We designed a human biology course that interests nonmajors while improving science literacy through student engagement, using a constructivist-inspired, topic-centered approach. This way of learning highlights common diseases that provide a basis to incorporate specific biological concepts. The topic-centered approach triggers interest and…

Awareness of the history of health education efforts is important for health educators. The VD Radio Project, developed in the middle of the 20th century, was a cooperative effort of the United States Public Health Service and Columbia University designed to encourage people to be tested for sexually transmitted infections. How the campaign came…

Community schools are an evidence-based strategy to advance a "whole child" approach to education by offering integrated student supports (e.g., health care or housing assistance), expanded and enriched learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practices. This brief examines how local government and…

Background: The effects of individual school dismissal on influenza transmission have not been well studied. During the spring 2009 novel H1N1 outbreak, New York City implemented an individual school dismissal policy intended to limit influenza transmission at schools with high rates of influenza-like illness (ILI). Methods: Active disease…

Objectives: The humanities, including narrative arts, are a valuable tool to foster reflection for professionally competent clinical practice. Integrating such study into traditional medical school curricula can prove challenging. A preclinical elective on opera and medicine was developed and piloted at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown…

This booklet seeks to clarify teenagers' rights under New York State and federal law to make their own medical decisions. It is designed as an aid to teenagers and the professionals -- social workers, counselors, teachers, and medical providers -- who work with young people. Frequently, professionals can encourage communication between young…

Successful community partnerships for youth are based on the premise that reciprocity exists between all parties, but to what extent is equal power actually present? The current investigation examines the benefits and contributions associated with partnerships from community partners' perspectives. Respondents from 15 different "Connect to…

Objective: To assess the acceptability of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing using self-collected vaginal swabs (SCVS) among college women. Participants: First-year female students ("N" = 483). Methods: Participants were offered free testing for 3 STIs using SCVS in April 2010 and later completed a survey regarding their…

Chronic disease poses increasing threat to individual and community health. The day-to-day manager of disease is the patient who undertakes actions with the guidance of a clinician. The ability of the patient to control the illness through an effective therapeutic plan is significantly influenced by social and behavioral factors. This article…

For years, New York health-care providers have treated Asian-Americans afflicted by serious, even life-threatening illnesses with ever-increasing frequency. Many doctors in the nation's largest city agreed that Asians seemed particularly at risk for specific health problems, but there was neither research nor statistics supporting physician…

Objectives: The study determined prevalence of asymptomatic nonurethral gonorrhea and chlamydia in men who have sex with men (MSM) seen at the Columbia University Health Service for routine care. Participants: The study enrolled 200 participants from March 2007 to May 2010. Results: Specimens were tested using culture and nucleic acid…

A randomized controlled trial examined whether the diagnostic process for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias may be influenced by knowledge of the patient's education and/or self-reported race. Four conditions were implemented: diagnostic team knows (a) race and education, (b) education only, (c) race only, or (d) neither. Diagnosis and…

Although the New York City Chinese population aged =65 years increased by 50% between 2000 and 2010, the health needs of this population are poorly understood. Approximately 3,001 Chinese individuals from high-density Asian American New York City areas were included in the REACH U.S. Risk Factor Survey; 805 (26.8%) were aged =65 years and…

When ACT UP is remembered as the pinnacle of postmodern activism, other forms and forums of activism that were taking place during that time--practices that were linked, related, just modern, in dialogue or even opposition to ACT UP's "confrontational activism"--are forgotten. In its time, ACT UP was embedded in New York City, and a…

AIDS, from the beginning, has been a mnemonic pandemic. Remembering and forgetting have reflected and constituted the vicissitudes of HIV/AIDS, its inventions, significations, and transformations in and across time, then and now and into the welter, promise and pitfall, of future and futurity. The 25th anniversary of AIDS Coalition to Unleash…