Dear colleagues,
I welcome you to the spring 2022 issue of City Health magazine, where we highlight some of the public health scholarship and service of CUNY SPH faculty and students.
Offering ever-expanding opportunities for our students to make an impact on public health has been a priority for CUNY SPH from the start. A student’s landmark study on disparities in anti-retroviral treatment for women in Sub-Saharan Africa was made possible by the extraordinary access to data he gained through his faculty mentor’s role in an international consortium of AIDS researchers. A generous scholarship gift from Dr. Michael Apa is creating exciting new avenues for dental health professionals who are committed to expanding oral health for all. And our school’s early and comprehensive efforts toward building and optimizing online education have made it possible for working professionals to fit a master’s degree into their busy schedules.
Our work addressing vaccine literacy and confidence is ongoing. An example is a national survey that yielded thoughtful insights about how best to communicate with the vaccine-hesitant.
In this issue we also bring our focus closer to home, sharing examples of CUNY SPH partnerships with New York City government, clinical, and community organizations to advance public health across the five boroughs. Faculty researchers collaborated with the New York City Health and Hospitals system to pilot a cheaper and less invasive way to measure metals exposure in NYC newborns. We are partnering with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to bring health literacy to vulnerable communities and to assess the well-being of 50,000 New Yorkers through the NYC Neighborhood Wellness Survey. Harlem Strong, with over $2.5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a community-based initiative aimed at nothing short of system transformation in mental health care delivery.
These selected initiatives are evidence of CUNY SPH’s dedication to producing rigorous science in the service of health equity and social justice. I could not be prouder of this exceptional community of scholars, and I invite you to learn more about them in the pages that follow.
With my very best wishes,
Ayman El-Mohandes, MBBCh, MD, MPH
DEAN
