Janaya Greene

The relationship between regional development and public health can be a rocky one. On the one hand, economic growth offers more opportunity for prosperity, which can lead to better health care and longer life expectancy. On the other hand, growth and development put greater strain on the environment and introduce new health challenges to regions that may not be prepared to handle them. That’s where The Ohio State University’s Global One Health initiative (GOHi) comes in.

Three thousand, four hundred people die on the road every day, according to the World Health Organization. This translates to 1.3 million global traffic deaths every year. Tracy Mehan, MA, doctoral student of health behavior and health promotion, joined the United Nations in taking steps to improve this underserved public health problem.

The MHA program was selected in the “Major Activities and Events” category, alongside the University of Alabama at Birmingham, for its highly successful and competitive First-Year Student Healthcare Case Competition.

Over Janet Porter’s 40-year career, she has strived to follow one motto: Live with gratitude. Gratitude for her alma mater is what will fuel Janet’s new tenure as a charter member of Ohio State’s board of trustees through 2020.

A Buckeye through and through, Janet earned her bachelor’s in 1975 and her master’s in health administration in 1977.

That’s when the hurricane hit, and Davila-Martin found herself 2,000 miles away from home with little to do to help her friends and family.

On September 21, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Flooding in Puerto Rico left millions without fuel, food and electricity.

While residents of the island were hit the hardest, the effects of the disaster were felt far beyond the Caribbean. Many Puerto Ricans on the mainland mourned for their home and their loved ones—like Davila-Martin did.

In March, three of the college’s doctoral students placed in the top three in their respective categories at the Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum.

Brittany Keller-Hamilton (epidemiology) placed second for her research on the effects of outdoor tobacco advertising on young males; Seungjen Lee (environmental health sciences) placed second with his research on microcystin accumulation in vegetables; and Igor Mrdjen (environmental health sciences) placed third for his research on cyanotoxins.

CPH researchers Susan Olivo-Marston, PhD, MPH, Olorunfemi Adetona, PhD, and Darryl Hood, PhD, are building off of this study to find ways to improve firefighters’ occupational safety.

The team will use biological markers in firefighters to identify which specific contaminants emitted in structural fire smoke are associated with cancer.

Olivo-Marston, assistant professor of epidemiology, hopes this study will give fire departments a better idea of how to reduce the risk of cancer in their workforce.

Associate Professor Micah Berman, JD, and Professor Emerita Mary Ellen Wewers, PhD, MPH, helped lead Columbus’s Tobacco 21 campaign, making Columbus the sixth city in Ohio to adopt the ordinance.

You’re a Buckeye alum who pursued your doctorate at the University of Minnesota. What brought you back to Ohio State?

I grew up in this midwestern, urban culture, and both my family and my wife’s family live in Cincinnati. When I decided to keep doing biostatistics in academia, we began looking at places that have a similar culture and would allow us to easily get back to see our families on a regular basis. Out of our options, Ohio State’s biostatistics department was the best fit.