October-December 2022

IFH Newsletter
QUARTERLY NEWS FROM RUTGERS INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH, HEALTH CARE POLICY AND AGING RESEARCH

IFH GATHERS FOR THE

HOLIDAYS
In December, IFH faculty and staff
came together to celebrate the holiday
season. IFH partnered with Robert Wood
Johnson Community Health Promotions
to collect food and personal hygiene
donations for pregnant women and their
families in the New Brunswick area and
those who donated were entered to win a
prize. Attendees got their caffeine fix with
special coffee and hot chocolate drinks
from DRIP Coffee and Culture.

We wish all of those at IFH a happy

holidays and safe and peaceful start to
the new year.

Pictured: (Top left) Dan Dychtwald, Maria Eva Dorigo, Kira Bartnick, Lisa Lanza; (Top right) Margaret Koller, Daniel Horton, Tobias Gerhard; (Middle right) John DiVuolo, Sam
Mirmajlesi, Jonathan Thompson; (Bottom left) Ahmed Lab research team; (Bottom middle) Compiling donations with RWJUH; (Bottom right) Carolyn Sartor, Yanping Jiang

IFH FACULTY LEAD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Faculty members from PETS on the role of pharmacoepidemiology in
served in leading roles during advancing data science, addressing the
the International Society of climate crisis, and educating the public and
Pharmacoepidemiology’s (ISPE) Asian future pharmacoepidemiologists in Asia
Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology and around the globe,” said Setoguchi,
in Tainan, Taiwan. PETS faculty, Soko who also was chair of the conference’s
Setoguchi, delivered the conference’s international steering committee.
keynote address reviewing the state
of pharmacoepidemiology. “As a As ISPE president, Tobias Gerhard,
pharmacoepidemiologist, applied interim director of IFH and founding
methodologist, clinician and global citizen, director of PETS, delivered the welcome
I was honored to share my perspectives address at the conference.

IN THIS ISSUE
NEW GRANTS PAGE 2 NEW FACES PAGE 3
AWARDS + NEWS PAGE 2-4 EVENTS + RESOURCES PAGE 4
@RutgersIFH
Awards & Faculty News
RCMAR AND CAHPE
HOST RETREAT
In November, the Rutgers Asian
Resource Center for Minority Aging
Research (RCMAR) and the Rutgers-
NYU Center for Asian Health Promotion
and Equity (CAHPE) hosted a two-day
virtual retreat bringing together scientists
and researchers to discuss the latest
research on trauma and resilience in older
Asian Americans and cardiometabolic
diseases and mental health in Asian
Americans.
RCMAR M-PI, William Hu, and
CAHPE Co-PI, Bei Wu, delivered
opening remarks. U.S. Congressman
Andy Kim (D-NJ) joined the retreat for a
keynote address on health disparities in
AAPI communities. RCMAR scientists,
Olga Jarrin Montaner of IFH and Jinyu
Liu of Columbia University, delivered
presentations updating attendees on their
research, and CAHPE members, Carol
Byrd-Bredbenner of Rutgers and Bei Wu
and Mary Mittelman of NYU, presented
updates on their R01 research projects.
An ethics discussion hosted by the
Center for Population-Level Bioethics
focused on research participants and
ethical research principles.
Additionally, breakout consultancy
sessions were hosted by Melissa Simon
of Northwestern University, Yuri Jang
of University of Southern California,
Sunanda Gaur of RWJMS and Keith
Chan of Hunter College.
2 /
NGUYEN FOSTERS LEADERS
Ann Nguyen, assistant research The program is a seven month
professor at IFH’s Center for State Health management skills course for promising
RECENT GRANTS Policy, co-directed the “Elevate” Leadership senior leaders in the Visiting Nurse
Development Program and celebrated Association.
the students’ graduation and capstone
presentations in October. “As much as I enjoy teaching this
ETHAN HALM, RBHS
management skills course, what I enjoy
“Development and Evaluation of EHR-enabled Population Health
The program, co-directed by Al Tallia, even more is getting to know the amazing Pictured: (Top row) Michael Andrade, instructor and
Outreach Strategies to Improve Diabetes Screening in a Safety-net
chair of the Department of Family Medicine leaders at the VNA. They have such senior department administrator, Family Medicine
Health System: a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial”
and Community Health at RWJMS, is creative ideas about how to improve care and Community Health; Graduates - Holly Gervasio,
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
a unique partnership between Rutgers quality for their patients as well as the work Tifanie Sbriscia, Asia Lonon, Antionette Joyner, Leo
Cayanong, Matthew Porpora and Erica Lynch; Adam
and the Visiting Nurse Association Health experience for their peers who work across
Shandler, director, Learning & Development and Talent
Group, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit the VNA’s hospice, home health, and Acquisition, VNA Health Group. (Bottom row) Al Tallia,
independent providers of home health, community-based settings,” says Nguyen. course director, professor and chair, Family Medicine
YANPING JIANG, CPBH hospice and community-based care. and Community Health; Ann Nguyen.
“Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research”
The University of Michigan
New Faces
GWENYTH LEE, RGHI
“Enteric Pathogen Force of Infection Among Children Using
Serology”
The University of Michigan
CAROLYN SARTOR, CPBH
“The Ecological Momentary Assessment of Racial Microaggressions BOBBY BROOKE MICHAEL OTSUKA ADAM LERNER JOSEPH BRECHT
and Alcohol Use in African American Young Adults’” HERERRA Core Scholar & Professor, CPLB Post-Doctoral Associate, CPLB Communications
The Washington University Assistant Professor of Global Specialist, CSHP
Health, RGHI
KWATE TO PUBLISH BOOK
Naa Oyo Kwate, associate faculty at IFH
and associate professor of Africana Studies
and Human Ecology at Rutgers, will publish a
new book this Spring.
White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food
from Black Exclusion to Exploitation explores QUAWNTASHEA BAILEY MELANIE DOREN JAUNIS ESTERVIL XU GUO
the long and pernicious relationship between Research Associate, IFH Research Assistant, IFH Research Assistant, IFH Research Assistant, IFH
fast food restaurants and the African American
community.
Kwate shares what she hopes readers
will take away from her book: “I hope
readers learn how entwined fast food is with
longstanding racial inequalities in the United
States. I also hope the book reveals how
contemporary food environments reflect a
complex set of historical forces.”
The book is scheduled for release in April
2023. MEI-LING LI DAWN MCGINNIS CARMEN RODRIGUEZ
Research Assistant, IFH Research Assistant, IFH Research Assistant, IFH
/ 3
News, Events & Resources
CHEN AWARDED
Michelle Chen, IFH core faculty and
instructor of neurology at RWJMS, was
awarded funding through the Collaborative
Multidisciplinary Awards Program for
her work on “Real-time physiological
biomarkers of post-COVID fatigue.”
The awards
program, hosted
by the Rutgers
R e s e a r c h
Council Awards
and Subvention
Program, offers the
opportunity for a group of faculty members
across disciplines to work together on a
new, shared problem or line of research.
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
IFH is now accepting applications
for the Howard Leventhal Scholarship
for Trainees. This scholarship will
provide doctoral students with the funds
necessary to jump start their investigative
careers. Two Rutgers University doctoral
candidates (PhD or equivalent) will be
UPCOMING EVENTS
• Weds., January 18 2 p.m. - CSHP
Event: Exploring Interstate Licensure
Compacts: Implications for NJ’s
Healthcare Workforce. RSVP here.
• Thurs., February 9 12 p.m. - Brown
Bag Seminar with Oladunni Oluwoye,
Assistant Professor, Washington
State University
• Thurs., February 23 12 p.m. - Brown
Bag Seminar with Darina Petrovsky,
Core Faculty, IFH & Assistant
Professor, Rutgers University School
of Nursing
• Thurs., March 2 12 p.m. - Brown
Bag Seminar with 2022 Howard
Leventhal Scholarship awardees,
Michael Enich and John Palatucci
• March 20-24 - Rutgers Giving Day
Rutgers University–New Brunswick
112 Paterson Street
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901
ifh.rutgers.edu
4 /
AHMED LAB IN ACTION
Zeeshan Ahmed, IFH core faculty Ahmed also presented research
and assistant professor of medicine at on, “Advances with AI in Diagnosing and
RWJMS, and the Ahmed Lab led the Treating Rare Diseases” at the National
organization of workshops at the 14th Press Foundation Online Conference for
annual RECOMB/ISCB Conference on Journalists Who Cover Rare Diseases.
Regulatory & Systems Genomics with
DREAM Challenges and the ISCB-Latin
America SoIBio BioNetMX Conference on
Bioinformatics.
Habiba Abdelhalim, Ahmed Lab
Senior Research Assistant, presented
“PAS-GDC: Annotated ACMG gene-
disease database and interactive search
application for translational research in
genomics and precision medicine“ at the
RECOMB/ISCB Conference.
awarded a stipend for one fiscal year to the scholarship and how to apply here,
support promising independent research or reach out to Nicole Swenarton for
focused on interdisciplinary population information.
health research.
Please share this opportunity with
Applications are due by Friday, your networks.
January 13, 2023. Learn more about
RESOURCE CORNER
New resource webpage
Check out the new section of the IFH
website offering resources for faculty and
staff such as parking info, HR, and policies
and procedures. Go to https://ifh.rutgers.
edu/faculty-and-staff-resources/
Are you hiring?
The IFH website is home to an
Opportunities page with various IFH job
listings. If you want your position featured
here and promoted on social media, send
the listing to Nicole. Opportunities page:
https://ifh.rutgers.edu/opportunities/
Interested in instant messaging?
A free Slack channel is available to those
interested. Join by clicking this link or reach
out to Nicole for more information.