Brian Gilchrist, Ph.D. Student in DPCH, Authors Two Funded Grants

Brian Gilchrist, a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Public and Community Health, authored two grants last year for the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, where he previously worked. Those two grants, totaling more than a million dollars over five years, were recently funded by the New York State Department of Health. See the below for descriptions of the grants.

The Healthy Turtle talked with Brian about the grant-writing process, tobacco use among college students, and his research at Maryland.

Healthy Turtle: What does it mean to you to have these grants funded?

Brian Gilchrist: Having these grants funded has been very important to me. It marks a milestone in my career. I have contributed to several grant proposals in the past, however, these were the first two for which I was the primary author. One of my career goals is to demonstrate mastery of the public health professional competencies and sub-competencies through my experiences. Successfully completing these grant proposals has provided more experience allowing me to move closer to that goal.

HT: What did you learn in the process of writing these grants?

BG: During the process of writing these grants, I learned the importance of clear and effective communication between the grant writer, the organization on whose behalf the grants were being written, and the program staff who will be responsible for completing the deliverables of the grant. It was important that I accurately reflected the organization’s commitment as well as the responsibilities of the staff to the proposed program. It was also important that I learned about the populations served by the organization and some of the environmental influences affecting those populations.

HT: Why is educating college students and young people in general about tobacco use and important issue?

BG: It is important to educate young people and college students about tobacco use because most adults who smoke began before the age of 18. There has also been some evidence that college students may also have an increased risk for smoking. Tobacco use is the most preventable leading cause of death in our country. I believe that if we effectively prevent tobacco use initiation among young people, we would increase life expectancies and improve quality of life while conserving resources necessary to improve and sustain our health care systems.

HT: What are your major research interests here at Maryland?

BG: My general research interests here at Maryland include adolescent and emerging adult health behaviors, primarily African American and urban populations. I am specifically interested in masculinity perceptions of African American men and their effects on health behavior among that population. I am currently working with Dr. Brad Boekeloo and the new Prevention Research Center initiative as we begin to identify health concerns of people living along the National Capital Border.

----

Congratulations again to Brian Gilchrist, and here are the descriptions of the grants:

Grant 1: $125,00.00 per yr/5yrs for Advocacy in Action Programs
Grant Organization: New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program RFA

Advocacy in Action College Programs will engage young adult leaders to work on and off the college campus to limit where and how tobacco products are promoted, advertised and sold, and to advance local and statewide policy action to prevent and reduce tobacco use. College advocacy programs take a policy advocacy approach to creating communities that support and reinforce the tobacco free norm and dismantling the community policies and practices that promote and support tobacco use. Advocacy in Action programs focus efforts specifically on those aspects of the community and college environment that most influence tobacco use among young adults.

Grant 2: $175,00.00 per yr/5yrs for Youth Action Programs
Grant Organization: New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program RFA:

The focus of these programs is to engage youth age 13 - 18 in action-oriented activities and teach them the leadership skills needed to work on policy-related tobacco control issues aimed at improving the health status of communities by changing community policies and norms about tobacco. Youth Action programs are designed to integrate youth participants into the work of the NY TCP. These programs will actively engage individual youth in a supportive peer group, working with adult guidance, to take action to mitigate, reduce or eliminate:

• The fraudulent and deceptive marketing practices of tobacco companies.
• Tobacco product advertising at the point of purchase (POP).
• Smoking in G, PG, and PG-13 movies.
• The harm caused by secondhand smoke.
• The promotion and normalization of tobacco products and tobacco use.