Regents meeting set for Oct. 17
The University of Michigan Board of Regents is scheduled to conduct its regular meeting at 4 p.m. Oct. 17 at UM-Flint in the ballroom of the Northbank Center at 432 N. Saginaw St. To offer public comments, sign up in advance at regents.umich.edu/meetings/publform.html. Public comments on agenda items will be taken prior to their consideration. Comments on nonagenda items will follow the regular business agenda. People with disabilities who need assistance should contact the Office of the Vice President and Secretary of the University in advance at 734-763-8194. For more information, go to regents.umich.edu.
Retired U-M Dearborn professor pledges $50,000 for new space
Malayappan Shridhar, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering, has pledged $50,000 to support the new Engineering Lab Building at UM-Dearborn. Shridhar enjoyed working with students, and his gift will be used to create an open collaboration and hang out space for them. The new space will be named in Shridhar’s honor. Shridhar has given to a number of UM-Dearborn causes over the years, with donations to the Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems, a continuing education initiative and the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s senior design program. He served in various roles at UM-Dearborn, including department chair and associate provost, before retiring in January.
Medicaid expansion leads to improved health, study finds
Nearly one in three low-income people who enrolled in Michigan’s expanded Medicaid program discovered they had a chronic illness that had never been diagnosed before, according to a study by a team from the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. The study looked at common chronic diagnoses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, depression and asthma. The team used in its research surveys and interviews with people enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan, which extended health insurance coverage to adults living near or below the poverty line. The researchers found that half of Medicaid expansion enrollees with chronic conditions said their overall health improved after one year or more of coverage. Nearly as many said their mental health had improved. The team’s findings have been published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
DPSS publishes Security and Fire Safety report for 2019-20
The U-M Annual Security and Fire Safety report for 2019-20 is available online. The Division of Public Safety and Security publishes this comprehensive resource on campus safety each year to provide the university community with information about public safety and emergency services, safety tips, university policies, laws and support services. The report also includes three-year statistics of reported crime, including bias-motivated crimes, on the Ann Arbor campus and adjoining properties. Additional safety and security information, including crime alerts and the daily crime and fire log, can be found online at dpss.umich.edu. Questions about the report can be emailed to DPSS Clery Compliance Coordinator Erik Mattila at [email protected].
Collaboration may improve access to HIV testing, primary care
Social workers, health educators and other health providers who receive on-the-job training and engage in collaborative practices are more likely to help patients access HIV testing and primary care, both of which help decrease HIV transmission, according to a new U-M study. Researchers examined the impact of interprofessional collaboration and on-the-job training involving HIV testing and HIV primary care. Some vulnerable people may not seek care because they experience stigma in the health care system, distrust health providers or lack information or insurance. Rogério Pinto, the study’s lead author and professor of social work, collaborated with U-M researcher Emma Kay and Columbia University researchers Susan Witte, Prema Filippone, C. Jean Choi and Melanie Wall. The study appears in the current issue of AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV.
Professor receives Gates Foundation Grand Challenges grants
Mustafa Naseem, clinical assistant professor in the School of Information, has received two $100,000 Gates Foundation Grand Challenges grants. The most recent grant will fund “Beyond Data Collection: Actionable Insights to Vaccinator Supervisors,” which will involve the creation of an android application that synthesizes near complex vaccination data into actionable snippets for vaccinator supervisors. The Pakistan government introduced a smartphone-based monitoring system to track the movements and vaccinations administered by vaccinators in the field, but the system has various challenges. Naseem and his team will develop an Android application to present digital immunization and performance data from front-line health workers to their medical supervisors. Naseem previously received a Gates Foundation Grand Challenge Grant to fund “Using Data-Driven Algorithms to Detect False Data Entries,” a machine learning-based anomaly detection algorithm to identify errors in electronic immunization data in Pakistan.
— Compiled by Ann Zaniewski, The University Record
