09-24-07

Media Release

Childhood Obesity, Latino Health Care among Key Issues Addressed at Conference

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Disparities in health care for Latinos, childhood obesity, health perspectives on global climate change and arsenic in the groundwater of Oregon are just a few of the topics that will be addressed during the two-day Oregon Public Health Association Conference, scheduled for Oct. 3-4 at Oregon State University.

To be held at OSU's LaSells Stewart Center, the meeting will bring together public health officials, researchers and the public to address some of the most pressing health concerns of local communities.

Lesli Leone Uebel, president-elect of the Oregon Public Health Association, will open the conference, followed by Jeff McCubbin, associate dean for research in the College of Health and Human Sciences at OSU.

Some of the conference’s sessions include:

• John Kaufmann, a senior policy analyst with the Oregon Department of Energy, on “The Impact of $10/Gallon Oil on Public Health in Portland”

• Stephanie Farquhar, associate professor of community health at Portland State University, on “Promoting the Occupational Health of Indigenous Farmworkers in Oregon”

• Tammy Bray, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at OSU, will speak on “Connecting the Dots…Diet...Genes…Body…Mind for Healthy Aging”

• Ann Zukoski, an assistant professor in the department of public health at OSU, on “Preventing Heterosexual Transmission of STIs and HIV/AIDS: Rural Latino Male and Female Perspectives”

• Anna Harding, professor in the department of public health at OSU, on “Groundwater Arsenic Concentrations and Cancer Incidence: A Regional Comparison in Oregon.”

There also will be a roundtable session on childhood obesity with experts from Oregon Public Health Institute and Northwest Health Foundation.

Marie Harvey, professor of public health and chair of the department, said about 200 attendees are expected. “The conference brings together health practitioners, those individuals who are on the front lines protecting the public’s health, with academicians,” she said. “Collectively our goal is to improve capacity to solve community health problems in Oregon and beyond.”

The conference is open to the public. For registration information, see the Web site at http://www.oregonpublichealth.org/index.html.

The OPHA conference is sponsored by OSU’s Department of Public Health, Northwest Health Foundation, Coalition of Local Health Officials, Oregon Masters in Public Health Program, Community Health Partnership and Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation.