Center for a Livable Future names Innovation Grant recipients.
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Press Release Summary:
To promote research that addresses some of the complex interactions among diet, human health, food production, food security, equity, and environment, 5 research projects will be funded via Center for a Livable Future's Innovation Grants program. For 2009-2010, grant recipients include Eliza Barclay; Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl; Brian Schwartz and co-investigator Walter Stewart; Ellen Silbergeld and Joel Gittelsohn; and Amber Summers.
Original Press Release:
The Center for a Livable Future announces 2009-2010 Innovation Grant Recipients
Five research projects will be funded through the Center for a Livable Future's Innovation Grants program. Each year, the program provides support for innovative interdisciplinary study by Johns Hopkins University faculty, fellows or graduate students. The purpose of the grants is to promote research that addresses some of the complex interactions among diet, human health, food production, food security, equity, and the environment.
The 2009-2010 grant recipients are:
Eliza Barclay, MA student, Writing Seminars Department, Johns Hopkins Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, for her project, "The Rise of a Meat-Intensive Diet and the Seeds of a Sustainable/Healthy Food Movement in China." Barclay's project is an investigation of the rise of animal protein consumption in China, and how that trend is currently understood there, particularly with regard to the ecological and human health consequences. She plans to explore the drivers for change in part through the stories of urban families whose eating habits have changed rapidly from one generation to the next or within generations. "I will try to understand how critiques of intensive livestock farming and meat consumption resonate with Chinese, and how a sustainable/healthy food movement in China might look different from one in the United States," she says.
Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl, MPH student, Global Environmental Sustainability and Health Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, for his project: "Program Evaluation: Richmond (CA) High School?s Urban Agriculture Program." Kurtz-Nichol's project will look at the high school's Urban Agriculture Program, which exemplifies an innovative approach to food production and access by involving students in growing, harvesting, marketing and distributing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box of produce for families at the high school, while teaching those same students about food systems, agriculture, social justice, health and nutrition through the lens of this project based approach. He plans to study the impact of the program on the participants and the community, determine its sustainability and support the program's efforts to institutionalize itself within the larger school system through its expansion into the four other high schools in the school district and creation of more urban/school farms. The evaluation will be completed as part of a capstone project for the MPH program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Brian Schwartz, MD, MS, professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and Co-Investigator Walter Stewart, PhD, associate chief research officer, Center for Health Research, Geisinger Health System, for their project, "Population-Based Evaluation of Primary Care Patients with MRSA in Relation to Animal Feeding Operations in Pennsylvania." The researchers plan to examine the potential connection between patients with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and animal feeding operations (AFOs) in the 31-county catchment area of the Geisinger Clinic using electronic health records. The primary study aim is to determine whether proximity to AFOs is a risk factor for MRSA infection among primary care patients.
Ellen Silbergeld, PhD, professor, Environmental Health Sciences Department, and Joel Gittelsohn, PhD, associate professor, International Health Department, for their project, "Integrating food safety and food security: a case study in Baltimore City." The researchers plan to examine whether low income inner city residents, who are at high risk of food insecurity, are also at increased risk of exposure to food borne pathogens. The goal of this research is to develop information for interventions at two levels: (a) federal food policy, to increase focus on preventable risks of pathogen exposure in the food supply, incorporating the potential for increased risks among food insecure populations, and (b) community based interventions to empower community members and other stakeholders in the food environment to reduce risks for exposure to food borne pathogens through modifying food choice and related behaviors.
Amber Summers, MHS, PhD student, Health, Behavior and Society Department, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, for her project, "Partnering with African American Churches to Modify the Food Environment: Reducing Risk for Obesity and Chronic Disease in Urban Areas." With obesity a crucial public health issue in the U.S., and low-income, urban African Americans disproportionally affected, interventions have been implemented in various community settings including food stores, schools, and homes to address this issue, but relatively little work has been done within churches. Summers will examine the role of the church as a component of the food environment. Churches, which are a primary source of social influence and provide a supportive environment, have already demonstrated success as health intervention sites within the urban African American community. The research will include a 10-month intervention to promote a healthy food environment in and around selected Baltimore City churches.
For more detailed information about these projects, please see website.
