School Notes: School of Public Health
November/December 2008

Grant will support AIDS research for five more years

Yale University's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) has received an $11 million grant that will support another five years of HIV prevention and health services research. With the award, CIRA will continue to support ongoing and new research to identify and analyze behaviors, policies, laws, and structural factors that influence the course of HIV infection and to develop and evaluate interventions to prevent and reduce the impact of HIV infection. CIRA will also retain its focus on research on disproportionately affected groups, including children, women, intravenous drug users, and people of color. In addition, the new round of NIMH funding will allow the center to broaden its scope beyond prevention to include research in the realm of clinical health services. CIRA is one of eight HIV research centers in the United States funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Studies in Shanghai explore rising rates of breast cancer

The Olympics are over, but Yale researchers remain focused on China. A recent study co-authored by Yawei Zhang ’03MPH, ’04PhD, assistant professor at the School of Public Health, studied 570 breast-cancer patients in Shanghai, and found that a family history of breast cancer -- as well as cancer of the lung and esophagus -- remains a particularly important factor in a population that historically has lower rates of such diseases. But the research also suggests that changing lifestyles and exposure to chemicals may be responsible for surging breast cancer rates in much of China. In the industrial city of Shanghai alone, the rate increased by 40 percent from 1975 to 1997. "The findings indicate inherited genetic susceptibility, shared environmental exposure, or both," said Zhang. "Pesticides and chemicals are also pouring into China, and McDonald's is now everywhere. That's why our research focus is there."

Biostatistics professor oversees diverse collaborations

Heping Zhang, professor of biostatistics at the School of Public Health, remains engaged in multiple initiatives at the Collaborative Center for Statistics in Science, which he created in 2006 to foster cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary studies of statistical methods and technologies in scientific research. The projects he oversees include research training for students who study mental-health epidemiology, statistical methods in genetic studies of substance use, and data coordination for the Reproductive Medicine Network's clinical trials on infertility. "These projects cover the entire spectrum of public health," said Zhang, "from the theoretical to the very real: training students, analyzing data, serving patient populations." Funding from the National Institutes of Health has helped advance his diverse research initiatives -- from childhood development to drug abuse. "As a statistician, I have the luxury to pursue a wide range of interests," he said.