SPH Launches UMD-Prevention Research Center

No doubt there are a ton of new, exciting happenings here at SPH. Last Tuesday, we saw the launch of one of them.

The UMD-Prevention Research Center of the School of Public Health announced its launch in conjunction with campus events recognizing World AIDS Day. It was a perfect setting for the launch, as the Center's initial focus will be on HIV/STD prevention in the area.

The UMD-PRC is one of only 35 centers of its kind, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It aims to unite community members, academic researchers, and public health agencies to identify health disparities and develop innovative ways to promote health and prevent disease. Our PRC is unique, in that it will focus on a specific geographical area: UMD-PRC is dedicated to shrinking the health disparity gap of the national capital border in Prince George’s County.

The announcement was made at the “Universal Access and Human Rights” World AIDS Day event, co-sponsored by UMD-PRC and the campus’s Nyumburu Cultural Center.

The Center has already been collaborating with the Sexually Transmitted Infections Community Coalition, a regional STD/HIV prevention enterprise, to organize counseling and testing events in Prince George’s County, and it has been cataloging current and potential partners that may provide resources for addressing STD/HIV in Prince George’s County.

UMD-PRC and its partners are preparing to tackle the challenges ahead. Among the Prince George's County statistics, 5,578 persons living with HIV and AIDS as of June 30, 2008, and the 2007 estimate of reported syphilis cases in the county is 11.2 per 100,000.

Local officials spoke at the event, and recognized the great potential of building a partnership with UMD-PRC...

Mayor Eugene Grant, the City of Seat Pleasant: “We believe that having a partnership with an institution like the University of Maryland, one of the greatest institutions here in the United States, and for that matter, in the world, is where we have an incubation of thought."

Dr. Donald Shell, health officer of Prince George's County: “I think it’s a wonderful partnership with the School of Public Health here on campus for the Prince George’s County Health Department, and I think only great things will continue to happen."

Dr. Yvette Butler, founder of GapBuster Learning Center, Inc., a nonprofit educational program dedicated to closing the performance gap of students: “We know that with us together, we can conquer HIV."

Learn more about the UMD-PRC; CDC Prevention Research Center program; Prince George’s County Health Department; Nyumburu Cultural Center; GapBusters; and Sexually Transmitted Infections Community Coalition.