Symposia, conference address malaria and other global health concerns

UC Davis is presenting symposia in April in observance of National Public Health Week and World Malaria Day. Also next month, the campus is hosting the 13th annual Northern California Global Health Conference.

Here are the details:

The Public Health Week Symposium, sponsored by the Department of Public Health Sciences, is scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, in the auditorium of the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility.

The organizers said Anthony Iton, a senior vice president with The California Endowment, will deliver the keynote address: “A New Public Health Practice Targeting the Root Causes of Health Inequity.”

Iton, a physician, leads The California Endowment's Healthy Communities program. The California Endowment is a private, statewide health foundation wiuth a mission "to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians."

Other speakers:

  • Christy Adams, coordinator, Trauma Prevention Program, UC Davis health System — “A Hospital-Community Partnership to Improve Outcomes Among Violently Injured Youth in Sacramento.”
  • Howard Baker, interim director, California Department of Public Health — “Public Health in California: The State of the State."
  • Bayliss J. Camp, research program specialist, California Department of Motor Vehicles — “New Ideas for Injury Prevention Among Older Drivers: California DMV’s 3-Tier Assessment System Pilot.”
  • Thomas Nesbitt, associate vice chancellor, School of Medicine “Public Health at UC Davis.”

Admission is free and open to the public, and the organizers said light refreshments will be provided. Questions, comments and RSVPs: biostatasst@phs.ucdavis.edu.

UC Davis' observance of Public Health Week is scheduled from April 4 to 8. Look for more events on the Department of Public Health Sciences website.

Global Health: Breaking Borders and Boundaries is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at the UC Davis Conference Center. UC Davis is a co-sponsor with UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, Samuel Merritt University, the University of San Francisco, Stanford University and Touro University.

The organizers announced two keynote speakers: Roberto Tapia-Conyer, on the the subject of migration and health; and Jonna Mazet, on the subject of "one health," a transdisciplinary approach to global health.

Tapia-Conyer is the director of the Carlos Slim Foundation, which provides human and financial resources to establish projects in education, health, justice and personal and community development in Mexico.

Mazet is a professor of epidemiology at UC Davis and director of the university's Wildlife Health Center, which is tied to UC Davis' One Health Institute.

Mazet assists government agencies and the public with emerging infectious diseases of wildlife, and she manages "one health" research on such subjects as tuberculosis in Africa, disease conflict in Yellowstone National Park and pathogen pollution of California coastal waters. In addition, she directs a new global early warning system, PREDICT, to identify emerging infectious disease threats.

The afternoon program comprises breakout sessions on a variety of topics, student posters and a networking lunch. The organizers said nongovernment entities from northern California and beyond will set up display tables.

Registration and more information. Read more in this UC Health article.

Postdoctoral researchers Michelle Sanford and Becky Trout are organizing UC Davis’ annual observance of World Malaria Day. This year’s theme is "Achieving Progress and Impact."

“Malaria remains one of the most deadly vectorborne diseases in the world,” they said. “Worldwide programs continue to rely on control programs based on the most recent research available. In honor of the Roll Back Malaria Program, promoting the education and research in the fight against malaria, student and researchers at UC Davis engaged in vector biology and genetics will come together to discuss their research efforts.”

The symposium, free and open to the public, is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, April 25, in Room 1102 of the Gourley Clinical Teaching Center in the Health Sciences District.

Researchers interested in making presentations must sign up by March 31. The participation form is available online. For more information, contact Sanford or Trout by e-mail: mrsanford@ucdavis.edu or rttrout@ucdavis.edu.

Nonpresenters who plan to stay for lunch also are asked to register, by contacting the organizers listed above.

Media Resources

Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu

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