Dr. Muhammad Amith won the Analytics Track Best Paper Award at IEEE ICHI 2026 in Minneapolis this week. His paper on Ontokeeper-Desktop, a biomedical ontology evaluation tool, was co-authored with researchers at UT Health and Mayo Clinic. zhang-informatics.github.io/ICHI2026/awa...

Recent UTMB MD/MPH graduate Helen-Margaret Onuorah used federal data to compare rural and urban nursing home ratings across Texas. Her Daily Yonder article grew out of her practicum, with mentorship from Dr. Brian Downer. dailyyonder.com/in-texas-rur...

SPPH administrative team members held their first staff development activity yesterday with an afternoon of bowling. Thank you to our admins for the work you do every day!

Did you miss our first annual Schoeni TRENDS Lecture featuring @marasheftel.bsky.social and Neil Mehta of @utmbspph.bsky.social? You can view it now on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL5c... or on our website at micda.isr.umich.edu/programs/the...

Congratulations to our MD/MPH graduates, who celebrated commencement with the JSSOM Class of 2026 on May 30! A special congratulations to Shilpa Rajagopal, MD, MPH, class speaker and recipient of the Gold-Headed Cane Award, UTMB’s highest recognition for a medical student.

Monserrat Hinojosa, MPH (Epidemiology) with a Certificate in Global Health, spent four weeks in Lima, Peru, working with the Peruvian CDC on dengue and tuberculosis research. She talks about how that experience deepened her interest in global health!

Utpol Das, MPH (Epidemiology) and 2026 SPPH Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award recipient, came to UTMB SPPH from Bangladesh with eight years of field experience. He talks about finding his niche in aging research and the support he found!

Sinaan Momin, MPH (Public Health Practice), reflects on how his time at UTMB SPPH broadened his view of public health to include policy and population-level dimensions. Sinaan is applying to dental school, and his MPH research focused on oral health access in Texas.

Good public health work starts with listening. Our faculty focus on practical approaches that fit daily life, support behavior change, and reflect what people use, need, and value. Explore PHHD research: www.utmb.edu/spph/departm...

Anh Truonghuynh's two UTMB capstone projects — a Galveston community garden and a policy paper on reproductive law — both came back to the same idea. Public health works better when it starts from where people actually are. utmb.us/fy3

Andrew Tijerina, MPH (Epidemiology), reflects on how his internship at the Texas DSHS Zoonosis Control Program shaped his view of public health. Andrew worked on vector-borne and zoonotic disease surveillance across about 10 Southeast Texas counties.

Izabella Galindo, MPH (Epidemiology), reflects on how her time at UTMB SPPH sharpened her research interests in aging and correctional health. Izabella served as Vice President of the SPPH Student Association this past year.

SPPH and United Way of Galveston hosted Galveston nonprofit partners last week for a working session on shared public health practice. Mental health access, resource mapping, and early childhood came up at every table. Read what the room built: utmb.us/fx2

The 2026 class of UTMB SPPH, in one frame. They leave as biostatisticians, aerospace medicine residents, epidemiologists, public health practitioners, bioethicists, future physicians, and population health scientists. Wherever this class is heading, the work is in good hands!

Leslie Stalnaker, MPH, Director of Public Health Practice, received the 2026 SPPH Student Association Distinguished Teaching Award at Friday's commencement, presented by SPPH Student Association President Emily Edgar! The award is selected by a vote of the entire student body.

Congratulations to Griffin Baillargeon, who graduated Friday with his Master of Science in Biostatistics and Data Science from UTMB SPPH! Biostatisticians design and analyze the studies that drive biomedical discovery.

Congratulations to Daniel Cox, Michael Stephens, and Samuel Stephenson, our 2026 MS in Aerospace Medicine graduates from UTMB SPPH! All three are aerospace medicine residents training to care for patients in the most demanding environments human bodies enter.

Congratulations to Maryam Hussain, who graduated Friday with her PhD in Population Health Sciences from UTMB SPPH! The PhD prepares scholars to design and conduct research that informs how society addresses health at scale.

Congratulations to Hannah Carpenter and Georgia Loutrianakis, our 2026 PhD in Bioethics and Health Humanities graduates from UTMB SPPH! Their dissertations took up reproductive autonomy, one in clinical practice and research, the other in legislation and gender norms.

Congratulations to Klarisa Lopez, who graduated Friday with her MPH in Bioethics! The concentration takes up the moral, philosophical, and legal questions that medicine, research, and public health raise.

Congratulations to our 2026 MPH in Public Health Practice graduates from UTMB SPPH! Public health practice is the applied side of the field, translating evidence into programs, policies, and partnerships that reach people in real communities.

Congratulations to our 2026 MPH in Epidemiology graduates! Epidemiology is the study of how disease and other health outcomes move through populations and what shapes them, and this year's class took on aging, infectious disease, climate, and reproductive health.

Congratulations to our 2026 MD/MPH Dual Degree graduates from UTMB SPPH and the John Sealy School of Medicine! The MD/MPH prepares clinicians who think in both patients and populations, ready to practice medicine and shape how it gets delivered.

Congratulations to Rebecca Anumel-Ackah, MPH, PharmD, a Population Health Sciences PhD student, who presented both a poster and podium presentation at the 2026 Geriatric Medication Safety Symposium! Her work examined cancer treatment disparities and pain treatment patterns among older adults.

Join us via livestream for today’s commencement ceremony! vimeo.com/1192647133

Delta Nu Social is today from 5 to 7 p.m. at Marmo Plaza. Come help us celebrate this year’s graduates with cake and punch! Friends and family are welcome, and there will be food and other beverages available for purchase. 🎉

One week from today — SPPH's Class of 2026 crosses the stage. Commencement is Friday, May 15 at 2 p.m. CDT in Levin Hall Auditorium, UTMB Galveston. In person or via livestream — everyone's welcome. www.utmb.edu/spph/about-u...

For SPPH and GSBS commencement, guests with mobility needs may be dropped off at the circle drive near William C. Levin Hall before parking. Drivers may then proceed to Garage 4, which will be in Free to Pass mode from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Map: maps.app.goo.gl/jhSj5ZQoPCCx...

What would you say to students considering public health? In this Get to Know Us video, Monique R. Pappadis, PhD, encourages students to listen to community needs and think about how public health training can help them improve health locally and beyond. Watch: utmb.us/exr

Dr. Cara Pennel has been named the 2026 F. Marian Bishop Educator Award recipient by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research, recognizing her work building prevention education programs and integrating population health into medical training. Congratulations, Dr. Pennel!

Congratulations again to Dr. Heidi Spratt! The ceremony photos are in from Milwaukee, where she received her Fellows of the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) medal at Translational Science 2026 on April 21. utmb.us/fqm

Congratulations to Dr. Vibhuti Gupta on receiving a $300,000 Rising STARs award from the UT System! He'll use it to establish the DIVA-AI Lab, building multimodal and multiscale AI models that make complex health data more interpretable and actionable.

A good health campaign starts with audience. Dr. Monisha Arya’s recent master class walked through the BACMEE framework, then put it to work in a live skin cancer prevention design challenge. utmb.us/fsr

The Health Campaign Design Master Class is today! Dr. Monisha Arya, MD, MPH leads a four-hour hands-on workshop on designing campaigns that connect with communities. Open to all SPPH students, faculty, and staff — lunch provided. Register: forms.office.com/r/kiJfS65kxa Learn more: utmb.us/frc

At a keynote co-hosted by UTMB’s Center for Health and Clinical Outcomes Research (H-COR) and Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, Dr. Norrina Allen shared findings linking early-adult vascular health to later-life dementia risk. utmb.us/fqz

Dr. Heidi Spratt has been named to the inaugural cohort of Fellows of the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS), one of 36 from nearly 6,000 members. A profile on her work as a collaborative biostatistician and her path through ACTS: utmb.us/fqm @actscience.bsky.social

Firearm injury is now the leading cause of death for American children. UTMB pediatric surgeon Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria leads Rise Up! Against Gun Violence — a $1.2M CDC-funded study testing youth-informed videos to prevent community violence in Houston and Memphis. utmb.us/fpy

More to share from PHHD this week. Congratulations to Dr. Dana Wiltz-Beckham, named Assistant Dean for Student Advancement at the School of Public and Population Health!

Master of Science in Aerospace Medicine info sessions Thursday, April 30 at 11am and 6pm CT with Dr. Amy Kreykes. A 12-month in-person degree for clinicians and doctoral-level professionals in aerospace fields. 11am: utmb.us/fpg 6pm: utmb.us/fph Program: utmb.us/feb

Continuing PHHD's week of announcements. Congratulations to Dr. John Prochaska, named Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Development at the School of Public and Population Health!

A first-year SPPH epidemiology student's advice to applicants: show us what you really care about. Join program directors and current students this Wednesday, April 22 at 6 p.m. CT. utmb.us/fp7

First of four announcements from PHHD this week. Congratulations to Dr. Cara Pennel, named Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the School of Public and Population Health!

▶️ You can catch up on recent presentations sponsored by The Sealy Center on Aging and associated programs by visiting our website homepage and navigating to the Recent Lecture Videos heading under News and Events. 🔗 www.utmb.edu/scoa

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