Monthly Archives: June 2016

Birth Control. There’s an App for That.

This week the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that would have shut the doors on half the state’s abortion clinics. I blogged about this case back in April, where I argued against restricting access to abortions and instead providing greater access to contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies. Luckily, thanks to innovative health care, […]

Prescription for Chronic Disease: Rx Exercise!

I remember the very first day of a public health program design class I took. The professor asked the class to stand in different corners of the room to demonstrate whether we agreed or disagreed that exercise was beneficial to health. Everyone stood in the ‘agree’ corner. Then she asked us to stand in separate […]

For Sexual Assault Reports on Campus, Zero Doesn’t Mean Zero

It is estimated that one in five undergraduate college women will be sexually assaulted during their four years in school. While this statistic has been challenged many times, several studies have corroborated this number. Regardless of the true statistic, one sexual assault is one too many.   The Jeanne Clery Act, enacted in 1990, requires […]

Waze to stay safe

The GPS navigation and social networking app Waze, which has more than 50 million users, uses nearby drivers’ alerts and real-time traffic to save you time while driving. But, as of last week it could start adding a few minutes to your commute. However, it is all under the goal of keeping you safe. The […]

Education’s Greatest Challenge is Chronic Absenteeism

More than 6 million students nationwide missed at least 15 days of school in the 2013-14 school year, according to data collection by the U.S. Department of Education released last week. Missed school days are a predictor of high school dropout, which has been linked to poor outcomes later in life, including poverty, poor health […]

Will Free Sunscreen Prevent Skin Cancer?

Nicer weather across the country is bringing everyone outside in droves to enjoy the sunshine. But most of you won’t be using sunscreen. That’s why many cities have decided to provide sunscreen in public parks, free of charge, in hopes you’ll use it.   In the past three decades, more people have had skin cancer […]

Public Health: A vision in sight

Tiana Miller is a stand-up comic who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was 20.  It took her another 2 years to qualify for Medicare because of disability, an exercise she describes as a full-time job in itself. During that time, lacking any insurance, she charged all of her treatments to a credit card, […]

Leading Lead Removal Research

Over the past few weeks, we have analyzed the harmful effects of lead exposure on young people, explored the extent to which lead exposure still impacts us, and discussed some of the efforts underway to eliminate the troublesome element. Millions of dollars have been poured into efforts to safely remove lead from our homes, pipes, […]