The 2007 annual report for the Foundation of UMDNJ is now available on-line. Because of the outstanding work and passion for advancing healthcare by faculty, students and all staff at UMDNJ, thousands of individuals, corporations and foundations supported the University once again this year through their gifts to the Foundation.
.
Researchers from the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, writing in an article published in the current issue of the American Journal of Public Health, report that as the events of September 2001 fade further into history, public funding is declining for disaster and terrorism preparedness programs. In response, individual states will face challenges to find new ways to maintain systems put in place as an answer to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Dr. Leah Ziskin and co-author, Dr. Drew Harris, faculty members at the School, write that states faced significant preparedness challenges before and following September 11, 2001, and they also point to a number of facts that make New Jersey a good model for the evaluation of terrorism preparedness. Among those facts: New Jersey was at the epicenter of the anthrax outbreak in 2001; its residents accounted for one-quarter of the fatalities at the World Trade Center; New Jersey is centrally located between Washington and New York and it is the country’s most densely populated state.
The Autism Center at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School has joined forces with Montclair State University's College of the Arts to host a 12 week theater workshop geared toward integrating theater arts in a program for patients at the Center. The pilot program, which began on September 15, is made possible in part by a $15,000 grant from Johnson & Johnson and Society for the Arts in Health Care.
The program is geared toward high-functioning adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Close to a dozen participants will learn a multitude of skills necessary to put on a theater production. As important, the program is geared toward teaching participants in a fun way the skills necessary to build consensus and develop a sense of community.
Dr. Cristine Delnevo, an associate professor at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, has received a two year, $382,093 grant from the National Cancer Institute to determine if there are flaws in the accuracy of surveys that are frequently used to assess tobacco consumption.
These surveys, which provide essential data for individual state tobacco control programs throughout the U.S., often overlook the fact people are increasingly doing away with their land line phones and relying solely on cell phones. Some important demographic groups, such as young adults, males and minorities, tend to live in cell phone only households and also to have higher smoking rates.
