The UC Davis faculty has a broad expertise regarding health and nutrition in regards to poverty. Spanish-language media members, please note those on the list who are fluent Spanish speakers. If you need information on a topic not listed, please contact UC Davis Health System Public Affairs, (916) 734-9040; Pat Bailey, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu; or Susanne Rockwell, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9841, sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.
GENERAL HEALTH ISSUES
- Recovery care for the homeless after hospitalization
- Access for the uninsured
- The telemedicine bridge
- Mental health care for Medi-Cal recipients
NUTRITION
- Diets for the urban poor
- Children's nutrition
- Nutrition in developing countries
FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
- Pediatric health-care disparities
- Getting pediatricians into the community
- Teaching parenting skills
ETHNIC AND IMMIGRANT HEALTH
- Disease in low-income Asian Americans
- Latino economics and health
- Health risks facing migrant farm workers
GENERAL HEALTH ISSUES
RECOVERY CARE FOR THE HOMELESS AFTER HOSPITALIZATION -- UC Davis Health System, along with the Salvation Army and three other hospital systems, has launched an interim care program for homeless patients. The program created an 18-bed shelter for homeless individuals who receive regular visits from a nurse. The program enables homeless to recuperate in a clean and stable environment after being discharged from the hospital. Before the program was begun, the homeless were back on the streets after being discharged from hospitals, only to return for care because their wounds and injuries had not healed properly. For more information, contact Charles Casey, Public Affairs, at (916) 734-9048, cecasey@ucdavis.edu.
ACCESS FOR THE UNINSURED -- Hospital emergency departments provide care to millions of Americans without health insurance who are forced to let their illnesses go untreated because they have nowhere to turn for preventive care. Robert Derlet, an emergency medicine physician for more than 20 years, is a nationally renowned expert on the problems of the uninsured and the impact on hospital emergency rooms. He can talk about how uninsured adults are less likely to get the medical care they need, are less likely to have a personal doctor or health-care provider, are less likely to receive preventive services and are more likely to be in poor or fair health compared with adults who are insured. Contact: Carole Gan, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9047, carole.gan@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.
THE TELEMEDICINE BRIDGE -- Rural communities throughout Northern California face many unique challenges, including large numbers of uninsured and low-income patients, difficulties in recruiting and retaining health-care providers and geographically distant specialty and tertiary care facilities. As a way to improve the practice of medicine in rural communities, UC Davis Medical Center pioneered the use of telemedicine technology to improve access to specialty care and medical education for patients and physicians. Through its Community Hospital Network, UC Davis helps to ensure the survival of hospitals in medically underserved remote and rural areas of Northern California. Contact: Carole Gan, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9047, carole.gan@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.
MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR MEDI-CAL RECIPIENTS -- Martin H. Leamon, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is an authority on substance use disorders who works with patients who are among the region's poorest. A consultant-instructor on drug and alcohol addiction-related topics for county agencies, including the Mental Health Division and Alcohol Drug Bureau, and Department of Health and Human Services, Leamon is active in building community coalitions to improve health-care delivery to formerly homeless populations. He is associate medical director for Sacramento County's Outpatient Mental Health Services and medical director of the county's Adult Psychiatric Support Services. He currently sees Medi-Cal patients enrolled in the Sacramento County Mental Health Plan. Contact: Kelly Gastman, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9444, kelly.gastman@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.
NUTRITION
DIETS FOR THE URBAN POOR -- Diana Cassady, assistant professor of public health sciences, has shown that low-income, inner-city residents have less access to fresh fruits and vegetables than do higher-income urban and suburban residents. Through her work in the Center for Advanced Studies in Nutrition and Social Marketing, she has helped to show that large supermarkets are scarcer in low-income neighborhoods and that supermarkets in these neighborhoods devote fewer square feet of store space to fresh fruits and vegetables compared with stores in wealthier areas. A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables is linked to reduced rates of cancer and other chronic diseases. Contact: Claudia Morain, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9023, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu.
CHILDREN'S NUTRITION -- All too often, poverty poses a threat to the availability and quality of food for families and individuals. Nutritionist Lucia Kaiser, who specializes in community nutrition in UC Davis' Department of Nutrition, studies the implications of food insecurity for the nutrition of young children, particularly in Latino households. She also has studied how food deprivation during childhood later affects a parent's child-feeding practices. She can discuss food assistance programs, food insecurity, nutrition and obesity. She has served this year on the Institute of Medicine's Committee to Revise the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Women, Infants and Children Food Packages. Contact: Lucia Kaiser (fluent in Spanish), Nutrition, (530) 754-9063, llkaiser@ucdavis.edu.
NUTRITION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES -- In developing nations, poverty, nutritional deficiencies and disease are frequently intertwined. Nutrition Professor Kenneth Brown, a pediatrician by training, investigates the causes, complications, treatment and prevention of childhood malnutrition in low-income countries. His work focuses primarily on issues related to the feeding of children, infection and nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies. His studies are currently being conducted in Peru, Ecuador and Bangladesh, Ghana, Zambia and Morocco. He can discuss nutritional risks and infectious diseases; micronutrient deficiencies, particularly involving zinc and vitamin A; and complementary foods for infants. He is currently chair of the International Zinc Consultative Group. Contact: Kenneth Brown (fluent in Spanish), Nutrition, (530) 752-1992, khbrown@ucdavis.edu.
FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
PEDIATRIC HEALTH-CARE DISPARITIES -- The relationship of poverty to the severity of illness can be a key element in health-care disparities. James Marcin, a pediatric critical care physician, has studied differences in outcomes among young hospital patients based upon their socioeconomic status. In one study using 10 years of trauma data, Marcin compared the hospitalization rates for children by median household incomes, proportion of households in poverty, and health-care insurance. He found that children from low socioeconomic communities had higher injury hospitalization and mortality rates, though they did not have greater injury severity or poorer hospital treatment and care. Marcin is currently looking at the health factors and differences among youngsters from rural and urban areas. Contact Charles Casey: Public Affairs, (916) 734-9048, cecasey@ucdavis.edu.
GETTING PEDIATRICIANS INTO THE COMMUNITY -- Working closely with community organizations in Sacramento and Yuba counties, the UC Davis Children's Hospital runs an innovative program for pediatricians-in-training that gets them out of the clinic and into the neighborhoods to meet the health-care needs of children in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Richard Pan directs Communities and Physicians Together, a partnership between the UC Davis Children's Hospital and community collaboratives. He practices general pediatrics with a focus on helping families with children who have behavioral and learning problems. Pan is also director of the UC Davis Pediatric Resident Clinic and medical consultant to the Sacramento City Unified School District. Contact: Karen Finney, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9064, karen.finney@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.
TEACHING PARENTING SKILLS -- UC Davis Children's Hospital child psychologist Anthony Joseph Urquiza specializes in the psychological assessment and treatment of abused/neglected children. The associate clinical professor of pediatrics uses Parent-Child Interaction Therapy to teach parents to increase their parenting skills and decrease their child's behavioral problems. The therapy is one of only two treatments proven to be effective in helping victims of child maltreatment. Urquiza's research addresses family violence, including treatment approaches for physically abusive families, sexually abused children and survivors of childhood sexual abuse; sexual victimization of males; and psychodiagnostic issues related to child mistreatment. He integrates cultural and socio-economic considerations into his work, such as development of child-abuse prevention and treatment interventions for ethnic minorities, and understanding how economic pressures may contribute to family violence. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Violence and Victims, and Journal of Pediatric Psychology. Contact Karen Finney: Public Affairs, (916) 734-9064, karen.finney@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.
ETHNIC AND IMMIGRANT HEALTH
DISEASE IN LOW-INCOME ASIAN AMERICANS -- Moon S. Chen Jr., professor of public health sciences and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at UC Davis Cancer Center, is one of the nation's top experts on health disparities affecting Asian Americans. As principal investigator of a National Cancer Institute-funded project to reduce these disparities, he has worked with epidemiologists at the California Department of Health Services to show that obesity among low-income Asian Americans is rising at alarming rates statewide. Obesity is linked to higher rates of cancer and other chronic diseases. Contact: Claudia Morain, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9023(916) 734-9023, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu.
LATINO ECONOMICS AND HEALTH -- Adela de la Torre, UC Davis professor and chair of Chicana/o studies, is a labor economist who focuses on health-care access and finance issues that affect the Latino community. She also can talk about U.S.-Mexican border health issues. De la Torre recently completed studies on the impact of education on occupational location of Hispanics. She is the author of two books, "Sana, Sana: Mexican Americans and Health" and "Moving from the Margins: A Chicana's View of Public Policy." She is president of the American Society of Hispanic Economists, a member of the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse, and a board member of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. Contact: Adela de la Torre (fluent in Spanish), Chicana/o Studies, (530) 752-3904, adelatorre@ucdavis.edu.
HEALTH RISKS FACING MIGRANT FARM WORKERS -- Marc B. Schenker, professor and chair of public health sciences, is a leading researcher into the health risks facing migrant farmworkers. He has examined cervical cancer screening rates, lung cancer rates and occupational injury rates, among other health issues, in California farmworkers. Schenker is fluent in Spanish. Contact: Claudia Morain, Public Affairs, (916) 734-9023(916) 734-9023, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu.