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Health policy activities and events at Duke

Duke Health Policy Students in the News

Loren Becker (MPP), Sarah Sheening (MPP), Margaret Korgoren (PIDP), and David Edwards (Medical Student) were all accepted as Global Health Fellows.

Ilse Wiechers ('03) received her M.D. degreee from Duke School of Medicine in May ('05) and is working this year as a fellow fro the Center for Public Genomics at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. She will enter a recedency program in 2006.

Scott Douglas ('02) and his wife, Diane, are proud to announce the birth of Malcolm Day Douglas on March, 22, 2005. Soctt and Diane live in Washington, D.C., where Scott is a science policy analyst in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Amy Raslevich ('00), along with husband, Jeff Kelly, and daughter, Laura, announce the birth of Samuel Kelly on April 17, 2005.

Peter Brown ('97) has a new position at Delotte Services LP doing government affairs work within its feder practice, specifically in the area of homeland security. Peter and his family live in Reson, Va.

Jennifer Hasvold, a Robertson Scholar majoring in political science, with minors in health policy and chemistry. She has conducted research in Peru to assess the frequency of midwife usage in the Amazon, and volunteered in a clinic for underserved residents in and around Quito, Equador.

Jennifer Johnson-Licon (MPP '97) and her partner, Dana Dudle, celebrated their commitment on June 19, 2005. Jeanette was recently promoted to assistant dean of students at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN.

MD/MPP elected to AMA post • Chris DeRienzo, an MD/MPP student, recently was elected to serve as a trustee to the American Medical Association. The yearlong commitment begins in June 2006 and involves helping direct the AMA and decide where the organization’s funds and lobbying efforts should be focused. DeRienzo will be the only medical student on the 21-member
board, and believes he is the first MD/MPP student to serve as an AMA trustee.

DeRienzo previously was elected to represent the Medical Student Section in the AMA House of Delegates,and served on the Medical Student Section Governing Council until this June. He has co-authored AMA resolutions on several topics, including implications of access to health care for medical students, teen and young adult suicide and medical student malpractice coverage.

DeRienzo said the MPP program has been “great with flexible scheduling to allow me to pursue this outside interest.”

DeRienzo, of Northborough,Mass., graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with three undergraduate degrees in biochemistry, biology and psychology and completed his first two years at Duke Medical School before beginning his MPP coursework this fall.

Scott Douglas (’02) received a Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Services in May, for his work with FDA to help ban Ephedra. Scott works as a science policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.

Amy Raslevich (’00) has left her position with Community Care Behavioral Health to become executive director of Child Watch of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit agency whose mission is to bring focus to the problems of at-risk children and mobilize the community to achieve collaborative solutions.

Duke Grad Worked with AIDS/HIV Patients in Tanzania
Rebecca Haffajee said she was "scared" at how normal AIDS/HIV seemed to her by the end of her 10-month Hart Fellows Program postgraduate fellowship. http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/haffajee_0104.html

In 2003 graduation ceremonies, three MPP students were honored with the MPP Faculty Award, recognizing students for outstanding academic achievement and master's projects, as well as overall contributions to the intellectual life of the Sanford Institute. Among these was Ilse Weichers (MPP '03), who recieved the Graduate Certificate in Health Policy in 2003.

Scott Douglas (MPP '02) was featured in a Washington Post article on April 6 regarding the Emerging Leaders Program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Scott is a member of the inaugural class of Emerging Leaders.

Eric Bain (MA/JD '01) has joined the firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in Washington, DC.

Emily Streyer Carlisle is a masters student in the economics department and the Health Policy Certificate program. Her column in The Chronicle appears every other Thursday.

Rebecca Haffajee has been selected as a Hart Fellow, the post-graduate initiative of the Hart Leadershipship Program. "Care for Orphans in the Kilimanjaro Region"

Dave Chokshi, an Angier B. Duke Scholar with an interest in health and biomedical science policy was recently named as one of two Duke juniors selected as national winners of the Truman Scholarship. Chokshi is currently completing two majors: chemistry and public publicy studies, and he plans to enter a joint MD/MPH degree program. Among the problems he intends to address in his career in public service are biomedical issues that bridge ethics, science and health, as well as health issues that affect disadvantaged populations such as rural and international communities.

Tim Cahill, who received his certificate in health policy and MPP in 1998, recently announced the birth of his first son and child, Aidan Pinit Cahill, on March 17, 2001.

Emily Streyer Carlisle, a student currently enrolled in the graduate health policy certificate program, wrote two recent editorials that appeared in The Chronicle, the first on genetic patents and the second on the forgotten civil rights movement.

Rob Kaiser, a graduate health policy certificate candidate who serves as both a fellow in geriatrics at Duke Medical Center and the Durham VA Medical Center and graduate student in the Clinical Research Training Program of Duke Medical School, had an op-ed piece on single-payer health reform published in the January 8, 2002 News and Observer. Let's hope federal policymakers are paying attention.

Elayne Heisler, a third-year graduate student in sociology who is seeking a health policy certificate, serves as new president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council. The Chronicle ran a nice profile of Elayne on August 29.

The May 13, 2001 graduation exercises were replete with honors for health policy certificate students. Congratulations to:
Alissa Cowden, who graduated Magna cum laude.
Dan Edwards, who graduated Magna cum laude.
Travis Gayles, who earned second place for the Mary McLeod Bethune Writing Award and won a Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Award and a William J. Griffith University Service Award.
Rob Kaufman, who graduated Magna cum laude and was recipient of the Joel Fleishman Distinguished Scholar Award and a President's Research Fellowship Award.
Melissa Lan, who graduated with Distinction in public policy studies and won the Sirena WuDunn Memorial Scholarship.

Matthew Baugh, a Duke graduate who completed a self-designed curriculum in International Development and Health, was selected in early 2000 to receive a Truman Scholarship and subsequently received a Rhodes Scholarship. Matt's work in Haiti was highlighted in A Helping Hand for Haiti by Miriam Sauls on pages 45-47 in the September-October 2000 issue of Duke Magazine. After graduation, Matt hopes to pursue a concurrent degree program to obtain a JD and Doctorate of Science in Public Health. Matt's Program II status precluded his also taking a health policy certificate, but he's living proof of how far someone with an interest in health policy can go.

John McManus, MPP 1993, graduated before the Health Policy Certificate program began, but if he could have gotten one, you know he would have! Here's a press announcement from last February:
Chairman Thomas Names John McManus as Health Subcommittee Staff Director
WASHINGTON - Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) today announced that John McManus will serve as the staff director for the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, effective today, February 1st. "I'm pleased to name John McManus as the staff director for the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. John has an extensive background in health care policy and a strong grasp of the issues the Committee will address this year. He was a valued asset to me as my chief health care aide, and will serve the Members of this Committee and the Congress well in his new role," said Chairman Thomas.

A biography of Mr. McManus follows: Mr. McManus served as Chairman Thomas' chief health care policy advisor for over three years. During this time, Mr. McManus was involved extensively in drafting legislation on a variety of health care topics including Rx 2000 - the prescription drug and Medicare modernization plan, the Patient's Bill of Rights, Beneficiary Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, the Balanced Budget Refinement Act, and other Medicare programs such as Medicare+Choice. Mr. McManus also served as the principal advisor to Chairman Thomas on the Bipartisan Medicare Commission. Prior to joining the Chairman's staff, Mr. McManus was a Senior Associate for Eli Lilly and Company, where he analyzed legislation and developed policy positions dealing with the pharmaceutical industry from 1994-1998. Before coming to Washington, Mr. McManus worked for the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served as an analyst for the Economic Matters Committee. While on the Committee staff, Mr. McManus specialized in legislation dealing with health insurance law and individual market insurance reform. Mr. McManus received his undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University, and he earned his Master of Public Policy degree from Duke University.

All three Duke undergraduates named in February 2001 to USA Today's All-USA College Academic Team have an interest in Health Policy! Coincidence? We don't think so. Congratulations to Matthew Baugh, Pooja Kumar and Brian Skotko, all of whom also are Angier B. Duke scholars. See the story in Dialogue.

Here's another Duke student who graduated long before the Health Policy Certificate even existed. But if he could have gotten a certificate, surely we would have! Read "The Government Guru of Health Care" by Carolyn Kleiner on pages 49-51 in the November-December 2000 issue of Duke Magazine. As a congressional staffer, lawyer, and government appointee, Timothy Westmoreland has dealt with virtually every important public-health and health-finance matter of our time. Tim is living proof how far an interest in health policy can take anyone with a heart and great work ethic.

Mike Dombeck, who received his health policy certificate when he graduated in 1998, has returned to Duke to pursue an MBA and Master of Public Policy. Mike also is serving as a member of the 2000-01 Duke University Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC).