End Notes & News 

The logo "Soul Catcher" with two bears, one at each end, represents to me the power and strength of this mighty creature. 0ne for your mental and the other,for your physical endeavors. The Bear, the mighty one who with great confidence can forge through the thickest forests and over the toughest terrain. To pave a path for us all to follow. He's strong yet gentle. A master of well-being, both physical and mental. A provider to his kin. Remember, you too are symbolized on this logo. With all your body and soul catch the moment and enlighten the hearts of mothers through your unending tasks and proud accomplishments for the spirit of health and this institution.

Marvin Oliver, 1996

Celebrating the Soul Catcher

In 1995 we celebrated the School's twenty-fifth anniversary. This year we celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of our distinctive logo, the Soul Catcher, a Northwest Indian symbol for physical and spiritual well-being. At the February 27 State of the School program, Dean Gilbert Omenn honored the artist, Marvin Oliver, associate professor of American Indian Studies and director of the American Indian Study Center at the University of Washington. Professor Oliver, an artist of international renown, inspired the school community with his remarks on the meaning of his design. Dean Omenn also thanked Tricia Corbett, assistant to Dean Robert Day in 1981, who chose Oliver to create the logo. The Soul Catcher is the best recognized of any school of public health logo. Dean Omenn acknowledged the recent gift to the School of two framed Soul Catchers crafted of wood, bone and abalone inlays, and feathers. These treasures were donated by Mrs. Donna Murphy, widow of Sheldon Murphy, former chair of environmental health. These Soul Catchers are displayed in the Dean's Office along with Professor Oliver's original artwork for the Soul Catcher and for the huge totem he is erecting for the National Wildlife Art Museum in Jackson, Wyoming.

Grant from the Department of Health
Will Enhance Public Health Practice Activities

A new partnership with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) will enhance the education and training activities of the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice (NWCPHP). DOH has granted $500,000 to the School to provide education, training, technical assistance, and information system support to strengthen the skills of practicing public health professionals and prepare our students for more effective community-based public health practice.

This initiative, under the leadership of Dr. Mimi Fields, assistant dean for public health practice and state health officer, and Jack Thompson of our Health Policy Analysis Program, is an important component of the state's Public Health Improvement Plan (PHIP). Dr. Fields will work closely with Dr. James Gale, director of the NWCPHP, and other faculty to involve every department of the School in the education and training activities. A broad partnership is envisioned to give students, faculty, and practitioners in diverse settings more opportunities to interact through participation in courses, training sessions, distance learning, information technology development, and other projects.

$24-Million Initiative Will Stimulate Transformation of Public Health Systems

The School is assuming a leadership role in a major national initiative to transform and strengthen public health systems at the state and local level. The goal of the new program, funded with more than $24 million from the W.K. Kellogg and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations, is to help state and local public health jurisdictions prepare for changing roles and responsibilities as we approach the twenty-first century.

Dean Gilbert Omenn will serve as the program director and Dr. Bobbie Berkowitz as the deputy director for the RWJ National Program Office based at the University of Washington. Dr. Berkowitz comes to the School from the Washington State Department of Health, where she has served as deputy secretary for policy since 1993. The National Program Office for the WK. Kellogg Foundation will be located with the National Association of City and County Health Officials in Washington, D.C. Public health systems are confronting major challenges created by market-driven changes in health care delivery and the growing movement toward managed care, changes in federal funding pathways, and the downsizing of government. Many health jurisdictions must redefine their responsibilities and priorities as they shift emphasis away from the delivery of reimbursable clinical personal health services and toward population-based public health services. These challenges will affect the financing of core functions and the infrastructure needed to ensure the health of communities.

The joint foundation initiative will help state and local health jurisdictions address these issues through modest grants designed to foster collaboration and strategic partnerships among public health, health care, and social services, purchasers, payers, consumers, and academia . Drawing upon the strengths of these relationships, the initiative will encourage health jurisdictions to assess public health governance structures, evaluate the use of technology, data, and information systems; analyze financial and human resources needs, and implement public health development plans in selected communities.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, whose president is Dr. William Richardson, former professor and associate dean of our school, will contribute up to $17 million for the local component of the program, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will contribute up to $7.25 million to support the state component.

Charles Royer Directs New Program Focusing on Health of Urban Children

Charles Royer, mayor of Seattle from 1977 to 1989 and later director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University is directing a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative to improve the health and safety of urban children. The National Program Office for this project is based at the School of Public Health. Royer is aided by Cindy Curreri, his deputy mayor and more recently deputy to Governor Mike Lowry. They will determine whether concerted, collaborative efforts of parents, urban and suburban leaders, and community organizations can improve the health and safety of children in eight cities: Miami, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Sacramento, Oakland, and Richmond, VA.

Total Grant Support Continues to Rise

Faculty received 44 new grants or competing renewal awards totaling $17.1 million during the calendar year 1995, of which $7.6 million is available for the 1995-96 fiscal year. With an additional $20.9 million from continuing grants, the total 1995-96 grant and contract support was $28.5 million, an all-time high. School faculty are principal investigators on an additional $41.3 million of grants administered through affiliated institutions, where we have collaborations.

Visit the SPHCM WWW Home Page

http://depts.washington.edu/sphcm/

We have hit the "information highway" with home pages for the School and its departments. These pages feature mission statements, degree and program descriptions, admission requirements, course descriptions, faculty information, seminar notices, glossaries of health care and statistical terms, and links to other important resources of interest elsewhere on the World Wide Web. Our pages also include summaries of key documents, such as The State of Washington's Children report, the annual State of the School report, "coursewebs" to facilitate communication between faculty and students taking specific courses, and special "projectwebs" such as that of the Back Pain Outcomes Assessment Team, and the Public Health Nutritionists home page.

Higher Lung Cancer Rate in CARET Group Given Beta-Carotene and Retinol

Study results refuting the hypothesis that beta-carotene has a protective effect against lung cancer surprised scientists around the world. The Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET), a randomized prevention trial of 18,314 men and women at high risk for lung cancer, found that the active intervention group receiving a combination of beta-carotene and vitamin A experienced 28% more lung cancers and 170/o more deaths compared with those receiving placebo. On January II, the CARET Steering Committee stopped the active intervention 21 months early.

Begun in 1983 by Gilbert Omenn and Gary Goodman, with funding from the National Cancer Institute, CARET has been directed by the research team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the School of Public Health and conducted at six centers around the country. The CARET participants will be followed for several more years to investigate possible explanations for the observed increase in cancer (see New England journal of Medicine, May 2, 1996).

A major Finnish trial of beta-carotene and vitamin E had previously reported adverse results, but its findings were widely discounted. The Physicians' Health Study of beta-carotene alone found no benefit. These findings have prompted the removal of betacarotene from other trials around the world, and contradict claims that, regardless of benefit, the vitamins cannot possibly be harmful.

New UW Center Focuses on Medical and Public Health Costs and Outcomes

A new University of Washington Center for Cost and Outcomes Research is a collaboration of the School of Public Health and the School of Medicine. The UW Medical Center and School of Medicine will emphasize activities that support training, marketing, and strategic planning needs in the highly competitive medical care marketplace. The School of Public Health will develop programs that emphasize public health interventions and data systems analyses. Co-directing the new center are Richard Deyo, professor of medicine and health services, and David Buchner, associate professor of health services. The co-chairs of the Steering Committee are William Dowling, chair of the Department of Health Services, and Paul Ramsey, chair of the Department of Medicine.

New Faculty at the SPHCM

Thomas M. Becker, a specialist in Native American health issues with a focus on the causes and prevention of cancer, has joined the faculty as a professor of epidemiology He also is an affiliate investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Walter B. Holland Native Center of Excellence in the School of Medicine. He was a faculty member at the University of New Mexico from 1986 to 1995. Dr. Becker earned his M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of New Mexico. From 1981 to 1983 he was an intern and resident in the UW Department of Family Medicine. He then completed a fellowship with the Epidemic Intelligence Service and a preventive medicine residency at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bobbie Berkowitz joined the faculty on July 1 to serve as deputy director of the public health system development initiative sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations. For the past three years she has been deputy secretary of the Washington State Department of Health where her focus included the development and implementation of the Public Health Improvement Plan. Dr. Berkowitz previously was chief of nursing services for the Seattle-King County and Whatcom County health departments. She also served on the Washington State Health Commission and the State Board of Health. She received her Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and her M.N. and B.S.N. degrees from the University of Washington.

Scott S. Emerson has joined the faculty as associate professor of biostatistics and associate member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Emerson received his M.D. and masters in computer science from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Washington. He previously was on the faculty at the University of Arizona. Dr. Emerson's research interests emphasize the problem of estimation following sequential monitoring of clinical trials. His FIRST Award from the National Institutes of Health explores the development of new group sequential methods and the software required to implement these methods.

Patrick O'Carroll, a contributing author to this issue of Washington Public Health, arrived at the School on December 1 to begin a two-year appointment as a clinical associate professor of epidemiology and health services. He is on assignment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he is special assistant to the director of public health practice. He is contributing to the effort to expand the educational, training, and technical assistance functions of the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice in cooperation with the Department of Health. His special interest is information systems. He will help build advanced training, surveillance, and special applications on the INPHO system (see page 38) now in place around the state. Dr. O'Carroll, received his M.D. and M.PH. degrees from Johns Hopkins.

Charles T. Royer joined the faculty in December 1995 to serve as national program director for America's Promise, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative to secure the health and safety of children. Royer served as mayor of Seattle from 1978 to 1990, and as director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University from 1990 to 1994. He holds a B,S. in journalism from the University of Oregon. 

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Created: 2/27/97 Updated: 7/12/99