Presidential campaigns to debate health care policy at BSPH

The United States Census Bureau recently reported that the number of Americans without health insurance grew to 45 million in 2003. On Monday, Sept. 13, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will host a debate on health care policy between representatives selected by the presidential campaigns of President George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry. "Access to Health Care: The Presidential Positions" will be moderated by Alfred Sommer, dean of the Bloomberg School, and a panel of experts. The discussion will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. in the school's Sommer Hall.

Gail Wilensky, presidential co-chair of the President's Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery, will speak on behalf of the Bush campaign. Christopher Jennings, president of Jennings Policy Strategies and senior health policy adviser to the Clinton administration, will speak on behalf of the Kerry campaign.

A live webcast will be available at jhsph.edu/healthdebate.

 

Mobile technology in education and health care is focus of fair

The Johns Hopkins Institutions on Oct. 12 will host Mobile@Hopkins, an all-day event intended to acquaint the Hopkins community with the potential uses of mobile technology in education and health care.

The event, held in the Turner concourse on the East Baltimore campus, will include information sessions, case studies, presentations, demonstrations, hands-on workshops and vendor exhibits. Local and national experts, including Johns Hopkins staff, will demonstrate and discuss the use of mobile technology, such as cell phones, Palm-based wireless computing, tablet PCs and interactive classroom environments.

Mobile@Hopkins was made possible in part by a $4,995 grant awarded by the National Library of Medicine as part of its outreach program to promote the use of information technology for health professionals. Sponsors of the event include Dell, Clarinet Systems, MercuryMd and Verizon Wireless.

Five hundred attendees are expected, and 270 people have already preregistered. To register, go to mobileathopkins.jhmi.edu.

 

Krieger launches M.S. degree in bioscience regulatory affairs

The Krieger School's Advanced Academic Programs will launch its new master of science degree in bioscience regulatory affairs at a reception being held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 13, at the Montgomery County Campus' Building III.

The program was created to provide a new skill set necessary to fill a growing number of positions at biotechnology companies that are facing increasingly strict guidelines at both the state and federal levels. Taught by professionals from the federal government, industry and academia, courses will be offered for the first time in spring 2005, pending endorsement from the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

The reception will take place after a Food and Drug Administration and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America workshop being held at the campus. Guests will include FDA employees, members of PhRMA, Johns Hopkins faculty and students, and the bioscience community.

Speakers will include Norris Alderson, associate commissioner for science at the FDA, and Victor Corces, chair of the M.S. in Biotechnology Program and professor in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins.

To attend, e-mail kgharavi@jhu.edu or call 301-294-7162 by Sept. 10.

 

JHU volunteers to work on Wyman Park Dell cleanup

The Wyman Park Dell in Charles Village will be getting a much-needed spiffing up on Saturday, Sept. 11, thanks to an initiative of developers Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse. Each year, SB&R, in partnership with the Enterprise Foundation, organizes a day of volunteerism throughout Baltimore City. The James W. Rouse Community Service Day honors the legacy of Rouse and his influence in shaping a better world.

Johns Hopkins will be partnering with the Friends of Wyman Park Dell, the city's Department of Recreation and Parks and the Baltimore Museum of Art in a cleanup effort that will improve the beauty and safety of the park, an urban retreat that has become almost obscured from public view because of invasive overgrowth. The day's work will include removing scrub undercover and unwanted trees, repairing cracked pathways and planting perennials. To participate, contact Kate McShane-Oeming at 443-573-4046 or kjm@sber.com.

 

Name change announced for part-time engineering programs

Beginning Oct. 1, Part-Time Programs in Engineering and Applied Science will be known as Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals, or EPP for short.

The name change was announced last week by Nicholas Jones, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering, in letters sent to enrolled students, faculty and staff.

The decision, he said, was reached after reviewing peer programs and the names they use to describe them. The study, he said, reaffirmed the school's decision to change the emphasis in the name from "part-time" to "professional" because it more clearly speaks to the needs of the students and to the program's overall mission.

"In doing so," Jones wrote in one letter, "we are taking a proactive step that reinforces to members of our community a commitment to their future: a step that we hope you will agree more explicitly articulates this commitment."

 

Nominations being accepted for the 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Community Service

This award recognizes outstanding commitment to volunteer community service by faculty, staff, graduate students and retirees of the university, and staff, employees and retirees of the hospital.

The recipients will be honored in January at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Celebration, which features nationally known keynote speakers whose work honors and supports King's memory. More information on nomination criteria and the award process, as well as nomination forms, may be found online at www.jhu.edu/~outreach/mlk or by contacting Matt Smith at 410-516-6060.

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