Latest News from Chronic Disease Epidemiology

Dr. Andrew DeWan, PhD, MPH, has been appointed as the Yale School of Public Health’s new Director of Graduate Studies effective Oct. 1, Dean Megan L. Ranney announced Friday.

Colon cancers are increasing among younger Americans, so much so that experts advised in 2021 that colonoscopy screening begin at the age of 45, not 50 as had been previously recommended. Now, Yale School of Public Health research shows the new guideline may have led to a tripling in the use of the gold-standard screen among folks ages 45 to 49. But scientists say the numbers are still too low.

In a new study led by Yale Cancer Center and Yale School of Public Health researchers of 10 million insured people aged 45 to 49, researchers found that a recommendation by the United States Preventative Services Task Force to drop the age for starting colorectal cancer screening by five years to age 45 was highly effective — tripling the rate of screening overall — but the magnitude of increase was significantly smaller for low-income and rural populations.

The Connecticut Health Foundation has convened an advisory committee to help inform the creation of a blueprint for maternal health equity in Connecticut, focused on Black patients. The Yale Global Health Leadership Initiative and the Yale Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) will help facilitate the work.

Aging is a natural process that unfolds as our bodies move through different stages of life. Research focused on aging is an interdisciplinary field, transcending geriatrics and spanning throughout internal medicine, public health, and many other disciplines. In recent years, the Yale Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center has focused on building partnerships and increasing resources on campus for faculty and trainees interested in pursuing aging research.

Dr. Melinda Irwin, the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology, Associate Dean of Research at the Yale School of Public Health, and Deputy Director of the Yale Cancer Center, discusses how diet and exercise during and after cancer treatment can impact personal health on this episode of the InDiscussion: Cancer Survivorship podcast.

Pollutants from fires can travel great distances and have the potential to affect human health thousands of kilometers away. In a new study, researchers from the Yale School of Public Health investigated whether long-term exposure to fine particles in wildfire smoke was associated with increases in causes of death.

A new study cautions against the growing use of comprehensive genetic profiling as part of cancer treatment.

At a summit on September 18, 2024, leaders from across Yale School of Medicine will present strategies for improving health equity that they developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.