At the College of Health, faculty research makes an immediate impact on human health. The COH’s combination of radical interdisciplinary research, partnership with community organizations, alumni support and student co-researchers makes this possible. In 2023, gifts supporting pilot funding for research allowed Thomas McAndrew, associate professor, department of biostatistics and health data science, and Rochelle Frounfelker, assistant professor, department of population health, to start a new project in infectious disease modeling and forecasting, forming the basis for a major award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) within two years. Conversations with COH faculty have inspired alumni such as Dr. Stephen T. C. Wong G’89, G’91, Carrie Callahan ’96 and Jim Wassil G’95, G’05 to help seed this and other early-stage research. McAndrew, a computational scientist, is developing an innovative tool that looks at how accurately individuals make flu predictions over time and weighing those predictions accordingly in his forecasting. As a social epidemiologist, Frounfelker is leading a project to understand the decision making processes of key stakeholders, ensuring that the technology is informed by real-world needs. This work, which was supported by Kareem Hargrove ’25 and Katie Blomkvist G’25, will contribute to population well-being by improving evidencebased public health decision making for infectious diseases. Gabrielle String, assistant professor with joint appointments in the COH’s department of population health and the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science’s department of civil and environmental engineering, leads impactful research on water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in low resource settings. Under her guidance, MPH student Josephine Osroagbo ’24, G’25 conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed papers and global guidelines for safe water storage and presented her work in multiple conferences. String also mentored MPH student Tracy Zhang, G’25 in safe water storage research through a partnership with Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology and the Africa MANZI Center. They developed a study to evaluate container cleaning practices at community health clubs in Zambia and are finalizing a manuscript. Michael Gusmano has played a pivotal role in helping to establish the COH and is a prolific researcher in health policy. He serves as professor of population health, Iacocca Chair, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Health, director of the Center for Ethics and co-director of the health, medicine & society program. Since 2021, he has published 34 peerreviewed articles and completed two book manuscripts. He leads an NIH R01-funded project on xenotransplantation ethics, exploring the use of genetically modified pig kidneys for human transplantation. Multiple COH students have contributed to the project. Gusmano is also concluding a project with Bayada Home Health, exploring whether medically complex children have better health outcomes with intensive home health services versus hospitalization. E.J. Rovella, who joined the inaugural cohort of COH PhD students, is first author of the final report. FACULTY, PARTNERS AND STUDENTS MAKING Real-World Impact through Research CLICK HERE TO READ EXTENDED STORY
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