The most comprehensive study of its kind has found that violence costs the United States $70 billion annually, a figure that rivals federal education spending and the damage caused by hurricane Katrina.

Research

Research and Outreach

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The multi-disciplinary faculty in the Department of Health Policy and Management are involved in a range of diverse research and outreach activities. Our particular research strengths are in the areas of aging, economic evaluation, emergency preparedness, child and adolescent health, and public health workforce. Each of these research areas involves attention to problems resulting from health disparities. We have experts in quantitative analyses as well as in qualitative research methods. Our faculty members publish in numerous journals, work on projects funded by the state and federal governments and private foundations, provide technical assistance to government agencies at all levels, and educate the current and future public health workforce in the region. In addition, we have a teaching environment which involves service learning projects in which state and local communities participate.

Research Areas

Aging

Drs. Leonard Poon and Anne Glass are HPAM faculty as well as Director and Assistant Director of the Institute of Gerontology, housed in the College of Public Health. They are also Director and Associate Director for the Georgia Geriatric Education Center, which recently was awarded funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Dr. Poon has been continuously funded since 1988 for his work in the study of centenarians, including the most recent program project, the Georgia Centenarian Study, which involves nine universities. Dr. Glass recently received funding from the Retirement Research Foundation to conduct a longitudinal study of an innovative elder co-housing community, and also works in the research area of death and dying,with the goal of improving end-of-life care.

Economic Evaluation

Drs. Phaedra Corso and Angela Fertig conduct research evaluating the economic impact of policies and programs. For example, Dr. Corso recently published an article finding that violence costs the US $70 billion annually. In addition, Drs. Corso and Fertig are currently working on a project funded by the Partnership for America's Economic Success, administered by the Pew Charitable Trusts, to examine the economic costs of poor health in early childhood in terms of medical expenses, parents' lost productivity, and later economic outcomes for the child.

Emergency Preparedness

Drs. Cham Dallas and William Bell are HPAM faculty as well as Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense, housed in the College of Public Health. This Institute focuses on medical training, mass casualty planning and response, and information technology applications to reduce casualties and social disruption from mass destruction events and natural disasters.

Child and Adolescent Health

Drs. Monica Gaughan and Angela Fertig study substance abuse, reproductive health, and maternal and child health outcomes, with an emphasis on low-income populations. For example, they are currently studying the effect of how smoking among adolescents and smoking cessation programs affect infant health outcomes as they become mothers.

Public Health Workforce

Drs. Valerie Hepburn and Monica Gaughan investigate issues related to shortages in trained personnel to staff local, state, and national public health-related organizations. For example, Dr. Hepburn recently received a grant from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation and the University System of Georgia to develop the planning, evaluation and research infrastructure to support public and private health professions education programs in Georgia. In addition, Dr. Gaughan conducts research on under-represented groups in science, which include women and minorities.

Outreach Areas

Service Learning

As one example, in Dr. Gaughan’s Public Health Leadership course, students work on projects with community partners. One of the student projects includes providing a benchmarking report for the state’s Office of Child Support Services to understand how Georgia’s performance and policies with regard to nonpayment compare to other states.

Technical Assistance

Expert testimony

Dr. Dallas has provided expert testimony several times to the United Nations concerning the lessons learned from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that are relevant to the medical and public health response to nuclear war.

Dr. Fertig provided expert testimony to the Georgia Assembly’s House Insurance committee about health insurance and the uninsured in Georgia.

Consultant Services

Dr. Corso is on the advisory committee and the research sub-committee for Healthy Families Georgia, a state-wide program that provides home visitation to first time parents with the goal of improving child health outcomes and decreasing child maltreatment.

Dr. Corso is an economic evaluation consultant to several violence prevention programs across the country, including an intervention designed to prevent intimate partner violence in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Dallas is working with the Georgia Health Care Association and the State Division of Public Health to establish an operational plan for the evacuation of special needs populations, such as nursing home residents, in the event of a large-scale disaster.

Training

Dr. Bell, as Exercise Director, is working with over 40 Georgia hospitals and four regional hospitals to conduct tabletop and full scale exercises to test hospitals' abilities to respond to and maintain operations throughout catastrophic events such as tornadoes, hazardous spills and pandemic influenza episodes. In accordance with Joint Commission Standards six areas of hospital operations are being assessed: communications, resources and assets, safety and security, staff responsibilities, utilities management and patient, clinical and support activities.

Dr. Glass is a leader and co-founder of the Georgia Education and Training Alliance of Georgia (GET-AGE) and received a grant from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation on their behalf to help improve and coordinate training for formal and informal caregivers across the state. A website that will serve as a portal to education and training opportunities for workforce development of those who work with elders is being designed and operated by the Institute and brings together this initiative as well as the on-line training offered through the Georgia Geriatric Education Center.

Research

Dr. Dallas and Dr. Bell are involved in research involving the medical effects of nuclear attack on urban populations and the ability of healthcare systems to respond. One of their publications in this area was the 3rd most accessed biomedical paper worldwide in 2007 (out of 170 journals on biomedcentral, over 30,000 accesses), see: www.biomedcentral.com/mostviewed (click on most viewed articles in past year; by June, 2008 this listing is likely to change).

Dr. Fertig is conducting an economic impact study of the child care industry in Georgia to provide some evidence about the contributions of this sector to the economy.

Volunteer Activities

Dr. Gaughan volunteers as a case manager for an organization serving the homeless and imprisoned in Atlanta.

Dr. Corso is on the Board of Directors for the Family Relations Program, a non-profit organization based in Gainesville, GA, that provides therapeutic services to children who are victims of violence. She also volunteers or otherwise contributes to many other non-profit agencies in Gainesville including the First Steps Program, Hands on Hall, Toys for Tots, and the Good News Clinic.

Dr. Glass and the gerontology students organize a team to participate in the annual Alzheimer's Memory Walk to raise funds for Alzheimer's disease research. They also participate in the "Be a Santa to a Senior" program, which collects and delivers Christmas gifts to low income elders. Dr. Glass is also on the board of the Athens Community Council on Aging.