GREMAP member, Lauren Gray, co-authored an opinion article in the Richmond Times Dispatch. The article, which posted on Saturday, July 19, focuses on the work of Gray and other VCU students at CrossOver Healthcare Ministry, a Richmond-based health clinic that delivers medical care to low-income and ininsured individuals. The students worked with VCU faculty and CrossOver health care providers to offer one-on-one bilingual diabetes education, psychological support, and case-management for Latinos with diabetes. Click here for the full article. 

Congratulations to Monique Brown, MPH, PhD on her December 2014 graduation from the VCU PhD in Epidemiology Program! Dr. Brown has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of South Florida. 

Doctoral student Natalie Bareis will present her research “Psychiatric polypharmacy and implications for obesity” at the International Society for Bipolar Disorders 2015 Annual Conference. The conference will take place June 3-6 in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Briana Mezuk is a co-author on the abstract. Additional conference details can be found here. 

Doctoral student Trisha Sando will present her research “Diabetic foot ulcer screening: Who are we missing?” at the 2015 Symposium on Advanced Wound Care on May 1 in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Steve Cohen is a co-author on the abstract. Additional conference details can be found here. 

GREMAP members Dr. Briana Mezuk and Natalie Bareis presented at the 2015 meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry in New Orleans, LA. The conference took place March 27-30.

Dr. Mezuk chaired a panel on “Bridging Epidemiologic Concepts with Clinical Care” with Dr. Constantine Lyketsos and Dr. Adam Spira at Johns Hopkins University.

Natalie presented her paper “Relationship between childhood poverty and military service on late-life depression among men: A life course perspective” which used data from the Health and Retirement Study.

Finally, GREMAP alumnus Dr. Matt Lohman presented a poster on the impact of a depression care management intervention on rehospitalizations among home healthcare patients. Dr. Lohman is now at Cornell University doing a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Marty Bruce. The conference schedule can be found here.  

Doctoral student Kristen Kelly presented her poster titled “Factors associated with remission in Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder” at the 2015 American Psychopathological Association Annual Meeting. The meeting was held March 5-7, in New York, NY. Dr. Briana Mezuk is co-authored on the abstract. Further conference details can be found here.  

Medical student Andrew Rock will present his research “Obesity trajectories and risk of frailty later in life,” at the Presidential Poster Session at the American Geriatrics Society 2015 Annual Scientific Meeting. The meeting will be held May 15-17, in National Harbor, Maryland. Co-authors on the abstract are GREMAP member Dr. Briana Mezuk and GREMAP alumnus Dr. Matthew Lohman, along with Dr. Richard Payne of Duke University School of Medicine. Additional meeting details can be found here. 

Datapalooza was a success! Dr. Elizabeth Prom-Wormley has directed a community-engaged survey within the Health and Wellness Initiative (HWI) to assess the needs of residents in the East End of Richmond and organized Datapalooza to explore the results of this survey. HWI staff and partners, community leaders, local organizations, student researchers, and East End residents all came together on November 15^th to participate in Datapalooza. GREMAP members Natalie Bareis and Katherine Crawford also helped out with this event. 

 

Residents began the day creating a “Wall of Wellness,” where everyone was encouraged to create a sign describing what a culture of wellness in the East End means to them.

 

After reviewing the preliminary results of the survey, everyone collaborated to reach a common goal for the evening, which was to work towards creating a culture of “collected wellness” for Richmond’s East End. 

 

Residents then broke into teams to review the data sets with the help of data analysts. 

 

The group identified “next steps” to use the knowledge gained from Datapalooza: 1) Develop a comprehensive resource and services guide for East End residents, 2) Create a summary doument and strategy by which to develop legislative advocacy for mental health issues in the East End, and 3) Host a celebratory Datapalooza results-related event for the residents. Click here for more information on the 7th District Health and Wellness Survey.