Newsbriefs


Development management 
team adds two new members
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     Robert R. Lindgren, vice president for development and
alumni relations, has announced two appointments to the
institutional development staff.
     Jan M. Corazza, previously executive assistant to the vice
president and director of principal prospects, now serves as
executive director for campaign and development operations. As of
May 8, Mary K. Blair, who served 10 years as associate director
of the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine, will become executive
director for divisional and regional programs.
     The two join Steve Martin, Jerry Schnydman, Erv Sekulow and
John Zeller on Lindgren's campaign and management team.
     "I am fortunate to have such a superb team as momentum
builds for our $900 million campaign, the Johns Hopkins
Initiative," Lindgren said.


Hopkins joins consortium for 
study abroad program in Berlin
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     The university has announced the launch of a new yearlong
study abroad program in Berlin for its undergraduates. 
     Hopkins German Department chairman David Wellbery said the
lure of studying in a city on the verge of becoming Europe's
economic Goliath will attract Hopkins students specializing in a
variety of academic fields.
     "Berlin is such an exciting place to be right now," said Dr.
Wellbery. "Many people are calling it Europe's economic capital.
It has certainly become the major crossing point between East and
West Europe. And culturally, it is a wonderful, vibrant place."
     The program is the product of a consortium with the
University of Chicago, Columbia University, University of
Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University. Associate
dean for academic affairs Carol Burke said the consortium is
modeled after a similar, successful program created by the same
universities, excluding Hopkins, in Japan. 
     "It's a real advantage for us to be part of this
consortium," Dr. Burke said. "We haven't been able to start any
overseas study programs on our own because of our relatively
small student size. We do, however, allow our students to use
programs from other schools. Unfortunately, because they are not
Hopkins programs, we don't have any real academic quality control
of the courses they take."  
     The Free University of Berlin, eager to establish ties with
the West, has donated a villa in Berlin that will serve as the
consortium's headquarters. Students will be housed in dorms at
the university. For every five students a university sends, that
university will accept one Free University of Berlin graduate
student, Dr. Burke said.
     To apply for the program, Hopkins students have to show
second-year, college-level proficiency in German. When they
arrive in Berlin, they will take a six-week intensive language
course. From there on, they will work with a professor from one
of the consortium universities staying in Berlin to chart out
their curriculum.
     The program will cost the same as a normal year at 
Hopkins, excluding travel costs. Students will be able to 
participate in the program in the 1996 spring semester. After 
that semester, the program will be offered for a full year.


Report shows potential medical 
costs savings for Baltimore area
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     In anticipation of increased managed care, researchers at
the School of Public Health released a report on Friday that
shows the types and amount of savings that health-care providers
in the greater Baltimore area could realize if hospitals reduced
their number of beds and medical specialists.
     The projections were based on experiences of four other
metropolitan areas that are similar to Baltimore in size but more
advanced in using integrated health care delivery systems.
     "We wanted to demonstrate that the Baltimore area has an
opportunity to manage the changes that are going to occur in
health care delivery, rather than let those changes force us to
adapt without planning," said Gerard Anderson, professor of
health policy and management and the lead researcher for the
Midatlantic Healthcare Purchasing Coalition, which funded the
report.
     The report, which compared use-rates in Hartford, Conn.,
Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco and Seattle, indicates that
up to one-third of the current patient days could be eliminated
in Baltimore area hospitals and one-third of the hospital beds
could be eliminated. The reductions could be achieved by either
downsizing, saving an estimated $159 to $394 million per year, or
closing some hospitals, potentially saving $265 to $657 million
annually.
     Based on an estimate that 50 percent of the population will
be enrolled in HMOs, the report also estimated that as much as
$364 million could be saved by reducing the number of medical
specialists.
     For a complete copy of Dr. Anderson's report, call 955-6878.



SHPH program helps motivate 
contraception use in Zimbabwe
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     At the halftime show in a Zimbabwe soccer match, actors
dressed as a giant condom, birth control pill, IUD and an
injectable contraceptive danced around a couple, encouraging them
to use family planning. 
     The match--the 1994 Family Planning Challenge Cup--was part
of a multimedia campaign designed to involve men in family
planning decisions.
     The campaign, conducted by the Zimbabwe National Family
Planning Council with technical assistance from the School of
Public Health's Center for Communication Programs, was a
follow-up to the first Male Motivation Campaign held in 1988-89.
The current campaign reached more than a million men and women
with the dual goal of involving men and promoting the use of
modern, long-term methods of birth control. About 80 percent of
family planning users in Zimbabwe now use the pill.
     Campaign planners developed their communications strategy on
the premise that men have a great influence in many couples'
family planning decisions. They reasoned that involving men would
encourage women to use the desired contraceptive methods.
     Reports from 23 health facilities showed that the campaign
reversed a downward trend in overall contraceptive use. During
and after the campaign, demand for all methods of contraception
increased, with long-term and permanent methods showing the
largest gains. Use of long-term methods reversed course and more
than doubled by the end of the campaign.