Michigan Public Health faculty, staff, students, and alumni are making an impact on public health in the US and around the world. Find the latest news here.
Spotlight
To increase equity and access to public health education, the University of Michigan School of Public Health is permanently eliminating GRE standardized test scores from the application requirements for all Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Health Services Administration (MHSA) programs. Read more
Marc Zimmerman, the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health and professor of Health Behavior and Health Education, will serve as co-director of the newly established Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. The University of Michigan presidential initiative was first developed in 2019 and will work to address the epidemic of firearm violence in the US. Read more
With vaccines widely available and case numbers dropping, cities around the U.S. are dropping restrictions and focusing on “getting back to normal” for the summer. But for many — after more than a year in isolation — “normal” feels scary. Experts say we need to talk more about what transitioning to a more open society will be like — and what our new normal will be like. Read more
The next phase of coronavirus vaccine campaigns will require reaching Americans who have little access to the shots and those whose jobs make it difficult to take time off to get vaccinated, according to public health experts. Read more
A collaboration between the Michigan State Youth Soccer Association (MSYSA) and the University of Michigan School of Public Health helped get more than 90,000 youth club soccer players back on the field with COVID-19 pandemic precautions in place. Read more
In February 2021, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) tweeted, “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?” The tweet was designed to promote a podcast that was ostensibly focused on structural racism yet did not include experts on the topic. The subsequent uproar highlighted the harm caused by deep intentional ignorance of the term structural racism, defined in the American Journal of Public Health as “policies and practices…that confer advantages on people considered White and ideologies that maintain these advantages, while simultaneously oppressing other racialized groups.” Read more
Policy shift could improve access to buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, but stigma and training still pose significant challenge. Read more
Exposure to a chemical found in the weed killer Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides is significantly associated with preterm births, according to a new University of Michigan study. Read more
A recurring sentiment among some in the vaccine-hesitant community is a desire to wait to receive any of the three available COVID-19 vaccines until they have been officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration. And while the FDA has authorized the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines ― and is expected to also approve each one in turn ― for many people, the difference between “authorized” and “approved” has been confusing. Read more
People who experience very severe COVID-19 illness have a higher prevalence of persistent symptoms, according to a new University of Michigan study. Read more