On the Heights: March 2025
Stay informed with the latest from the Michigan Public Health community in our monthly digest. Departmental news, research highlights, community achievements, and more to help you stay connected with the Michigan Public Health community. Explore the impactful work of our faculty, students, and partners as we continue to advance public health initiatives and celebrate our collective successes.
April Zeoli presents on domestic violence laws and firearms violence in Congressional Briefing
The Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University and the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation collaboratively presented a Congressional Briefing to report on the most current gun violence prevention research, featuring several of the nation's leading experts on the topic. April Zeoli, associate professor of Health Management and Policy and policy core director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, spoke as one of the nation’s leading experts on policy interventions for firearm use in intimate partner violence. Zeoli is the primary investigator of the largest study of extreme risk protection orders to date, involving six states and over 6,600 cases.
Roshanak Mehdipanah joins post-documentary panel on local and statewide homelessness response
On March 11, more than 800 University of Michigan students, faculty, Ann Arbor city officials and community members gathered in the Michigan Theater to watch a documentary screening and panel discussion of “Beyond the Bridge: A Solution to Homelessness.”
Roshanak Mehdipanah, associate professor of Health Behavior & Health Equity, contributed her insight on homelessness as an urban health and housing policy researcher. She explained how people’s views on homelessness have shifted across the country and expressed a need for awareness about homelessness as a social issue.
“At the very heart of it is this idea that at some point, we’ve departed from the notion that housing is a basic human right to viewing housing as a commodity or some form of investment,” she said. “That’s really where the issue began and made housing so unattainable for so many in this process that continues to impact so many people….Homelessness is not at the individual level. It impacts communities; it impacts cities and societies as a whole.”
Michigan Public Health faculty, alumnae inducted into the Public Health Academy
The National Academy of Practice (NAP) is an alliance of healthcare professionals collaborating to transform health and wellbeing. This year marks the launch of the new Public Health Academy within NAP, to which three Michigan Public Health community members have been inducted:
- Olivia Anderson is a clinical associate professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her work focuses on public health education, interprofessional education, lactation education, and equitable teaching strategies.
- Lisa Martin is a Michigan Public Health alumna and a professor at U-M Dearborn with joint appointments in Women’s and Gender Studies and Health & Human Services, currently serving as Department Chair for Health and Human Services. Her research centers on sexual and reproductive health, particularly group-based interventions for abortion care workers.
- Vani Patterson is a Michigan Public Health alumna and the administrative director for the University of Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education. Patterson played a key role in founding the new Public Health Academy and has been named chair-elect for her work.
Article Commentary: “Sex Differences in Participation Restriction in Social Activities Among Older Stroke Survivors”
New commentary published in Blogging Stroke highlights research from Michigan Public Health that examines factors impacting social participation among older stroke survivors. The paper identifies physical capacity, driving frequency, and marital status as key contributors to participation restrictions and suggests that targeted interventions, such as accessible social programming and improved transportation options, could help support recovery and enhance quality of life for post-stroke individuals.
Gender-affirming hormone therapy and depressive symptoms among transgender adults
Transgender adults who received gender-affirming hormone therapy had a significantly lower risk of moderate-to-severe depression over four years compared to those who did not receive such care, according to a new study led by Michigan Public Health researchers Sari Reisner and David Pletta. The study, published in Jama Network Open, underscores the need for accessible healthcare for transgender individuals. Reisner told ABC News that the findings “support the mental health-promoting role of hormones” and their status as "a medically necessary treatment.”