MPH student Monserrat Hinojosa spent 4 weeks in Lima researching tuberculosis and dengue — embedded at a tropical medicine institute and alongside the Peruvian CDC. She came home with a clearer picture of what public health looks like on the ground. Her story: utmb.us/foj

SPPH's Department of Epidemiology held its semester mixer with Samantha Paredes (Master of Public Health, Class of 2022), who has worked in cancer research, government epidemiology, and data program management since graduating. Students asked to meet working alumni. She was a natural fit.

What does blood pressure in early adulthood mean for dementia risk later in life? Dr. Norrina Allen brings new data science approaches to that question at the next Pepper Investigators Lecture on Wednesday April 22 at noon. Details at utmb.us/fof

UTMB's Principles of Aviation and Space Medicine (PASM) course — July 1–24, 2026, with an in-person week at Space Center Houston — is now open to nurses, PAs, and other health professionals for the first time. Application deadline extended to April 20. Apply: utmb.us/fo4

Chronic pain affects roughly 1 in 4 U.S. adults — and who bears that burden is shaped by income, place, and education. Anna Zajacova, PhD, joined UTMB this week to make the case for treating it as a population health priority. utmb.us/fnz

In case you missed it, UTMB launched its ACGME-accredited Carceral Medicine Fellowship. Fellows will train across correctional healthcare settings in Texas, including the TDCJ Hospital in Galveston. More on the CCHE news page. utmb.us/fns

How does the department collaborate? In this video, Monique Pappadis, MEd, PhD, talks about how overlapping research interests in UTMB’s Department of Population Health and Health Disparities create opportunities for collaboration within the department and with partners beyond. Watch: utmb.us/exq

SPPH just climbed 27 spots to rank No. 89 among 224 accredited public health schools in the 2026 U.S. News rankings — tied for the largest single-cycle gain in the top 100. Curious what a degree here looks like? Join a virtual info session April 20 (11 AM CDT) or April 22 (6 PM CDT). utmb.us/f4v

Graduate students put in the work every day. Tomorrow morning, we're hosting a breakfast in the SPPH Kitchen to say thank you. Stop by Tuesday, April 14, starting at 8:00 AM — we'd love to see you there!

🔍 Join us for a talk sponsored by the Sealy Center on Aging & the Dept of Epidemiology @utmbspph.bsky.social on April 15, 2026. Anna Zajacova, PhD, from the University of Western Ontario will present, "Chronic Pain as a Population Health Priority in an Aging Society." 🔗 Get the details: utmb.us/flx

SPPH deans and directors walked Groundswell's 5th Annual Market Mile in Galveston yesterday. Groundswell, formerly Galveston's Own Farmers Market, works to make fresh local food accessible to all island residents.

SPPH showed up to today's John Sealy School of Medicine Spring Peek with candy and flyers. If you're an accepted med student, come ask us about the MD/MPH dual degree and the Community Engaged Public Health scholarly concentration.

Five faculty from SPECTRE and Bioethics & Health Humanities discussed how UTMB's Biocontainment Care Unit stays ready for diseases like Ebola, and the ethical questions that come with preparing for threats that may never arrive. utmb.us/fmf

Eleven new members joined Delta Nu, UTMB SPPH's chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. MD/MPH student Thanmayi Parasu also received the 2026 Excellence in Public Health Award.

Science alone does not earn trust. During his keynote at The University of Texas Medical Branch, Dr. Umair Shah called for clearer storytelling, stronger partnerships, and a high-tech, high-touch approach to public health. utmb.us/fm4

Six second-year medical students from Badya University presented original research at The University of Texas Medical Branch during this year’s Public Health Symposium. The live discussion with UTMB faculty made the session especially strong. utmb.us/flw

UTMB SPPH hosted its first Alumni Lunch and Dean's Reception during National Public Health Week! Alumni working at Houston Methodist, Baylor, NASA, and more joined students and faculty for lunch and stayed for the Public Health Symposium.

SPPH climbed 27 spots to No. 89 in U.S. News & World Report's 2026 Best Public Health Schools rankings, tied for the largest gain among all current top-100 programs. Public health education at UTMB dates to 1891. utmb.us/fli

At the SPPH Career Connections Mixer, students met with the CDC, Phillips 66, Dow Chemical, Pfizer, and 20+ other organizations. The takeaway: public health skills fit in more places than students expect. utmb.us/fl9

SPPH's Community Voices Panel opened National Public Health Week with four Access Care of Coastal Texas staff members who've lived with HIV for a combined 101 years. They had sharp, specific advice for future health professionals on stigma, language, and delivering a diagnosis with calm. utmb.us/fkz

National Public Health Week at UTMB runs April 6–10 — community panels, a career mixer with 20+ employers, keynote by Dr. Umair Shah on trust and technology in a divided nation, a biocontainment panel with a live PPE demo, and a beach clean-up. utmb.us/f9x

UTMB's Department of Population Health and Health Disparities just awarded its first pilot grant — $15K to Dr. Michael Goodman for a study on whether Galveston County residents would trust and use AI-enabled community health tools. utmb.us/fkq

How do hospitals prepare for highly infectious diseases before a crisis arrives? Thu April 9, noon in HEC 3.200 — SPECTRE and Bioethics and Health Humanities faculty discuss biocontainment, training, and protocols. Ends with a live PPE demo. utmb.us/f9x

New in Age and Ageing: UTMB MD/MPH student Sheheryar Ali led a study of 1.6 million Medicare beneficiaries finding that Annual Wellness Visits are associated with fewer falls and fractures in older adults with Alzheimer's and related dementias. utmb.us/fk6

CONNECT for CARE brings HIV care providers and community partners together for a free hybrid resource exchange, April 2 in Galveston. Hosted by the UTMB AETC and Ryan White Program. Register: scaetc.unm.edu/scaetc/event...

UTMB Public Health Symposium, Wed April 8, 1–4:30 p.m. in HEC. Student posters, a keynote from Dr. Umair Shah (former WA Secretary of Health), and research presentations from Badya University students in Egypt. Alumni lunch at noon. utmb.us/f9x

April is Move More Month, and UTMB's Academic Enterprise Office of Wellness is making it easy. Wellness Wednesdays: Walk With Us meets every Wednesday in April at Moody Medical Library Plaza, 12:15 p.m. Free, open to all, no registration. 30 minutes well spent.

High schoolers from career and technical education programs got a tour of UTMB last Friday, guided by School of Public and Population Health student ambassadors Rebecca Anumel-Ackah and Oluwasegun Sotade. A great way to see what health careers look like up close!

SPPH Career Connections Mixer, Tue April 7, 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in HEC 3.222. 20+ organizations including CDC, DSHS, Houston Methodist, Eli Lilly, Dow Chemical, and Qualtrics. Informal career fair — meet employers across healthcare, government, nonprofits, and industry. utmb.us/f9x

National Public Health Week starts next week and UTMB SPPH has a full lineup! First up Mon. April 6 — a Community Voices Panel with staff from Access Care of Coastal Texas on HIV/AIDS care access and chronic disease barriers. Noon, HEC 1.202. Full schedule: utmb.us/f9x

Earlier this month, Leslie Stalnaker and Dr. Cara Pennel presented on how public health practice is valued in faculty promotion and tenure at the 2026 Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Annual Meeting. aspph.org/events/annua...

UTMB School of Public and Population Health Alumni Lunch and Dean's Reception — now open to all SPPH students and alumni! April 8, noon, HEC 1.200. RSVP by March 31. lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/yctps3z

Three first-year MPH students from UTMB SPPH won the Audience Choice Award at the 2026 ASPPH Innovation Lab for SwipeSmart, a dating safety app prototype they built, tested with real users, and pitched to judges over one week in Arlington, VA. utmb.us/fhq

The ASPPH/CDC Tribal Health Department Fellowship Program places public health graduates in Tribal Health Departments to train directly with Tribal health leaders. Application deadline for the 2026 – 2027 fellowship cohort is April 30. Click here to learn more and apply: aspph.org/our-work/pra...

SPPH students spent a day at the Galveston County Health District, where they role-played a real shelter investigation, learned how the county maps overdose hotspots to distribute Narcan, and got a firsthand look at local public health practice. Read more: utmb.us/fhi

In a recent SPPH class, Brandon Cofield, JD, MPH, Harris County Public Probate Administrator, spoke about using a public health lens and systems thinking in policy and probate work, and encouraged students to ask questions, build their network, and stay open to opportunities.

Losing 4 to 7 percent of body weight can cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by half. This CBS News segment featuring Dr. Hanaa Sallam focuses on practical prevention steps, including simple walks, healthier food choices, and more daily movement. www.cbs19.tv/video/news/l...

More than 1 in 8 Americans have diabetes, and many don't know it. Tomorrow for Diabetes Alert Day, CBS News features UTMB's Dr. Hanaa Sallam on the CDC-accredited Diabetes Prevention Program she directs — the first in Greater Houston to earn full CDC recognition. Look out for the segment tomorrow!

Eighteen Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health students from the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Public and Population Health matched into 11 specialties across seven states today! Eight are staying in Texas. See where SPPH's MD/MPH graduates matched: utmb.us/ffx

Three of our MPH students are representing SPPH this week at the ASPPH Innovation Lab! SwipeSmart has moved from problem mapping and prototyping to end-user interviews and pitch prep, developing an app to help young adults navigate online dating safety. Final pitch is Friday! @aspph.bsky.social

Dr. Alejandro Villasante-Tezanos leads the online MPH in Biostatistics track at UTMB SPPH and describes graduates as translators — professionals who turn data into decisions non-statisticians can use. utmb.us/F63

New Get to Know Us video: Monique Pappadis, MEd, PhD, on how early work in rehab and trauma care led her to brain injury research, and how an institutional collaboration with Dr. Leila Wood launched her elder mistreatment work. Watch the video: utmb.us/exp

For the first time, UTMB is opening its Master of Science in Aerospace Medicine to interdisciplinary professionals worldwide, including licensed clinicians, doctoral scientists, and military health experts. Learn about the MS in Aerospace Medicine at UTMB: www.utmb.edu/spph/student...

Carmen Haynes's first peer-reviewed paper asks what happens when artificial womb technology meets a child welfare system with no safeguards to protect vulnerable mothers. Published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 2025. utmb.us/fe4

The eye doesn't do arithmetic very well so if you're interested in how things differ, it often makes sense to do the arithmetic yourself and plot the difference. This paper does that well.

Glad to see this work from Neil Mehta featured by UTMB! It’s a strong example of population health research that looks beyond immediate headlines and helps clarify the longer patterns shaping health in the U.S.

New: “Alarmingly, cohorts born after 1970 exhibited deteriorating patterns in all major cause groups at young and middle-adult ages… portends an unprecedented longer-run stagnation, or even sustained decline, in US life expectancy.” www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #publichealth #lifeexpectancy

So excited to see this fantastic cohort take on US mortality trends in @pnas.org, with some amazing Lexis diagrams that I may print out and frame for my wall. Great work from @leahrabrams.bsky.social @octaviobramajo.bsky.social @alysonvanraalte.bsky.social 👏👏 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #demography

Neil Mehta, inaugural chair of Epidemiology, coauthored a new PNAS paper on US life expectancy stagnation. The study finds the pattern is broader than any single cause, with worsening trends across cohorts and a marked deterioration beginning around 2010. Link: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Oscar David Almaraz, one of SPPH’s ConTex fellows and an MPH candidate, presented at the recent National Student Research Forum at UTMB. David credited Hanaa Sallam, Wei-Chen Lee, and Hani Serag for mentorship that made the experience especially rewarding.