lborkowski | November 26, 2006by revere
[Since my colleague and new blog sibling Dave Ozonoff posted here some advice on NIH grant writing in response to a post of mine over at Effect Measure, I thought I'd cross-post a follow-up I did on NIH funding a few days later. BTW, Dave, I'll have to give you some lessons in snarkiness. Your post was way too benign!]
In the late 1990s congress decided to invest in our future by doubling the NIH budget. If you are a scientist today trying to get an NIH grant, however, you are in tough shape. Success rates are falling like a stone, with less than 20% of grant applications now being…
lborkowski | November 21, 2006by Liz BorkowskiÂ
After posting about the global water and sanitation crisis, I learned via Gristmill that rap star and Def Jams president Jay-Z has aligned himself with this important cause. On a recent world tour, the star visited Angola and South Africa and witnessed firsthand what life is like for the more than one billion people who lack access to clean drinking water. MTV will air a 30-minute documentary about Jay-Z's trip on Friday (a two-minute "Diary of Jay-Z in Africa" clip is available on MTV's site).
"In my business, we like to say we're from the hood,"Â Jay-Z told the AP…
cmonforton | November 20, 2006by Celeste Monforton
From the Ground Zero construction site to an expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport, the tide seems to be turning for cleaner diesel engines, particulate filters and low-sulfur fuels. As Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Alex Frangos writes: âInstead of belching black smoke, the bucket loaders, cranes and other diesel-power behemothsâ are being replaced with less-polluting equipment in order to win community support for massive construction projects in populated areas. Lawmakers are backing these measures, too. On November 1, Governor Pataki signed a…
lborkowski | November 20, 2006by Dick Clapp
Atul Gawande is well-known around Boston because of his skills as a surgeon, but also for his books and articles in the New Yorker, and his interviews with local media. He was a recipient of one of this yearâs MacArthur grants, in recognition of his work. I got one of his books, "Complications," as a gift and read it and liked it a lot.  He's an incredibly talented writer, and he has ahumane surgeon's view of medical practice.  My father was a surgeon too, so his book resonated with me.
IÂ have another response to Atul Gawande, though, based on an article he wrote for the…
lborkowski | November 18, 2006by Liz BorkowskiÂ
Nearly half of Mumbaiâs 18 million residents live in unofficial settlements called zopadpatti. In one of these areas, Dharavi, estimates suggest there is one toilet for every 1,4440 people, tap water flows for only two hours each day, and approximately 15 families share each water tap.
Around the globe, rural residents are migrating to urban areas and expanding these unofficial settlements, where global challenges in water and sanitation are highly visible. Many rural areas that struggled with water to begin with face new constraints as aquifers are depleted and global…
cmonforton | November 17, 2006by Celeste MonfortonÂ
Who was the most compelling speaker at last weekâs 134th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association? It wasnât a scholarly epidemiologist warning about pandemic flu, or an emeritus professor presenting research on health disparities. No, the superstar speaker was a petite grandmother, wearing a red âHotel Workers Rising!â t-shirt.
Isabella (not her real name) has worked as a hotel housekeeper for more than 30 years. Through her short talk (thankfully, sans PowerPoint) before a gathering of APHA attendees, Isabella brought us face-to-face with…
lborkowski | November 16, 2006by David OzonoffÂ
My new Pump Handle blog colleague, "Revere", has posted on NIH's proposal to limit the Research Plan section of Research Project Grant applications to 15 pages, down from the current 25. He/she/they (Revere's blog, Effect Measure, is ambiguous as to how many Reveres there are) also gives a peek into the NIH grant review process, something people are often curious about. As Revere says, it's a bit like seeing how sausages are made. You might not want to know. In any event, since Revere opened up the topic and since this site is more pitched to public health professionals…
lborkowski | November 16, 2006The story of the pump handle is familiar to any first-semester public health student: During the London cholera epidemic of 1854, John Snow examined maps of cholera cases and traced the disease to water from a local pump. At the time, the prevailing theory held that cholera spread through the air, rather than water, so Snow faced criticism from others in the science community â not to mention resistance from the water companies. He finally convinced community leaders to remove the pumpâs handle to prevent further exposure
Weâve created The Pump Handle blog to serve as a gathering place for…