
in the Strategic Use of Data (California Wellness Foundation,
$200,000 for 2 years); Data and Democracy (The California
Endowment, $539,251 for 2 years); Evaluation – LA
Collaborative (The California Endowment, $195,194)
ARTHUR WINER
Investigation and Characterization of Pollution Concentration
Gradients in Wilmington, CA, Using a Mobile Platform
(CA/EPA Air Resources Board, $179,264 for 2 years)
WENG K. WONG
Cost Effective Designs for Practitioners (NIH/National Institute
of General Medical Sciences, $241,354 for 3 years)
ANTRONETTE YANCEY
Joining Forces with a Key Community to Reduce Obesity
Disparities (NCMHHD, $1,529,968 for 3 years); Health Impact
Assessment to Maximize Disparities Reduction (CA/HHS/Dept
of Health Services & Public Health Institute [Formerly CA
Public Health Foundation], $119,912) Healthy Eating and
Physical Activity Program Evaluation Phase 2 (The California
Endowment & Samuels & Associates, $299,500 for 4 years)
new
faculty
JULIA E. ALEDORT
Visiting Assistant
Professor,
Health Services
CATHERINE SUGAR
Assistant Professor
in Residence,
Biostatistics
faculty UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH

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