School Notes: School of Public Health
September/October 2013

Yale HIV/AIDS center funded for next five years

The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA), which fosters research to improve HIV prevention and care programs from New Haven to Africa, has received a new federal grant that will fund its initiatives for the next five years. The $8.75 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will fund CIRA’s many research activities and programs through mid-2018. Since its inception in 1997, CIRA has supported a portfolio of interdisciplinary research in diverse settings, contributing significantly to scientific knowledge of HIV risk and transmission and the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of HIV interventions. 

Working to improve birth outcomes

The Yale School of Public Health, led by professor Jeannette Ickovics, will spearhead a national project to improve birth outcomes with a grant of more than $4 million from the United Health Foundation to fund the development and implementation of a new model of group prenatal care to promote healthier pregnancies.

Preterm births in the United States currently account for more than one third of US health-care spending for infants, or about $26.2 billion. Babies born prematurely have a number of potentially life-threatening health complications and, on average, the medical costs to care for them is ten times greater than it is for babies who are full term. The incidence of preterm and low-birth-weight babies has remained almost unchanged for more than three decades. More than 12 percent of babies are born prematurely and more than 9 percent have low birth weight. 

Professor appointed to top dietary panel

With his appointment to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Professor Rafael Pérez-Escamilla will work over the coming year with 14 other committee members to formulate recommendations and rationale for the eighth edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. He will be one of the four members on the Science Review Subcommittee that will steer the work of the whole committee. The guidelines are the foundation of the nation’s food and nutrition policies. Pérez-Escamilla is an internationally recognized scholar in the area of community nutrition for his work on pregnancy and lactation, food security, obesity, diabetes and food safety. He has expertise with Hispanic and other low-income Americans, as well as populations in low- and middle-income countries.