Research Topics

Co-Investigator (Co-I) and Contracts Currently Held by the Department and Community Health

Dr Kerry Green (Assistant Professor) 1) Roles, Aging & Health among African American Women (National Institute on Aging, R01) examines effects of continuing and evolving family, social and economic conditions on the physical and psychological well-being of a community cohort of African-American mothers followed longitudinally for 25 years. 2) Drug Abuse and Crime across the Life Course in an African American Population (National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01) uses prospectively gathered, longitudinal data on a community cohort of urban African American men and women followed from age 6 to age 42 to investigate the association between drug use and crime over the life course. 3) Comorbid Patterns with Alcohol Use Disorders (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, R01) uses data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions to assess patterns of alcohol use disorders with comorbid anxiety and mood conditions.

Dr Stacey Daughters (Assistant Professor) 1) Distress Tolerance: Links with Family Emotional Climate and Adolescent HIV Risk (National Institute on Drug Abuse, R21) examines the distress tolerance as a mediator of the link between family emotional context and HIV risk behavior. 2) Drug Choice, Impulsivity, and Risky Sexual Behavior (National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01) examines sexual risk taking as a function of drug choice, exploring a multidimensional assessment of impulsivity as a potential mediator of this relationship. 3) Behavioral Measurement of Negative Reinforcement in Adolescent Alcohol Use/Abuse (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, R21) proposes development of an assessment paradigm to measure negative reinforcement motives of risk taking propensity. 4) Minority Communities HIV Prevention Research Training. (NICHD 5R25HD045810-05 and NIMH 5R25MH067127-05) to determine the feasibility of developing a distress tolerance intervention for at risk minority adolescents. 5) Drug Choice, Impulsivity, and Risky Sexual Behavior: Minority Supplement. PI, Tanya Geiger (NIDA, RO1) Minority Supplement to R01.

Dr Pamela Clark (Research Professor) 1) Smokers and PREPs (National Cancer Institute) with the objective of comparing particle size distribution and chemical characterization of potential reduced exposure tobacco products, and 2) The Effect of Replicating the True Puff Profile on Smoke Emissions (National Cancer Institute) with the objective of determining if smoke emissions vary when the full puff profile information drives machine-smoking compared to the use of averaged profiles that are typically used.

Dr Jessica Rath (Research Assistant Professor) Co-I on Dr Glover's 2 research projects.1) Phase 2, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial of Selegiline Transdermal System (STS) As An Aid for Smoking Cessation (National Institute on Drug Abuse) to determine the efficacy and safety of selegiline transdermal system with brief behavioral counseling for smoking cessation in heavy smokers compared to brief behavioral counseling alone. 2) A Phase 3, Multi-center, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study to Assess Efficacy, Immunogenicity and Safety of 3'-aminomethylnicotine P. aeruginosa r-exoprotein A Conjugate Vaccine (NicVAX) in Smokers Who Want to Quit Smoking (Nabi Biopharmaceutical) a pivotal Phase III trial to study the efficacy, immunogenicity, and safety of NicVAX in smokers who want to quit, as an aid for smoking cessation and long term abstinence. And, also Co-I on Dr Clark's 2 research projects.3) Physiologic Impact of Variation in Smoke pH (National Institute on Drug Abuse) to determine if variation in the proportion of free-base nicotine in smoke influences smoking behavior, subjective perceptions of the cigarettes, and biomarkers of smoke exposure. 4) Standardization of Methods to Measure Waterpipe Smoke (WP) Emissions and Exposure (National Cancer Institute) to establish a standardized protocol for measuring WP smoke emissions by determining which components of the WP are responsible for the greatest variation in measured emissions and/or smoking topography.

Dr MinQi Wang (Professor) 1) Integration of Water Data Collection and Management among Local and State Agencies (EPA Challenge Grant Cooperative Agreement) improves the environmental water quality data by developing a statewide surveillance system in evaluating relationships of water quality and the public health issues. Dr Wang serves as Co-I for the following projects. 2) Integration of Water Data Collection and Management among Local and State Agencies (EPA Challenge Grant Cooperative Agreement) improves the environmental water quality data by developing a statewide surveillance system in evaluating relationships of water quality and the public health issues. Dr Wang serves as Co-I for the following projects. 3) Genetics of In Vivo and in Vitro Endothelial Function in African Americans (NIH/NHLBI, RO1) determines whether functional SNPs within shear stress-regulated genes in the three endothelial cell functional groups are associated with changes in shear stress/flow-mediated dilation and changes in casual and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure with aerobic exercise training. 4) Dr Beck's Monitoring the Future of Maryland Traffic Safety Programs. 5) Dr Simon-Rusinowitz's (Health Services and Administration) Consumer-Direction Technical Assistance Institute/Consumer and Representative Section (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) maintains the database and provides support to data users of the Cash and Counseling data. 6) Dr Hurley's (Kinesiology) R21, Strength Training, Self-efficacy, and Function in Blacks with Prostate Cancer (National Cancer Institute) identifies the relationship between strength training and functionality of African-Americans with prostate cancer. 7) Dr Hurley's Physical Attributes of Firefighting Performance (Department of Homeland Security) identifies the relationship between physical attributes of firefighting performance. 8) Dr Holt's CDC grant - Reasons for Low Follow-up in Black CRC Patients. 9) Dr Boekeloo's School of Public Health Center Grant, University of Maryland Prevention Research Center (UMD-PRC).

Dr Cheryl Holt (Associate Professor) Subcontracts. 1) SIP 5: Use of a Community-based Intervention to Increase Utilization of Colorectal Cancer Screening Among African American Women and Men in Urban Areas (CDC) aims to develop, implement, and evaluate the efficacy of a culturally relevant and spiritually-based intervention focusing on promotion of colorectal cancer screening among urban African Americans through a randomized controlled trial. 2) Reasons for Low Follow-up in Black Colorectal Cancer Patients (CDC) interviews African Americans with colorectal cancer to determine reason for the back-White disparity in post-treatment surveillance. 3) Perceived Discrimination in Medical Care (NIH/NHLBI, R21) provides a tool to determine with whom, where, and how African Americans and European Americans with hypertension experience perceived discrimination in primary care. 4) Primary Care Quality and Service Customization for the Homeless (Veterans Administration Health Services Research and Development) applies qualitative methods to develop a patient-reported survey measuring quality of primary care of homeless individuals.

Dr Carolyn Voorhees (Research Associate Professor) Co-I on the following projects. 1) Physical Activity Decline in Adolescent Girls (RO1) determines multi-level factors predicting the decline in physical activity in early to mid-adolescence and mid to late-adolescence. 2) Adolescent Physical Activity in the Urban Environment (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) investigates the relationship between community environmental characteristics and objectively measured out of school activity in 9-12 grade students recruited from 2 predominantly African American, Baltimore City Magnet High Schools. 3) The Relationship among Availability of Healthy Foods, Body Mass Index and Dietary Patterns in Urban Adolescents (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) supplement to existing grant awarded to expand physical activity study to examine dietary intake and neighborhood nutrition environment factors in a sub-sample of same cohort of urban high school students. 4) Environmental Influences on Physical Activity, and Obesity in African American Adolescents -- A Multilevel Perspective (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) to add additional environmental variables to the main study (psychosocial hazard index and geographic environmental variables) and conduct multi-level analyses and test a structural theoretical model including these variables and BMI and Physical Activity outcomes in the larger adolescent study.

Asian American Health Initiative

(Drs. Robert Gold and Nancy Atkinson - September 2004 - June 2005) Developing a community Health Surveillance Database for Asian Americans of Montgomery County, Maryland (Montgomery County Health and Human Services)

The purpose of this project is to assist Montgomery County, Maryland to establish an Asian American Health Initiative to help reduce health disparities between racial/ethnic minorities and the general population. The project involves the development of an initial health needs assessment and database to assess the health related needs of Asian American residents, particularly those who are low income and uninsured. This health needs assessment data will help the County to formulate and further refine a plan of action for the Asian American Initiative so that it is responsive to meeting those needs.

(Dr. Robin Sawyer) Assisting NCAA with risk reduction programming.

Researching knowledge, attitudes and usage of Emergency Contraceptive Pills among university students

(Dr. Robin Sawyer)

Monitoring the Future of Maryland’s Traffic Safety Programs

(Dr. Kenneth Beck) The purpose of this project will be to assist safety program coordinators in evaluating their programs. A comprehensive, statewide monitoring system will be developed that will allow a regular surveillance of Maryland’s population concerning the scope of highway safety issues that are being addressed by the State Highway Safety Office. This system, like other national monitoring systems employed by CDC and NIH, will focus on a variety of cross-cutting and topical areas and will employ telephone surveys of a representative sampling of households (800-1,000) throughout the State of Maryland to determine the extent and significance of behavioral and attitudinal risk factors concerning the various focus areas of the Highway Safety Office. This information is vital in developing countermeasures and in targeting them appropriately. Reliance upon vital statistics alone (i.e., crash reports, fatalities) cannot identify the predisposing, reinforcing or enabling factors that underlie the population’s willingness to accept and support traffic safety initiatives. This project is funded by the Maryland Highway Safety Office of Department of Transportation.

Adolescent Alcohol/HIV Prevention Interventions

(Dr. Bradley Boekeloo) Funding Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Collaborators: The George Washington University Medical Center , Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic Region. Summary: The purpose of this four year study is to assess the effectiveness of a brief office-based intervention to prevent or delay alcohol use in adolescents ages 12-17.

College Student Sexual Risk Taking

(Dr. Bradley Boekeloo) Summary: Using survey data from 246 college students enrolled in undergraduate personal health classes, researchers are investigating the relationships between several aspects of sexual risk taking relative to the college environment. By better understanding the relationships between alcohol use, casual sex, and discussion with a sexual partner researchers hope to reveal a new model that is predictive of condom use for college students.

National Minority AIDS Education Training Centers (NMAETC)

(Dr. Bradley Boekeloo) Funding Agency: Health Resources Services Agency (HRSA) Collaborators: Howard University, Charles R. Drew University, Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of Medicine, IMANI
Summary: The NMAETC provides training to minority health care providers in the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS. The mission of the NMAETC is to increase the knowledge of minority providers and ultimately to increase their capacity to treat. The NMAETC sites are located at historically Black institutions in order increase the number of minority providers who are educated.

Delta AIDS Education Training Centers (DAETC)

(Dr. Bradley Boekeloo) Funding Agency: HRSA. Collaborators: Louisiana State University (LSU). Summary: The DAETC provides training to health care providers in the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS.

National Peer Treatment Education Program (NPTEP)

(Dr. Bradley Boekeloo) Funding Agency: HRSA. Collaborators: Howard University. Summary: The NPTEP provides HIV/AIDS training and treatment education to minority peer educators. The goal of the program is to increase the number and quality of well-trained minority peer treatment educators who work in highly impacted or emerging HIV/AIDS communities.

Targeted Provider Education Demonstration Project (TPED)

Funding Agency: HRSA. Collaborators: Howard University. Summary: The TPED provides HIV/AIDS training for allied health and support service providers.

Worker Education and Training Response to Bio-terrorism

(Dr. Robert Feldman) The aim of the present study is to evaluate worker education and training response activities that address health concerns in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC). Both workers conducting emergency response to bio-terror incidents and conducting post-emergency remedial clean up work are the focus of the training. The training will address emergency response awareness and hazardous waste worker training. The trainers have previously conducted training for workers involved in the clean up of the WTC site and the anthrax contaminated facilities in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The evaluation of the training at the University of Maryland College Park will seek to determine whether the training program is effective and successful.

Smoking Cessation for Latino Immigrant Workers: Integrating Smoking Cessation into Worker Training

(Dr. Robert Feldman) The aim of the research is to reduce smoking among Latino immigrant workers. The researcher will develop, implement and evaluate a culturally and linguistically appropriate program. This program will be integrated with an occupational cancer prevention program for Spanish-speaking residents of Montgomery County using the training and assistance programs that the Alice Hamilton Occupational Health Center currently provides. Based upon CDC’s Best Practices (1999), we plan to offer a multi-component smoking cessation program, in Spanish, that will include written materials, posters, verbal messages, testimonials from Latino immigrant workers who are ex-smokers, and a telephone cessation help and support line staffed by a promotora. The messages and themes of the program will be based upon Latino cultural values (Marin, 2001), such as, familialism (family influence), personalismo (personal relationships), and simpatia (smooth interpersonal relationships). The scarcity of programs for Latinos and especially for workers highlights the need for such a program. A strong evaluation of the goals of the program will determine not only the impact of the program on the psychosocial and behavioral factors (i.e., smoking rates) of the participants, but also the community impact by examining the program’s influence on cultural norms about smoking. Therefore, this program aims to reduce health disparities caused by tobacco use, enhance the quality of life of this underserved population, and serve as a model for the development of culturally appropriate programs in Montgomery county.

State Prevention System – Management Information System (SPS/MIS)

(Dr. Robert Gold) Subcontract from Macro International Inc. (Funds originating at Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP/SAMSHA/DHHS.)

Prevention Decision Support System (DSS)

(Dr. Robert Gold) Supplemental funds subcontract from Macro International Inc. (Funds originating at Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP/SAMSHA/DHHS.)

Centers for Advanced Prevention Technologies (CAPT) Evaluation

(Dr. Robert Gold) Supplemental funds subcontract from Macro International Inc. (Funds originating at Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP/SAMSHA/DHHS.)

Prevention Science Decision Support System

(Sr. Robert Gold) Sub-contractor to Macro International Inc., submitted to The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Project Director.

The Role of Student Health Services in University-Community Collaborations

(Donna E. Howard, DrPH, Jerrold S. Greenberg, EdD, Carrie Murray MS, Robin Sawyer, PhD ) Conceptual paper, based on the ongoing Seat Pleasant/University of Maryland, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Partnership, exploring the integration of a university’s student health center into such collaborative efforts.

(Donna E. Howard, Dr.P.H, Estina Thompson Ph.D, Sharon Desmond, Ph.D, Jerrold S. Greenberg Ed.D) Conceptual paper, based on the ongoing Seat Pleasant/University of Maryland, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Partnership, examining the opportunities and constraint that influence the likelihood that academic faculty will engage in such collaborative efforts.

The Relationship Between Substance Use and Engagement in Risk Behavior for Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (STD?HIV) among US Adolescents

(Donna E. Howard, DrPH, Min Qi Wang PhD) The study aims to examine the relationship between substance use and STD/HIV-related sexual risk behaviors among sexually active adolescents who participated in the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The study is a secondary data analysis of the national 1999 wave of the of the ongoing YRBS.

Multiple Sexual Partner Behavior Among Sexually Active U.S. Adolescent Girls

(Donna E. Howard, DrPH, Min Qi Wang PhD) This study examines the relationship of multiple sexual partners to other risk behaviors among a representative sample of ninth through twelfth grade sexually active U.S. girls who completed the 1999 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The study is a secondary data analysis of the national 1999 wave of the of the ongoing YRBS.

Psychosocial Correlates Associated with Reports of Dating Violence Among U.S. Adolescent Boys

(Donna E. Howard, DrPH, Min Qi Wang PhD) This study examines the prevalence of physical dating violence and its relationship to risk behavior among a representative sample of ninth through twelfth grade adolescent boys who completed the 1999 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The study is a secondary data analysis of the national 1999 wave of the of the ongoing YRBS.

Personal and Social Contextual Correlates of Adolescent Dating Violence

(Donna Howard, DrPH, Yue Qiu, BS, Bradley Boekeloo, PhD, MS) This study examines the association of dating violence with personal and social contextual factors among a sample of 12 to 17 year olds enrolled in managed care health plans in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Funding for the research was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to Bradley Boekeloo, Principal Investigator.

(Donna Howard, DrPH, Bradley Boekeloo, PhD, MS, Christine Lothen-Kline, MS) This study makes use of the case study methodology for ethics instruction to public health students by applying it to an area of public health interest, that is the identification of suicide ideation among adolescents. Funding for the research was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to Bradley Boekeloo, Principal Investigator.

Adolescent preventive health research at a crossroad: Issues of study integrity, ethics, and imminent harm in the context of adolescent self disclosure of risky behaviors and affective states

(C Lothen-Kline, D Howard, B Boekeloo) This study makes use of a natural experiment to examine the effects of a change in confidentiality agreements on adolescent’s disclosure of suicidal ideation.
Funding for the research was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Grant#: 1R01AA12257) to Bradley Boekeloo, Principal Investigator.

How alienation and declines in social capital are affecting adolescent well-being

(Donna Howard, DrPH, Bradley Boekeloo, PhD) This study is a theoretical paper which examines the relationship between youth alienation and low neighborhood social capital on the prevalence of adolescent violence, suicide and engagement in other risky behavior.

Monitoring the Future of Maryland's Traffic Safety Programs & An Integrated Web-based System

(Dr. Kenneth Beck and Dr. Min Qi Wang)