Newsroom
Category: Public Health
October 23, 2020 • Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker A special issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence has been released, profiling the efforts of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study to address the nation’s opioid crisis. $350 million in funding has been committed to this program between 2019-2022 in what is notably the largest implementation science study ever conducted in the field of addiction. Scott Walters, PhD, Regents Professor at the University of North Texas Health…
October 14, 2020 • Public Health, School of Public Health
By Diane Smith Seven heroin users walked into Fort Worth’s Recovery Resource Council on the Monday after Thanksgiving looking for help. They wanted to stop injecting. Case workers know when to expect spikes in traffic by people who don’t want to take pills or heroin anymore. They show up after holidays, when celebrities overdose or after police bust a “pill mill.” Family gatherings often include urgent pleas from fathers, mothers and siblings. “‘Either you get treatment or you are not going to live here,’” said case manager Paula Shockey,…
October 7, 2020 • COVID-19, Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker Fall and winter holidays will have a different feel during COVID-19 as families consider the safest ways to celebrate their usual traditions with friends, neighbors and loved ones. It’s still possible to enjoy the season during the pandemic, said HSC’s Dr. Diana Cervantes, by approaching your plans and festivities in creative, new ways. “Even though our world is different right now, people still want to maintain…
September 28, 2020 • Alumni, COVID-19, Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker HSC 2020 graduate Julia Aiken was finishing the last semester of her MPH in Public Health Practice when COVID-19 arrived. By May, she had finished her degree and was helping Tarrant County Public Health’s (TCPH) with contact tracing efforts to track and help stop community spread of the virus. Aiken volunteered extra hours above her temporary work schedule, eventually joining TCPH full time this summer as an Epidemiology Specialist managing a data intake…
September 17, 2020 • COVID-19, Public Health, School of Biomedical Sciences
By Diane Smith The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (HSC) will administer the Texas portion of a $12 million National Institutes of Health award for outreach and engagement efforts in ethnic and racial minority communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The award to RTI International, a nonprofit research institution, will support teams…
September 1, 2020 • COVID-19, Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker Attention vapers -- new evidence links vaping to a higher risk of getting COVID-19. The risk has been shown to be 5 to 7 times higher, according to new scientific research, prompting lawmakers around the country to urge the FDA to temporarily clear the market of all e-cigarettes during the COVID pandemic. This increased health threat is especially troubling for teens and young adults, considering that the CDC reports nearly one-third of…
August 31, 2020 • COVID-19, Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker The last two years had brought small but significant victories to the nation’s opioid crisis, with slow, steady declines in opioid use and deaths marking a positive change to this major public health problem. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, bringing months of an uncertain and unsettling new normal to people around the world. As the pandemic continues with no clear end in sight, the U.S. rates of anxiety, depression and…
August 19, 2020 • COVID-19, Multi School, Public Health, Students
By Diane Smith-Pinckney Students from the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (HSC) will help Tarrant County Public Health perform COVID-19 contact tracing under a $1.9 million contract approved by Tarrant County Commissioners. The agreement will pay for the students’ time, program management, human resource functions, a virtual call center and facilities to support…
August 5, 2020 • COVID-19, Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker The world’s attention has been laser focused on COVID-19 for months, but the current pandemic isn’t an isolated problem threatening the health of communities, says one HSC public health researcher. “Many other infectious diseases, like tuberculosis, share similar characteristics and present dire health risks, require equal consideration of resources and prevention, and may, in fact, offer insight into models for…
July 20, 2020 • COVID-19, Public Health, School of Public Health
By Sally Crocker There’s a lot of drinking going on during COVID-19. Takeout, home deliveries and curbside pickup of beer, wine, liquors and other alcoholic products have increased significantly – from 40%-50%, according to different sources – over the months since the U.S. first locked down over coronavirus concerns. “There is a tremendous amount of…
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