From: Reider, Pamela Schoenberg

Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 10:27 AM

Subject: FW: Changes for fall at the Community Health Program

Attachments: Amie Shei_CV_updated.pdf; 03.01.11 Kosinski CV.pdf

To CH students--

Fwd. from Professor Balbach:

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As many of you know, in June, Kevin Irwin resigned to head Connecticut’s top AIDS Service/Harm Reduction organization; this was his chance to work closer to home and return to an active service position.   However, because Prof. Irwin has been a great teacher and advisor for us, has brought his important community-based research agenda to Tufts, and has been a wonderful colleague, Tufts has worked out a plan to keep him with us on a part time basis this year and have him return full time in fall, 2012.  He will teach his fall seminar on stigma, keep his advisees, and continue with the theses and independent studies to which he has committed.  In addition, through a separate agreement with Tisch College, he will continue his CH 182 project on food security in Somerville.  

We were very fortunate to be able to recruit Amie Shei to a one year position at Tufts.  Her resume is attached.  She recently completed her doctorate in health policy at Harvard, where she assisted in teaching their introductory course on U.S. health policy.  Her doctoral research was focused on health issues in urban Brazil.  

In addition, last spring, we conducted a search for a half-time lecturer in the Community Health Program.  I am delighted that we were able to appoint Karen Kosinski to this position.  Dr. Kosinski taught “Issues in Global Health” for us in the spring and recently defended her dissertation in the Tufts interdisciplinary doctoral program focused on water.  Her resume is attached.  These two appointments have necessitated some changes for fall and spring.

Dr. Kosinski will be teaching CH 106 Health, Ethics, and Policy in the fall.  In the spring, she will again teach “Issues in Global Health” and will develop a new course on public health statistics.  We  anticipate the latter will count for math distribution credit.

Dr. Shei will teach a second section of CH 30 in the fall, which will be taught at the same time as the currently scheduled course.   Both courses will use the same syllabus.  She will also teach a new course on “Urban Health in Developing Countries” in the D+ block (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 – 11:45 a.m.; description below).  This is the timeslot we had originally planned for Prof. Irwin’s CH 110 course, “Psychoactive Drugs:  Issues, Policies and Interventions.”  Those of you in CH 110 may want to switch to this new course if the material is of interest and the time block is convenient.  In the spring, she will teach CH2, and a seminar based on her research interests.  Both semesters, she will work with Pamela Schoenberg Reider to conduct the internship program and class.

I will be teaching CH 110 but we are moving the course to the K+ block (Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:30-5:45 p.m.).  Those currently enrolled in the course will be transferred automatically to the new time block but are welcome to adjust their schedules during the summer.   Edith Balbach

Urban Health in Developing Countries

Currently, half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the proportion is growing, especially in developing countries. While urban living offers many advantages such as opportunities to increase income and better access to health and social services, the distribution of these advantages is extremely uneven, and many city dwellers suffer disproportionately from poor health. Many of these inequities can be traced back to differences in social and living conditions. Of the many health risks linked to rapid urbanization, none is more compelling than urban poverty, demonstrated most clearly by the rapid growth of informal settlements. This course explores the emerging public health issues associated with rapid urbanization in developing countries, with a particular focus on the urban poor. Case studies will highlight some recent methods for addressing the emerging and complex issues of urban health.