Public Health & Health Policy

Launching the American Public Health Association Student Interest Group

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Written by Carolyn Payne ’18
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is developing a presence at The University of Vermont (UVM). In January, a group of medical students founded the American Public Health Association Student Interest Group (APHA SIG) at the Larner College of Medicine. This was an important step towards ensuring the engagement of Vermont students in community education, political advocacy, and state and national public health initiatives.

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“Fake News” or Reputable Science? How to Tell the Difference

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Written by UVM Associate Dean for Public Health
Jan Carney, M.D., MPH
By now, we have all heard of “fake news,” but what about “fake science news” – does it exist and how can we differentiate between fact and fiction? In January 2017, The Los Angeles Times wrote about epidemic spread of “fake news” to science and medicine. In February, Academic Medicine sounded a warning to academics everywhere about predatory publishing, an exploding and distracting publication practice characterized by “weak peer review, sloppy science, or even fraud.”

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Prevention & Patient Empowerment: Caring for Patients at Risk for HIV/AIDS

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Written by Alexandra Miller ’18
In the 1980s and 1990s, when HIV/AIDS was stigmatized and poorly understood, the disease was a death sentence. Now, we have available to patients a pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis, known as PrEP, that can prevent HIV transmission, potentially opening the door to immense changes in patients’ lives as well as improved public health outcomes. As part of my public health project, I had the opportunity to survey primary care providers in every county in Vermont to better understand perceived barriers to prescribing PrEP.

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