News
Maine Sunday Telegram and WGME cover UNE's commencement ceremony
The Maine Sunday Telegram and WGME 13 ran stories on UNE's commencement ceremony, which took place at the Cumberland County Civic Center on May 19, 2012. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree delivered the commencement address, and UNE awarded 1,183 degrees.
The Telegram story interviewed education graduate Briana Chu's mother, Alison Chu, and Sarah Watras, who came to watch her husband, Christopher Watras, one of 131 physicians receiving degrees from the College of Osteopathic Medicine. The Press Herald also covered UNE President Danielle Ripich's remarks, and both the Press Herald and WGME covered Rep. Pingree's address.
More than 60 online media outlets, including the Boston Globe, Denver Post, and Cincinnati Enquirer also picked up stories on UNE's commencement.
Posted on: 05/20/2012
Cathy Plourde discusses Add Verb Productions' focus on domestic violence on WMPG Safe Place
On Wednesday, April 18, 2012, Cathy Plourde, director of of UNE's Add Verb Productions, appeared as a guest on the the WMPG show Safe Space. The interview, which is online, is part of the show' s current focus on domestic violence. Plourde talked about Add Verb's new play, "Major Medical Breakthrough."
"Major Medical Breakthrough" focuses on the role that all health care providers can play in preventing domestic violence.
Plourde tells the story of writing a play to inspire health care providers to screen their patients for domestic violence. She gave sobering statistics about the high numbers of women and some men, who are being abused who see their doctors during the abuse and are never asked about it. Indeed only 10-19 percent of doctors report that they screen their patients routinely for domestic violence. Plourde stressed that where there is domestic violence, there is also likely to be sexual assault, something that often goes unasked about. Listen to the half hour interview.
Add Verb was founded in 2000 with a mission of using theatre in health and wellness education, and is currently a program of the University of New England's Westbrook College of Health Professions.
Posted on: 04/24/2012
Bangor Daily News covers UNE training program to help health care practitioners spot scams against the elderly
The Bangor Daily News on April 19, 2012 covered an April 18th training workshop designed to assist health care professionals in identifying the red flags of financial elder abuse. The program was presented by the UNE Maine Geriatric Education Center and UNE Center for Community and Public Health, in partnership with the State of Maine Office of Securities.
The news story summarized the event, which used a nationally recognized continuing medical education program that offers preventative strategies to health care practitioners. The program was presented by Maine Securities Administrator Judith Shaw and Robert E. Roush, Ed.D., M.P.H., director of the Texas Consortium Geriatric Education Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Read the story.
Posted on: 04/24/2012
Huffington Post lists UNE as a college 'Making a Difference'
On March 9, 2012, the Huffington Post ran a feature titled "Making a Difference Colleges," based on a list compiled by Inside College of 63 colleges that make a difference in the world. Read the story's introduction and see the listing for the University of New England, which features a photo of our College of Pharmacy.
Posted on: 03/14/2012
Media cover Michele Polacsek's research on the effectiveness of junk food ban in Maine schools
A study by UNE Associate Professor of Public Health Michele 
Polacsek, PhD, MHS, was widely covered by state media this week. The study revealed that despite a statewide ban in effect since 2007, widespread marketing of non-nutritious foods and beverages still occurs in Maine high schools.
The results of the study were released March 7, 2012 by Polacsek at the Physical Activity and Nutrition Summit 2012 in Augusta, Maine.
Polacsek told WCSH6 TV that "many of the school administrators that we spoke with were surprised to see how much marketing there was in their schools. Often times when you're in an environment every day, you don't notice the marketing. It's quite insidious."
Polacsek added that most school officials do want to get that marketing out of their schools, but it can be difficult for them to find the resources to replace scoreboards or vending machines, for instance. She said UNE is hoping to get some grant money to help schools find ways to comply with the state law.
In addition to WCSH6, the study was covered by WLBZ2 TV, MPBN public radio, the Bangor Daily News, and the Associated Press. The AP story was picked up online by a number of other media outlets, including the Boston Globe, WGME13 TV, the Portland Press Herald, Morning Sentinel, Kennebec Journal, and Seacoast online. More on the study.
Posted on: 03/08/2012
Study by Center for Community and Public Health is focus of St. Louis Public Radio story
A 2011 St. Louis County Community Health Needs Assessment conducted by the University of New England Center for Community and Public Health was the focus on a story that aired St. Louis Public Radio Feb. 24, 2012.
The study found that the incidence rate for prostate cancer in the county was about 30 percent above Missouri’s average and almost 20 percent higher than the national average. Ronald D. Deprez, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the UNE Center for Community and Public Health, was interviewed for the story.
He explained that the study finds that behavioral risk factors for the county such as smoking, poor diets and sedentary lifestyles are actually below state and national averages. This would suggest that an answer explaining the high rates lies somewhere in the environment. “When you see the size of the cancer rates – they’re not just anomalies,” Deprez said. “There’s something going on there – in my view. So, I think it should be followed up on.” Listen to the entire story.
Posted on: 03/06/2012
Coastal Health Communities Coalition DVD 'A Parent’s Guide to Social Networking' featured in Courier
In the story, William Paterson, CHCC prevention project director, explains that he noticed that there was need in the southern Maine communities for social networking education among parents and kids because of online bullying and local parents who worried about how to handle their kids’ online activity.
Paterson and Mike Froning, CHCC program director, commissioned Video Creations in Kennebunk to develop the DVD, and the students of the Natural Helpers group at Old Orchard Beach High School contributed their social networking experiences in onscreen interviews. Students and parents from Kennebunk High School and the Middle School of the Kennebunks were interviewed for the production as well.
Posted on: 02/10/2012
Portland Press Herald column recommends partnership's video on underage drinking
"The Point of No Return," a DVD collaboration between Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition (CHCC), the Healthy Maine Partnership at the University of New England, Video Creations, and the Kennebunk Police Department, was featured in a recent column by Bill Nemitz in the Portland Press Herald during Young Driver Safety Awareness Month.
This powerful movie addresses the tragic consequences of underage drinking, and how a moment's choices can impact a lifetime. It is being shown in high schools and other organizations throughout Maine.
In addition, CHCC recently teamed up with Video Creations in Kennebunk, Maine, to produce " A Parent's Guide to Social Networking, " a DVD tool to help parents and youth better understand social networking sites and their potential dangers. To see trailers of the two CHCC videos, visit the Point of No Return website and YouTube.
Posted on: 02/06/2012
Sunday Telegram publishes column by Dora Anne Mills on 'Education Transforms Health Care'
The Maine Sunday Telegram published a 'Maine Voices' column titled 'Education Transforms Health Care' by Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., UNE vice president for clinical affairs, on Jan. 15, 2012.
Mills writes that "Our health system is in the middle of a metamorphosis. While we do not fully know the outcome of this transformation, we know it is changing the way decisions are made and health professionals and patients work together.
"Collaborative team-based care means that health professionals from different disciplines, such as primary care, behavioral health, oral health and public health, now work together in partnership with each other as well as with patients to make decisions. These transformations in our health system therefore call for new expertise."
Mills adds that "UNE's master of public health program is offered fully online and is hosted by a university with numerous health professional graduate schools and programs, including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, social work, physician assistant and, soon, dental. The result is that our public health students form an online community of UNE faculty and diverse learners from many different professions and geographic regions. This learning community also teaches the skills needed for collaborative team-based care. This heightened access to public health education that UNE provides holds great potential to help improve the health of people, especially in needy areas." Read the entire column.
Posted on: 01/15/2012
Bangor Daily News features COM Dean Marc Hahn's meeting with Michelle Obama on a veterans' health initiative; Ed Bilsky's research also highlighted
The Bangor Daily News on Jan. 12, 2012 featured a story on a meeting with First Lady Michelle Obama that Marc B. Hahn, D.O., senior vice president for health affairs and dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, attended along with a select group of other medical school deans.
The deans visited Virginia Commonwealth University on Wednesday to launch a program, spearheaded at a national level by Mrs. Obama and her Joining Forces initiative, focused on better serving military veterans and their families.
The Daily News explained that "as a veteran and former chief of pain management at Walter Reed (Army )Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Marc Hahn has seen firsthand how the stresses of war affect America’s military personnel. Now, as dean of the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, he’s leading the Maine school into a new initiative to prepare the next generation of doctors to better understand the needs of veterans.”
Edward Bilsky, Ph.D., UNE associate provost for research and scholarship and director of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences, was also interviewed for the article. He cited work performed by medical student Jacque Reynolds in both his laboratory and the laboratory of UNE Professor Ian Meng. The research proposed a novel animal model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that won an award at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. The full article has now been published in the journal Life Sciences. Read the entire Bangor Daily News story.
Associated Press, the Portland Press Herald, the Boston Globe and other media outlets also covered UNE's involvement in the veterans' initiative.
Posted on: 01/13/2012
Kenneth McCall interviewed for WCSH6 story on increase in pharmacy robberies
Kenneth McCall, Pharm.D., associate professor and chair of Pharmacy Practice, was interviewed for a Dec. 13, 2011 story on WCSH6 TV news on the recent rise in pharmacy robberies.
McCall, who is also president of the Maine Pharmacy Association, said that "the pharmacy robberies that are taking place are a signal of a larger public health issue and that's prescription drug abuse."
He added that "education may be one of the best tools in the battle against drug abuse. We need to be talking to our children about the potential risks of permanent brain damage and death that prescription drug abuse can cause, just as we talk about illicit drugs like cocaine."
Posted on: 12/14/2011
Judith Metcalf quoted on MPBN radio and Bangor Daily News on UNE's new role in fighting elder investment fraud
MPBN public radio in a story on Dec. 1 and the Bangor Daily News in a column on Dec. 4, 2011 reported that Maine is going to participate in a national program to fight elder investment fraud, a program in which UNE's Maine Geriatric Education Center will play a central role.
The State of Maine is joining the Elder Investment Fraud and Financial Exploitation prevention program. It will train roughly 200 medical care professionals to spot older patients who might be victims of financial exploitation, and then refer them to adult service professionals and state securities regulators for follow-up.
The UNE’s Geriatric Education Center will take the lead in finding ways to deliver the program to health professionals around the state. Judith A. Metcalf, director of the UNE center, said the center is looking forward to the challenge.
“Many aspects of normal aging and disease can contribute to older adults’ vulnerability to investment fraud and other financial abuse,” Metcalf said.“This program provides an innovative new approach to reduce victimization.”
Posted on: 12/05/2011
Bangor Daily News interviews Dora Anne Mills as recipient of the Maryann Hartman Award
The Bangor Daily News covered the announcement that Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., UNE vice president for clinical affairs, is being honored tonight (Oct. 27, 2011) as one of three women receiving the University of Maine's Maryann Hartman Award.
The story explained that for 15 years, as head of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Mills kept a watchful eye on the impact of diseases such as the H1N1 flu virus and took steps to ensure Maine residents were protected against them. Mills, a pediatrician, also practiced in Africa before settling in Maine.
Mills told the Daily News that poverty remains the greatest challenge to public health in Maine. “We know people living in poverty don’t have as good access to health care as others do,” she said. “They tend to die younger of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. That’s in part because they get diagnosed later, but they also have higher rates of these diseases.” She added, “The longer I’m in public health, the more I realize how connected it is to economic development."
Posted on: 10/26/2011
Bangor Daily News reports on Maine Development Foundation's recognition of Dora Anne Mills' leadership in Maine's public health
The Bangor Daily News on Sept. 15, 2011 reported that Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., UNE vice president for clinical affairs, is the recipient of the Maine Development Foundation’s Kenneth M. Curtis Leadership Award, which is given annually to alumni of Leadership Maine. Mills, the state’s former public health director, is being honored for her efforts in improving Maine’s health and reorganizing Maine’s public health system over the past 15 years. The award will be presented tonight (Sept. 16th) at the foundation's meeting at Point Lookout in Northport.
Posted on: 09/16/2011
Water research on Crow Reservation led by Tim Ford highlighted in EPA newsletter
A project led by Timothy Ford, Ph.D, UNE vice president for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies, was highlighted in the EPA's Environment, Health and Society Bulletin. The project , funded by the EPA, seeks to measure, communicate, and mitigate the risk of contaminated water on the Crow Reservation in south central Montana.
The researchers examine water on the reservation for everything from coliform and other disease-causing bacteria to dangerous chemicals like mercury and manganese. To gather data they not only test water directly but conduct interviews and surveys with people using the water to better gauge their current health and the possible effect of the water upon health. Even before beginning the research, data indicated that around 40 percent of the wells were contaminated and that river water was problematic as well. Ford has led the project with Dr. Anne Camper of Montana State University where Ford was department head of microbiology and director of the state-wide NIH IDeA Networks for Biomedical Excellence (MT-INBRE) Program.
Posted on: 09/15/2011
Dora Anne Mills interviewed by Bangor Daily News on post-9/11 federal funding for emergency preparedness
Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., UNE vice president for clinical affairs, was interviewed by the Bangor Daily News for a Sept. 9, 2011 story on how post-9/11 funding helped Maine strengthen public health and emergency preparedness. Mills served as director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 1996-2010.
The Maine CDC has received about $82.5 million in federal funds since 2004 for general preparedness and another $9 million just for the H1N1 influenza epidemic.
“That money has made all the difference in the world,” Mills said. "The main objective was to prepare for public health emergencies by way of strengthening the public health infrastructure.” Before the Sept. 11 attacks, she said, “Maine simply did not have a public health infrastructure.”
Posted on: 09/09/2011
Ron Deprez speaks on panel sponsored by New America Foundation
Ronald Deprez, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of UNE’s Center for Community and Public Health and associate professor of public health, spoke on a panel sponsored by the New America Foundation on May 21, 2012, in Washington, D.C.
The panel presentation was titled “Making Biomedical Science Nimble: It’s the Patients, Stupid!” It was live-streamed, along with six other panel presentations, as part of an event titled “How to Save America’s Knowledge Enterprise,” which explored new ways of thinking about science and technology and the government’s role in advancing them.
To view the event, click here.
Posted on: 5/22/2012
Emily Dornblaser elected Secretary of American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Global Pharmacy Education Special Interest Group
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Emily Dornblaser, Ph.D., was recently elected as the Secretary of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Global Pharmacy Education Special Interest Group by her faculty colleagues in AACP.
Dr. Dornblaser has been extensively involved in the University of New England Ghana Health Partnership over the past three years and now will provide national leadership in Global Pharmacy Education through this service opportunity at AACP.
Posted on: 5/16/2012
REACH Initiative receives the Maine Campus Compact President’s Leadership Award
The REACH (Research and Evaluation Assistance for Change) Initiative, created in 2011 by Maryann Corsello, M.S., Ph.D., has been chosen to receive the President’s Leadership Award from Maine Campus Compact, a collation of 17 member campuses whose purpose is to promote civic engagement among students and faculty within institutions of higher learning. REACH was selected as a winner of the award for its contributions to community service, service-learning and civic engagement efforts.
REACH is the first state-wide collaborative to sustain community-based program evaluation activities in the areas of substance abuse, sexual assault and gender violence, teen pregnancy, and delinquency prevention. It began as a way to continue the gains in evaluation capacity made by community programs initially supported by the AGTO (Assets-Getting to Outcomes) project, an implementation support intervention funded by the RAND Corporation.
The institutions of higher education that are members of the REACH Collaborative provide support for evaluation activities through faculty-supervised student work. College students receive powerful learning experiences in prevention research while providing evaluation help to community prevention programs.
Posted on: 5/14/2012
Kathy Knight presents workshops on emergency preparedness for long term care and assisted living communities
Director, Northeastern Maine Regional Resource Center, Director, EMHS Center of Emergency Preparedness and Director, Northeastern Maine Medical Reserve Corps, Kathy Knight, RN, BSN, presented a 3 hour workshop, "Be Ready: Emergency Preparedness Planning for Long Term Care and Assisted Living Communities" on April 23rd in Portland and on April 30th in Lewiston. This event was sponsored by the UNE-Maine Geriatric Education Center, UNE MatureCare and St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion.
The workshops were presented to health professionals in LTC and AL communities and discussed requirements and regulations that are imposed upon Long Term Care and Assisted Living Communities, the potential legal litigation for failing to comply with preparedness regulations, and ways to plan and institute a functional emergency response plan. In all, there were approximately 60 participants from Long Term Care and Assisted Living Communities in attendance.
Posted on: 5/01/2012
Ron Deprez invited to participate in MHMC’s Health Care Cost Workgroup
Ron Deprez, Ph.D., MPH, the executive director of the University of New England’s Center for Community and Public Health, was recently invited to participate in a workgroup being conducted by the Maine Health Management Coalition (MHMC) to make recommendations on reducing healthcare costs in Maine.
Dr. Deprez will participate in a series of four working sessions over the next three months. The workgroup will explore issues surrounding the increase in healthcare costs, identify regional cost drivers and recommend cost reduction policies using local and regional claims and related data.
Upon completion of the workgroup series, MHMC Director for Health Analytics Michael DeLorenzo and CEO of the Network of Regional Health Improvement Harold Miller, will present the workgroup’s recommendations to the MHMC executive directors.
Posted on: 4/06/2012
CCPH Director Ronald Deprez meets with WHO administrators
Ronald Deprez, Ph.D., the executive director of the University of New England’s Center for Community and Public Health, recently traveled to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland to participate in a series of meetings with key administrators to discuss the UNE-sponsored Ghana Health Partnership (GHP).
As a former adviser to Rafael Bengoa, Ph.D., the WHO director of the Evidence and Information Policy Office, Dr. Deprez focused on the assessment and design of noncommunicable disease programs in low resources countries.
The meetings took place on March 1-2, 2012 and focused on how GHP’s mission of chronic disease prevention and management can be aligned with the objectives of the WHO chronic disease and health promotion strategic plans. Faculty members from UNE and in Ghana have been working on several projects designed to improve the delivery of health information and care coordination services to people at risk for, or already diagnosed with, a chronic health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and other cardiovascular conditions.
The discussions covered the history and successes of the GHP focusing on the research activities and priorities surrounding noncommunicable diseases, and created an action plan to further establish a WHO/ UNE-GHP collaboration.
A follow-up meeting is scheduled for June 2012 after the WHO action plan for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management is complete. Ghana will provide a place to implement one or more of the WHO noncommunicable disease initiatives.
Please visit the Ghana Health Partnership website for more information on the program.
Posted on: 3/26/2012
Gail Dana-Sacco participates in Bowdoin panel, one of four American Indian academics
Gail Dana-Sacco, Ph.D., MPH, director, Maine AHEC Network, and UNE assistant professor of public health, was one of four American Indian women with Ph.Ds, who spoke to students at Bowdoin College March 2, 2012.
The purpose of the panel was to bring a variety of perspectives to what it means to be a woman in the academy. The story on the event was posted on the Indian Country Today Media Network.com.
Posted on: 3/21/2012
Marilyn Gugliucci and Kira Rodriguez complete first statewide needs assessment of Maine's older adults
Marilyn R. Gugliucci, Ph.D., Department of Geriatric Medicine, Kira Rodriguez, M.H.S., Research Associate at UNE's Center for Community and Public Health, and Shirl A. Weaver, Ph.D. (Consultant) completed Maine's first statewide assessment on aging funded by the Maine Office of Elder Services in conjunction with the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging (M4A).
The 100-page report addressed the question, 'What do Maine's older adults need to remain in their homes?' It includes results from statewide focus groups (Gugliucci/Weaver) and Caregiver/Service Provider Surveys (Rodriguez). The report was presented by Dr. Gugliucci to state leaders in the field of aging.
Directors and executive directors from the Office of Elder Services, Maine Hospice Foundation, Adult Protective Services, Volunteers of America, Maine Health Care Association, Home Care of Maine, Maine Alzheimers Association, Maine Ombudsman Program, Maine Retirees Association, Maine AARP, Maine Legal Services for the Elderly, and Gould Services of Maine participated in the discussion following the presentation to identify next steps in creating the strategic plan to address aging in Maine, a report that is required by the Administration on Aging in order for Maine to access Older Americans Act funding.
The Maine DHHS has past strategic plans that focused on aging issues based on secondary data sources. This is the first time the state conducted a needs assessment with older adults, caregivers for older adults, and service providers for older adults. The needs assessment will be available on the Office of Elder Services and M4A websites in April, with the final strategic plan available in July 2012.
Posted on: 3/20/2012
Praphul Joshi publishes article in the Journal of Physical Education and Sport
Praphul Joshi, PhD, MPH, BDS, assistant professor, Graduate Programs in Public Health, has published an article in the Journal of Physical Education and Sport, which compares the relationship between fitness levels and academic performance of school children.
Reference: Journal of Physical Education and Sport ® (JPES), 11(4), Art 58, pp.376 - 382, 2011
Posted on: 3/12/2012
NSF project led by Tim Ford featured in CBE-Life Sciences Education journal
A project originally led by Tim Ford, Ph.D., UNE Dean of Graduate Studies, was featured in the American Society for Cell Biology journal CBE-Life Sciences Education, Summer 2011. The article, submitted by the National Science Foundation, is entitled "Undergraduate Research Experiences in Biology: Alternatives to the Apprenticeship Model Research." It explored some of the approaches advocated in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, an effort within the biology community to meet the needs of 21st-century life sciences undergraduates.
The article reviewed a sampling of recent innovations integrating scientific research experiences within the biology curriculum. Dr. Ford and his colleagues at Little Big Horn College and Montana State University are leading a Community-Based Participatory Research project with the Crow Tribe in Montana, whereby students conduct water quality tests, deliver samples for testing, and relate their findings to local health risks and then share with the community.
When the project began in 2006, few tribal members had undergraduate degrees in the life sciences and none had graduate degrees. Now, 12 students are completing bachelor degrees and two have earned master's, and the students have developed an understanding of risk assessment and testing methodologies and an appreciation of local water issues.
Posted on: 1/05/2012
