Program Spotlights & News

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Announcements

Public Health Sciences PhD Student Won 3rd Place at the Graduate Research Symposium

Last Friday, March 24th, Kevin Benson, a Ph.D. student in Public Health Sciences, participated in the 22nd Annual Graduate Research Symposium. The Graduate & Professional Student Government of UNC Charlotte awarded Kevin with third place for their oral presentation in the health and human services category.

Public Health Sciences PhD Student Interviewed by WBTV

Ebony Rao is a Ph.D. student in Public Health Sciences and works as a Program Manager for Mecklenburg County Public Health. Her work involves managing the Crisis Intervention Team Program, which works to create, maintain, and advocate for best practices in the mental health crisis continuum for the community. WBTV interviewed Ebony on Thursday, February 9th, about mental health emergencies in the community and the work of first responders helping during a crisis. She discussed how the COVID-19 Pandemic exacerbated mental health needs across the country. Those needing help for themselves or loved ones can call 988 the Crisis Hotline, or if they need immediate help, call 911 and ask for a CIT Officer.

View Interview Here

Health Services Research PhD Student Published

Ph.D. Candidate Kristin M Lenoir published an article on patient perspectives on a targeted text messaging campaign to encourage screening for diabetes. A sizeable proportion of prediabetes and diabetes cases among adults in the United States remain undiagnosed, which puts them at risk for additional health complications. While prediction models can identify patients with a higher risk of prediabetes and diabetes, time pressures and an overwhelming number of alerts in the electronic health record can cause clinicians to ignore many of these tools. Since many healthcare organizations now contact patients directly via text for the standard of care, we sought help from patients in crafting text messages that would alert them to a possible health risk and walk them through getting a screening test on their own without any contact with their primary care provider. Using plain and positive language, integrating elements of personalization, and defining new processes clearly were identified by participants as content elements that could help overcome barriers to receptiveness and engagement with these messages.

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Public Health Sciences PhD Student Published

Shanika Jerger Butts

Ph.D. Candidate Shanika Jerger Butts published an article with Dr. Larissa Huber on Pre-pregnancy Diabetes, Pre-pregnancy Hypertension and Prenatal Care Timing among Women in the United States, 2018. Women who begin pregnancy with pre-existing conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are at an increased risk for pregnancy complications. Receiving early prenatal care will help to stay on top of these conditions, which would improve maternal and birth outcomes. This article discusses when women with these chronic illnesses receive prenatal care. The findings from this study reveal that women who begin pregnancy with hypertension and diabetes seek prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy.

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Public Health Sciences PhD Student Awarded Best Student Abstract by American Public Health Association

Public Health Sciences PhD student Chloe Vercruysse has been granted the Best Student Abstract Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA) in relation to an oral presentation she gave at APHA’s 2021 scientific meeting through their caucus on homelessness. APHA publishes the American Journal of Public Health and The Nation’s Health newspaper. Awards granted as part of APHA’s 2021 scientific meeting will be published in the January 2022 edition of The Nation’s Health.



DOCTORAL STUDENTS PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHTS

Chloe Vercruysse, Public Health Sciences Doctoral Student

Bowling, J., Vercruysse, C., Bello‐Ogunu, F., Krinner, L. M., Greene, T., Webster, C., & Dahl, A. A. (2020). “It’s the nature of the beast”: Community resilience among gender diverse individuals. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(7), 2191-2207. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22371

Vinoski Thomas, E., & Vercruysse, C. (2019). Homelessness among individuals with disabilities: Influential factors and scalable solutions. NACCHO: The Essential Elements of Local Public Health. Retrieved from https://www.naccho.org/blog/articles/homelessness-among-individuals-with-disabilities-influential-factors-and-scalable-solution

Bowling, J., Schoebel, V., & Vercruysse, C. (2019). Perceptions of Resilience and Coping Among Gender-Diverse Individuals Using Photography. Transgender Health, 4(1), 176–187. doi: 10.1089/trgh.2019.0015

Subhanwita Ghosh, Health Services Research Doctoral Student

Research Interests/Focus:

Chronic diseases and effective treatment plan Breidenbach, J. D., Dube, P., Ghosh, S., Abdullah, B. N., Modyanov, N. N., Malhotra, D., Dworkin, L. D., Haller, S. T., Kennedy, D. J. (2020). Impact of Comorbidities on SARS-CoV-2 Viral Entry-Related Genes. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 10(146), 146–. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm10040146

Lisa Krinner, Public Health Sciences Doctoral Student

Research Interests/Focus: Childhood adversity and other psychological traumas, and how we can successfully cope with stress and build resilience

Krinner, L.M., Warren-Findlow, J., & Bowling, J. (2020). The Association between Childhood Adversity and Self-rated Physical Health in US College Students. American Journal of Health Promotion, epub.

Krinner, L.M., Warren-Findlow, J., & Bowling, J. (2020). Examining the Role of Childhood Adversity on Excess Alcohol Intake and Tobacco Exposure Among US College Students. Substance Use & Misuse, epub.

Bowling, J., Vercruysse, C., Bello-Oguno, F., Krinner, L.M., Greene, T., Webster, C., & Dahl, A. (2020). “It’s the nature of the beast”: Community resilience among gender diverse individuals. Journal of Community Psychology, epub.

Cayla McAvoy, Public Health Sciences Doctoral Student

Research Interests/Focus:

Behavior change as it relates to physical activity. How can we use exercise as a form of medicine? McAvoy, C., Moore, C., Aguiar, E., Amalbert-Birriel, M., Barreira, T., Chipkin, S., Ducharme, S., Gould, Z., Chase, C., Schuna, J., Staudenmayer, J., & Tudor-Locke, C. (2020). Relative Intensity-associated Cadence (steps/min) Thresholds In 61-85 Year Olds, The Cadence-adults Study: 589 Board #3 May 27 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 52(7S), 148–149. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.mss.0000675080.45143.ce McAvoy, C., Moore, C., Aguiar, E., Ducharme, S., Schuna, J., Barreira, T., Chase, C., Gould, Z., Amalbert-Birriel, M., Chipkin, S., Staudenmayer, J., Tudor-Locke, C., Mora-Gonzalez, J. Cadence (steps/min) and relative intensity in 21 to 60-year-olds: the CADENCE-adults study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2021 Feb 10;18(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s12966-021-01096-w. PMID: 33568188

Laura Clark, Health Services Research Doctoral Student

Research Interests/Focus:

Clark, K. (2020). Quantifying people living with HIV who would benefit from an alternative to daily oral therapy: Perspectives from HIV physicians and people living with HIV. Population Medicine, 2(October), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/126632

Clark, L., Karki, C., Noone,J., Scherzer, J., Bode, M., Rizzini, P., Vecchio, F., Roustand, L., Nachbaur, G., Finkielsztejn, L., Chounta, V., Van de Velde, N. (2020). Medical Needs for Alternatives to Daily Oral HIV Treatments in Western Europe.

Clark, L., Green, S., Grima, D., Velez, F., Wendorf A., Thorndike, F. (2020). Comorbid Medical Conditions, Outpatient Healthcare Resource Use, and Charges Associated with Diagnosis of Chronic Insomnia in the US.

POSTERS & ABSTRACT PRESENTATIONS

APHA 2020 Annual Meeting

Oluwaseun Adeyemi, PHS Doctoral Student

4348.0 Understanding patterns of fatal injuries and risky driving behaviors during rush hours using individual-level and county-level data
Oluwaseun Adeyemi, MBChB, MWACS, MPH, Rajib Paul, PhD and Ahmed Arif, PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

4273.0 Rush hour accidents: Assessing the relationship between road environmental determinants and county-level fatal road accidents patterns in the United States
Oluwaseun Adeyemi, MBChB, MWACS, MPH, Rajib Paul, PhD and Ahmed Arif, PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

Subhanwita Ghosh, HSR Doctoral Student

4027.0 Urban-rural differences in the association of COVID-19 mortality with social determinants of health
Subhanwita Ghosh, Rajib Paul, PhD, Ahmed Arif, PhD and Kamana Pokhrel, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

Tasha Gill, PHS Doctoral Student

2106.0 Adverse childhood experiences and contraceptive use among women: Findings from the 2017 behavioral risk factor surveillance system
Tasha L. Gill, MPH and Larissa R. Brunner Huber, PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

Andrea Kaniuka, PHS Doctoral Student

4358.0 Challenges in community reintegration: A cross-sectional examination of substance abuse-related suicide post-psychiatric and correctional release, 2003-2016
Annelise Mennicke, PhD, Robert Cramer, PhD, Andrea Kaniuka, MA and Melanie Mayfields, MA, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

5035.0 Integrating public health and social justice models to understand suicide among transgender and gender diverse adults
Robert Cramer, PhD1, Andrea Kaniuka, MA1, Farida Yada, MPH1, Franck Diaz-Garelli, PhD1, Annelise Mennicke, PhD1, Jessamyn Bowling, PhD, MPH1 and Raymond Tucker, PhD2, (1)UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, (2)Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 

Lisa Krinner, PHS Doctoral Student

3252.0 Refinement of the hypertension self-care activity level effects (H-SCALE) physical activity subscale
Lisa Maria Krinner, MSc, Jan Warren-Findlow, PhD, Karina Aguilar, Julia Stullken and Jeri Ryan, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

Kandice Lacci, PHS Doctoral Student

2069.0 The association between WIC enrollment and pregnancy-related behaviors and outcomes in the United States
Kandice Lacci, MPH and Larissa R. Brunner Huber, PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

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Meghan Wally, PHS Doctoral Student

3129.1 Prevalence of prescription opioids for the treatment of shoulder osteoarthritis
Jacob Gorbaty, MD1, Susan Odum, PhD1, Meghan Wally, MSPH1, Rachel Seymour, PhD1, Nady Hamid, MD2 and Joseph Hsu, MD1, (1)Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute, Charlotte, NC, (2)OrthoCarolina, Charlotte, NC

3161.3 Quality and content of internet-based information for osteoporosis and fragility fractures
Thomas Bemenderfer, MD, MBA, Meghan Wally, MSPH, R. Randall McKnight, MD, Jacob Gorbaty, MD, Rachel Seymour, PhD and Madhav Karunakar, MD, Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute, Charlotte, NC

Coming Together for Action 2020, Charlotte, North Carolina

Lisa Krinner, PHS Doctoral Student

Krinner, L.M.,

Warren-Findlow, J., & Bowling, J. (Oct 20). The Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Self-rated Emotional Health in US College Students. Coming Together for Action 2020, Charlotte, NC. (virtual due to COVID-19)