Dear naphf community:

 

I am glad to report that Dr. Feijun Luo has been nominated as a candidate for the President of naphf (2011-2013). As there is only one nomination, we do not need the campaigning phrase and Dr. Luo is declared as the President-Elect of naphf. He will organize his board till October 1^st when he and his board will take position to serve the community.

 

I thank everyone who has been involved in the election process, and in particular to Dr. Xinzhi Zhang for serving as the coordinator of the nomination and election process.

 

Best

Sincerely

 

Adam

http://www.naphf.org/

 

 

_________

 

Hi Adam,

As of today, we have received one nomination for Dr. Feijun Luo to serve our CDC Chinese community.

Thanks,

Xinzhi

 

Feijun Luo, Ph.D.

 

Feijun received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Alabama in 2001, and B.A. in International Economics from Wuhan University in 1997.  He works as a health economist at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention (CDC/NCIPC/DVP).  Prior to coming to CDC, he had worked at East Carolina University, Duke University, and Mid-Continent University, successively, teaching economics and finance courses and conducting research activities.  His research areas of interest include health economics, welfare economics, and public economics.  He has publications in peer-reviewed journals such as American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Women’s Health, Review of Income and Wealth, Economic Transition, Journal of the InterAmerican Statistical Institute, and Journal of Family and Economic Issues.  He is currently studying the socio-economic determinants of and their impacts on violent behaviors.      

 

Feijun is active in community services.  He is Vice President of the Atlanta Chinese Go (Weiqi) Association, Board Member of the Wuhan University Alumni Association of Georgia, Board Member of the North America Public Health Forum, and Board Member of China Health Policy and Management Society.  He was Founding President of the Western Kentucky Chinese Advancement Association.  Feijun has a broad range of hobbies, including playing board games (Weiqi, Chess, etc.), investing, reading, traveling, boating, hiking, and most important of all, making friends.        

 

 

 

Dear All:

 

The clock on our website (www.naphf.org) is ticking – we are approaching the date for electing the next President of NAPHF. I cannot believe that two years went so fast. It has been a great pleasure working with the board members to serve the community – I have a longer thank-you email to follow in several weeks but do want to express my sincere appreciation to all those who have made naphf a stronger organization in this email.

 

The Board of Directors have met and we have finalized the following election procedure (please see attachment for the meeting minutes, which can be accessed through the members’ area on our website). NAPHF Immediate Past President, Dr. Xinzhi Zhang, has graciously agreed to serve as the nomination committee chair. The election timeline is as follows.

 

NAPHF Election Timeline:

 

August 1 – 20: Soliciting nominations of candidates for the President of NAPHF (www.naphf.org).  Nominators should obtain approval from the nominee and  submit a brief introduction of the nominee to Xinzhi Zhang (XZhang4@cdc.gov). Self-nominations are welcome.

 

August 21 – September 5: Candidates information and statement will be circulated to all members on August 21^st . Email votes should be sent to Xinzhi Zhang.

 

September 6: New President of NAPHF will be announced.

 

September 7 – September 30: New NAPHF President appoint members of Board of Directors.

 

October 1: New NAPHF President and the Board of Directors takes positions.

 

Sincerely

Adam

Dr. Feijun Luo is the lead author on a recently published paper “Impact of Business Cycles on US Suicide Rates, 1928-2007”, which was published in American Journal of Public Health. The paper has attracted a lot of media attention and was featured in the April 14th CDC news release. The paper examined the association of suicide rates with business cycles from 1928 to 2007 in the United States, and the authors found that suicide rate increased during the past economic crises such as the Great Depression (1929-1933), the Oil Crisis (1973-1975), and the Double-Dip Recession (1980-1982); and decreased during economic expansions such as the WWII period (1939-1945) and the last decade in the 20th century when fast growth was coupled with low unemployment.
 
When age specific associations were examined, the authors found that the prime working age group (25-64) is most vulnerable to increased suicide rate during an economic downturn.
“Economic problems can impact how people feel about themselves...can also disrupt the entire communities,” stated Dr. Feijun Luo, emphasizing that suicide is not caused by any one factor, but “there are many opportunities for prevention...focus[ing] on individuals, families, neighborhoods or entire communities to reduce risk factors.”

The authors called attention to the need for prevention efforts that use multiple settings to deal with the multifaceted nature of suicide. Since the prime working age group is especially vulnerable during economic downturns, which we are currently experiencing, worksite programs providing employee assistance might be of value.  Promoting social cohesiveness between individuals and their families/communities might also help reduce the risk of suicide by providing a social support network in time of need.

This article has garnered extensive media attention, and was featured in prominent news sources such as Chicago Tribune, NY Times, LA Times, Reuters, and US News.

Read the article at AJPH!

In a recent issue of Future Cardiology, Dr. Jing Fang provided the editorial focusing on some of the obstacles hindering timely treatment of heart attack patients. ―Even with advanced reperfusion therapy for heart attacks, the overall outcome would not improve if patients do not arrive at a hospital early enough to be eligible for the treatment‖. The problem stems from both knowledge gap and access to health care: the lack of awareness of heart attack symptoms among the general public; the unwillingness to call emergency care by the uninsured or underinsured. To reduce the delay between onset of symptoms and hospital arrival, the author suggested awareness campaigns targeted at high risk populations, and improved access to emergency care systems.
Future Cardiol. 6: 563-565

Dr. Rui Li is the lead author on a recently published article reviewing the cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent and control diabetes, its complications, and comorbidities. Through searching and synthesizing relevant literature published between 1985 and 2008, the authors performed a systematic review on diabetes interventions recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). From 56 studies conducted in 20 countries, the authors concluded that a large majority of the ADA recommended interventions intended to prevent or control diabetes are cost saving (e.g. ACE inhibitor therapy for intensive hypertension control) or very cost-effective ( e.g. intensive lifestyle interventions to prevent type 2 diabetes among persons with impaired glucose tolerance). Diabetes Care 33: 1872-1894

Dr. Xuanping Zhang recently published a study exploring the association between access to health care and undiagnosed diabetic cases along the United States-Mexico border. The study found that having no health insurance or no place to go for routine health checkups is associated with lowered diabetes diagnosis. This association is especially pronounced on the US side, arguing the need for an easily accessible health care system. This is a sister paper of his previously published paper that found nearly 3% of Americans with undiagnosed diabetes, and access to health care is associated with unde-tected diabetes. The paper was re-ported by many mainstream media (See WebMD article).
Pan American J. PH 2010; 28 (3): 182-189
Diabetes Care 2008;31:1748-1753

Dr. Hongjie Yu is the Deputy Director of the Office for Disease Control and Emergency Response, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He is in charge of the acute infectious disease surveillance system in China and supervises rapid response teams to provide technical resources for the detection and control of emerging infections. He is the lead author of a recently published paper on BMJ that retrospectively studied the effectiveness of osel-tamivir on disease progression and viral RNA shedding in 1291 patients with confirmed H1N1 virus infection. Treat-ment with oseltamivir significantly reduced development of pneumonia; and treatment started within two days of symptom onset reduced the duration of fever and viral RNA shedding.
BMJ 2010; 341:c4779

Chiu-Fang Chou, Dr.PH. and her colleagues at University of Minnesota conducted a study titled Health Care Coverage and the Health Care Industry, to examine uninsured rate among U.S. healthcare workers by workforce category and industry type. They found many U.S. health care workers lack health care coverage. This study was highlighted by the American Public Health Association in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal  of  Public  Health.  Moreover,Chiu-Fang Chou, Dr.PH. and her colleagues at University of Minnesota conducted a study titled Health Care Coverage and the Health Care Industry, to examine uninsured rate among U.S. healthcare workers by workforce category and industry type. They found many U.S. health care workers lack health care coverage. This study was highlighted by the American Public Health Association in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal  of  Public  Health.  Moreover, the study received extensive media coverage and was reported by CBS Network News Radio, San Francisco CBS, and Kansas Public Radio Station.

This study examined uninsured rate among U.S. healthcare workers by workforce category and industry type by using 2004 to 2006 National Health Interview Survey data. The study found that more than one in 8 U.S. health care workers lacks health insurance and disparities in uninsured rates exist within the health care work force. Ambulatory care workers were 3.1 times as likely as hospital workers to be uninsured and residential care workers were 4.3 times as likely to be uninsured. Health service workers had 50% greater odds of being uninsured relative to workers in health diagnosing and treating occupations. This study suggest, “Disparities in uninsurance exist in the U.S. health care work force and that these disparities differ significantly according to health care industry subtype and workforce category. … Creating policies specifically aimed at ensuring that health care workers are adequately insured will not only help workers themselves but also promote the health of those they serve.”
Dr. Chou is with Ginn Group Inc./Division of Diabetes Translation-Vision Health Initiative, NCCDPHP. She is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

[Click here for the full article: Chou et al. “Health Care Coverage and the Health Care Industry”. Am J Public Health. 2009: 99(12): 2282-2288]

Dr. Baoming Jiang was highlighted in the NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY journal for his contribution on vaccine development. http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v7/n5/full/nrd2587.html

Dr. Jun Li lead a study that found Pediatric malignancies are more common in the Northeast, and boys are at higher risk than girls. The study was quoted in various news media. http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/06/02/us-childhood-cancers-vary-by-sex-region.html

Dr. Xiangming Fang won the Paula and Gregory Chow Best Paper Award at the Chinese Economists Society 2008 Annual Conference in Tianjin, China on April 19th. His paper was titled, "Water Shortages, Intersectoral Water Allocation and Economic Growth: The Case of China"