School Notes: School of Public Health
July/August 2009

Study explores effects of exercise on women's cancer

A public health researcher is studying whether physical activity can affect ovarian and breast cancer prognosis and survivorship. Melinda L. Irwin, associate professor in the division of chronic disease epidemiology, believes that a regular exercise regimen -- coordinated with other forms of traditional treatment such as chemotherapy -- can potentially have a significant effect on survival, recovery, and overall mental and physical health. She received nearly $7 million in combined grants from the National Cancer Institute to conduct the two-pronged research. The first study will focus on women who have completed treatment for Stage I-III ovarian cancer. The second study will investigate whether an exercise program can improve a number of negative side effects associated with the hormone therapies that are given to women recovering from breast cancer.

Beliefs about the causes of obesity predict support for government intervention

With obesity becoming an increasing public health concern in the United States, new research has found that an individual's personal beliefs about the causes of weight problems are a reliable indicator of whether they will support public policies designed to combat what some see as an epidemic. The research determined that people who view growing rates of obesity as due primarily to bad individual choices are less likely to back a range of potential public health responses, such as changing school lunch programs, food labeling, or imposing taxes on junk food. Conversely, those who see growing rates of obesity as primarily the consequence of external factors such as public manipulation by the food and beverage industry or the lack of healthy, affordable food in certain neighborhoods are more likely to back government intervention in the form of new health policies and programs, said Colleen L. Barry, assistant professor in the division of health policy and administration and the study's lead author.

YSPH trains delegates from China's Food and Drug Administration

Building on the success of last year's program with the China State Food and Drug Administration (sFDA), a second sFDA delegation visited the Yale School of Public Health in April for training in the regulation of medical devices. Robert Makuch ’77PbhSp, ’77PhD, professor in the division of biostatistics, led efforts to initiate the new training program. The delegation members, who are being trained as future leaders of the sFDA, included directors and associate directors of province sFDA offices and senior members from the central Beijing sFDA. "We have a strong relationship with China," said Dean Paul Cleary, "and we're thinking deeply about policy and regulation as a key component of protecting and promoting health all over the world." The training program also featured a day-long session with senior members of the U.S. FDA.