More than 250,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the United States, making it the second-most common cancer among women, and 42,000 women die of it.

As many of us know, some of the most effective ways to fight breast cancer involve preventative testing, screenings and medicines.

Simple enough? Not really.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in public health at the University of Cincinnati, Nicole Vavro, a second-year Master of Health Administration student became passionate about reducing barriers in the health care after working as an addiction navigator for AmeriCorps.

The 15 minutes it took one Columbus family to get tested for COVID-19 meant the difference between taking their unknowingly infected 7-year-old son to a birthday party, as planned, or going straight back home to set up a telehealth appointment with his pediatrician. 

A new study comparing adolescent suicide rates with the availability of mental health services has found that more resources may contribute to fewer suicides, but don’t appear to have any role in reducing suicides involving firearms. 

2021 Excellence in Teaching: Liz Klein

Liz Klein, professor and former interim chair of the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, was honored with the college’s annual Excellence in Teaching Award, joining 19 former recipients who have demonstrated exemplary performance in the teaching mission of the college and university.

Lamuel Bean, a first-year doctoral student in epidemiology, is a recent graduate of the college’s Master of Public Health program and recipient of the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. Bean is passionate about using epidemiological approaches to reduce the burden of heart disease and its disproportionate effect on Black Americans.

Numbers are powerful, especially in the context of public health and medicine. Whether it’s forecasting future infectious disease outbreaks, developing and testing new vaccines, or determining the impacts of racism on health, numbers play a vital and non-replaceable role in ensuring a healthy society — and there’s not much room for error.

As typical social and academic interaction screeched to a halt last year, many young people began experiencing declines in mental health, a problem that appeared to be worse for those whose connections to family and friends weren’t as tight, a new study has found. 

Amelia Soergel, a fourth-year student specializing in environmental public health with a minor in entomology, used her senior capstone experience to work at Richland Public Health in Mansfield, Ohio, to help track and regulate local mosquito populations.