33rd Annual St. Albert's Day 2012

Stritch School of Medicine: Master of Public Health Program has posted pictures from the poster presentations from this year's St. Albert's Day Celebration.

MPH Candidates show off their new MPH pen!

Stephanie Pesenko Katina Deshong, Michelle Ngan, Kate Rieke

back-row: Christopher Lingat, Michael Husby and Kaushal Mehta

See more pictures on the Loyola MPH Facebook page

Researchers at Loyola Make News with Vitamin D Study

Researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine have done some number-crunching and have calculated that 78.7 million adults once considered to have insufficient vitamin D levels now have sufficient levels under the new guidelines.

The new study supports the IOM guidelines for a lower minimum vitamin D requirement vitamin D supplements. The study, led by Holly Kramer, a nephrologist at Loyola University Medical Center, found that mortality rates don't change much whether you have levels of 20 ng/ML or 40 ng/ML in your bloodstream on a daily basis.

The Study has been picked up by numerous news agencies including NPR And NBC.  Click on these links to see the full stories.

Associate Researcher Position Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

Chapin Hall is seeking an Associate Researcher to contribute to its work with public and private human services agencies. The goal of this work is to increase the capacity of these entities to manage multiple layers of their operations. This includes working with public and private administrative data resources to support agencies’ efforts to effectively plan, implement, monitor and evaluate changes to procedures, programs, and policies. The Associate Researcher will get involved in several project components that may include developing techniques in partnership with public child welfare agencies and other interested parties for organizing, processing, summarizing and presenting complex human services data in a way that is useful for human service administrators. The work will generally take one or more of the following forms: formal evaluation performance measurement and monitoring and performance-based contracting. The Associate Researcher will also be implementing techniques described above that have already been developed by the Center, assisting in the design and implementation of program evaluation, conducting teaching and training sessions for human service administrators and conducting focused research on specific areas of concern of public human services agencies. Chapin Hall is an independent policy research center whose mission is to build knowledge that improves policies and programs for children and youth, families, and their communities. For more information about Chapin Hall, please see our website at www.chapinhall.org. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer that values and actively seeks diversity in its workforce.

See Job Listing at PublicHealthJobs.net

Assistant Professors, Public Health University of Illinois at Chicago

The Division of Community Health Sciences (CHS) in the UIC School of Public Health invites applications for tenure-track Assistant Professor positions. Responsibilities include teaching graduate level courses, advising master's and doctoral students, developing an externally funded research agenda, and contributing to the service mission of the division and the school.

See full listing at HealthFacultyJobs.com

UIC School of Public Health Job Posting

The Healthy Youths Program and the Community Outreach Intervention Projects at the University of Illinois at Chicago is seeking a part-time Data Manager for a federally-funded study to prevent HIV/AIDS among juvenile offenders. The study is a randomized controlled trial to evaluate an innovative and uniquely tailored HIV/AIDS, mental health, and substance use program designed for 13-17 year old males and females on probation.

Data management responsibilities

• Create research protocol using ACASI programming and maintain project databases using SPSS 
• Create and maintain a database documenting recruitment, assessment, and follow-up activities 
• Manage data verification and retrieval for the project 
• Supervise the collection, entry, and verification of data 
• Review files for missing data, clean and merge data, and ensure the integrity of data collection on and off site.

This will be an hourly position averaging 20 hours/week. Research will sometimes be conducted at sites in the community (probation centers, homes, libraries, and schools), and some program activities will occur in the evenings. Candidates must be willing to maintain a flexible schedule that includes evening hours. Salary is commensurate with experience.

For fullest consideration, please email a cover letter and CV/resume, by 11/1/12 to: Erin McCarville, emccar2@uic.edu. To ensure proper handling of your application, type “Data Manager Position” into the subject heading.

Qualifications:

Ideal candidates will have: •Bachelors degree required, advanced degree in a relevant area such as public health, psychology, biostatistics, or social work preferred •Strong interpersonal and computer skills and exceptional professionalism •Ability to work autonomously and complete job responsibilities independently •Experience in the collection, verification and management of data for a longitudinal study •Experience with Access, Excel, and SPSS required •Experience with ACASI development •Experience working with youth preferred

For fullest consideration, please email a cover letter and CV/resume, by 11/1/12 to: Erin McCarville, emccar2@uic.edu. To ensure proper handling of your application, type “Data Manager Position” into the subject heading.

Environmental Health News

Restoration work days are scheduled for the second Saturday of each month at Loyola University’s Retreat and Ecology Campus (LUREC) in Woodstock, IL. Work day activities include removing invasive trees and brush from the oak and hickory woodlands, burning brush piles, improving drainage of the wetlands, and managing native plant life on the property. It's a great way to get outside, get some exercise, and help restore the natural habitats of LUREC.

If you are interested in taking part in upcoming work days or want more information about ecological restoration activities at LUREC, please contact Dr. Roberta Lammers-Campbell at rlammer@luc.edu.

Graduate School Announcements

Forms on Graduate Student Progress Systems (GSPS): 

Don’t forget that starting today The Graduate School will be opening up the Graduate Student Progress System (GSPS) to students for regular submission of forms. That includes the following:

• Leave of Absence 
• Thesis or Dissertation Committee Form 
• Thesis or Dissertation Proposal Ballot 
• Travel Award (Already available to Students)
• Professional Activities (including Placement for jobs, Publications, Presentations at conferences, Internships, and External Awards with more to come in the upcoming Terms 

Simply go to gsps.luc.edu and  log in with your LUC ID and password, just like you would for email or LOCUS.

Once these forms launch on October 22nd, they will no longer be available in paper Format. If you submit a paper form, it will be returned and asked to be put into the database. We will update our forms page on our website accordingly, so that you will be directed to the GSPS database.

On-Campus Event: 

Life Beyond the Ivory Tower: Non-faculty career options. 

• When: Friday, October 26, 2012, 2:30 p.m. 3:45 p.m. 
• Where: Granada Center Room 291, West Conference Room, LSC; Corboy Law Center Room 727, Video conference between LSC & WTC 

Second thoughts about a faculty career? Considered leaving the confines of academe? Join us to discuss career options beyond faculty jobs. In this workshop, you will learn about:

•  Private And Public Sector Jobs Opportunities 
• Non-Faculty Possibilities In Education 
• Turning Your Vita Into A Resume 
• Interview Skills 
• Non-Academic Job Search Strategy 

The workshop will be conducted by Camille Helkowski, Associate Director, Career Development Center. To reserve your seat for a workshop, please send an email to mailto:gradschool@luc.edu. Include the workshop title in the subject heading, and in the message include your full name, academic program, and degree pursuing.

Visit our website for a full calendar of events Off-Campus Event:

Off-Campus Events:

NIH Grant Training Seminar: How to Obtain Peer-Reviewed NIH Research Grants 

• When: November 28, 2012, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. 
• Where: University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois 
• Sponsored by: The Grant Training Center 

This one-day seminar is geared for junior faculty, students, and administrators who are beginning the process of submitting grants to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is also relevant for seasoned researchers who wish to refresh their knowledge of the new NIH requirements and the peer review process. Ultimately, the focus is to assist all who wish to submit winning research proposals to the NIH. Participants will learn how to:

• Find the appropriate program and grant mechanism for your idea
• Read and interpret RFAs
• Identify and avoid common pitfalls of a grant
• Develop an irresistible idea for your grant application
• Address the pieces of the request for proposal
• Maximize your application for competitiveness
• Package the proposal in the requested format
• Understand the new scoring system and the review process
• Learn what actually happens in the study section
• Search for the appropriate study sections for submissions
• Decipher pink sheets: the inevitable resubmission
• Build an airtight case for funding
• Discern the art of the budget 

Presenter:  Dr. Robert Freishtat is currently a Principal Investigator in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children's National Medical Center. He is also serves on the faculty of the Departments of Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and Integrative Systems Biology in the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC. His research interests include systems biology investigations of childhood asthma and drug development for sepsis. Dr. Freishtat’s laboratory is currently funded by grants from NIH (5 as principal or co-investigator) and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Dr. Freishtat is the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation for Medical Research and an active member of the American Thoracic Society. He has authored over 30 articles and book chapters in the fields of asthma, sepsis, and emergency medicine and reviews for six different journal.

Space is limited, and since this class fills-up quickly, it is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Workshop Fee: $375.00 (including tuition, materials, certificate of completion, and continental breakfast and lunch).
• To register: http://granttraining.net/ Click Here or call us toll free at (866)-704-7268 or (571) 257-8864. 
• Additionally, a Writing & Designing NSF Proposals Workshop is also going to be held at University of Illinois at Chicago on November 29, 2012. 
• Get a discount of $155 on registration for both workshops (Call us for the discount): Each person can register for either NIH or NSF for the price of $375. If a person registers for both, the price is $595 (discount of $155). 
• Please contact Grant Training Center for the discount code. For participants who has already registered for the NIH, this discount also applies if you register for the NSF workshop. 

 Graduate Student Programming and Spiritual Development at Water Tower: 

Water Tower Campus Life has an exciting calendar of events planned starting this Fall Semester. Below is the list of upcoming Programming Contact Dana Bozeman with any questions.

• WTC Yoga: Mondays, 7p.m.  in TSC 303/304 no class on 9/24,10/22, 10/29 
• Labre Ministry: Thursdays, 6p.m.  at TSC 
• Young Adult Mass: Sundays, 7p.m. at St. James Chapel

Professional Development Workshop

Professional Development WorkshopLife Beyond the Ivory Tower: Non-faculty career optionsFriday, October 26, 2012 | 2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. | Video conference between LSC & WTC*

Second thoughts about a faculty career? Considered leaving the confines of academe? Join us to discuss career options beyond faculty jobs. In this workshop, you will learn about:
• Private And Public Sector Jobs Opportunities
• Non-Faculty Possibilities In Education
• Turning Your Vita Into A Resume
• Interview Skills
• Non-Academic Job Search Strategy

The workshop will be conducted by Camille Helkowski, Associate Director, Career Development Center. * Room 291, Granada Center, West Conference Room – Lake Shore Campus. Please register with your name, degree program, and degree pursuing by sending an email to gradschool@luc.edu.

Distinguished Speakers Series

Dean Vicki Keough and the Faculty of Loyola University Chicago, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Cordially Invite You to Attend Our Distinguished Speakers Series

THE CHANGING US HEALTH CARE SCENE: RETHINKING THE CARE DELIVERY TEAM

• 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
• Tobin Hall, First Floor, Stritch School of Medicine 
• Loyola University Health System
• 2160 South First Avenue, Maywood, Illinois 60153

Learn cutting edge strategies to promote inter-professional collaboration to enhance patient safety and the quality of care.

Sharon O’Keefe is a nationally recognized authority on hospital operations, health care quality, patient satisfaction and employee engagement. A Chicago native, Ms. O’Keefe received her BSN from Northern Illinois University and MSN from Loyola University Chicago. During her distinguished career as a health care leader she served as president of Loyola University Medical Center, and joined the University of Chicago Medical Center as President in February 2011. As president she oversees a $1.1B clinical enterprise and connects the patient care mission of the medical center with the research and education missions of the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division.

•  RSVP by October 12 to Gina Michalski 
• 708.216.9101 or gmicha1@luc.edu

Graduate Student Founds Diabetes Platform

Dr. Janya Swami—a full-time MPH graduate student (Epidemiology track) at Loyola—has founded Communetes.  

Communetes is an information platform for people to share stories, tips, experiences, recipes and more, about diabetes. It is essentially a common place to make relevant information more accessible and use individual inputs to create shared experiences through social media, youtube and apps.

You can view and become part of the discussion on the Communetes Facebook page.