Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, October 28, 2004 | 3:00 p.m. | 889th Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Martha Hill, Edward Miller, Donald Steinwachs, and Jonathan Weiner.

Guests: Drs. Elizabeth Holt, Nancy Kass, Sharon Krag Cecile Pickart, and Donna Strobino; Professor Stephen Teret; and Ms. Diane Glover.

Meeting Convened: Provost Steven Knapp convened the meeting at 3 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 888th meeting on September 9, 2004 were approved.

Remarks by the Provost

Provost Knapp updated the Advisory Board on the status of the Dean Search. Dean Sommer attended the most recent meeting of the Dean Search Committee. A search firm has been selected to assist with the search process. A number of candidates have been nominated, many applications have been received, and advertisements have been placed. Nominations or applications should be sent to provost@jhu.edu. It is hoped that a small number of finalists will be identified during the winter and the search will be concluded in the spring.

Successful Board of Trustees and Health Advisory Board meetings took place over the past weekend. While the University is three years away from the end of the current fund-raising campaign, $1.5 billion of the $2 billion goal has already been raised. Dr. Knapp noted that the Board of Trustees Committee on Academic Affairs had focused on academic integrity; presentations were made by representatives of the Homewood schools and of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Remarks by the Dean

Dr. Sommer also commented on the excellent Health Advisory Board meeting over the weekend, where members engaged in broad discussions about the future of the School. He reported that collaboration with WGBH and the NOVA television series is moving forward. A six-part series on public health is expected to air in fall 2005 and may be accompanied by an introductory public health course designed by our faculty, directed toward undergraduates. This activity may dovetail nicely with the School's core involvement in the Open CourseWare initiative.

Dr. Sommer noted that the School of Public Health's campaign goal is $500 million, one quarter of the $2 billion University-wide and Hospital goal. The School has presently raised $316 million towards the $500 million goal. He then announced that the ambitious plans for a health-oriented World Economic Forum meeting in the winter 2005 are being rethought and that the meeting may be postponed for a year.

Remarks by the Faculty Senate

Dr. Diener-West reported that the proposed policy on Faculty Balance of Effort was discussed at the October 12 Committee of the Whole meeting. The proposed policy, the intent of which is to facilitate communication between the faculty and their chairs, is being revised and will be discussed again at a Committee of the Whole meeting. The Senate is engaged in developing short- and long-term solutions to the printing load of web-based course materials. Presently, faculty are asked to make course slides and power point materials available for purchase in course packets, and a limit to the number of pages of free printing for students is being considered.

Dr. Diener-West asked about the Faculty Senate involvement in the search for a new dean. Dr. Knapp offered to discuss the search process in general terms with the Faculty Senate and commented that there will be opportunities for the candidates to meet with groups of faculty during interviews.

Other Business

Follow-up discussion of Curricular Initiatives in Infectious Diseases, Clinical Research and Program Evaluation

Dr. Sommer reported that a number of faculty have been suggested to participate in the development of three interdepartmental and interdisciplinary curricula. The faculty leadership of and participants in these initiatives will be finalized at the November 4, 2004 Management meeting.

CEPH Self Study

Drs. Strobino and Holt joined the Advisory Board. Drs. Strobino and Yager are co-directing the School's self study in preparation for reaccreditation by the Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH). Dr. Strobino introduced Dr. Holt, who, with Ms Fox, is coordinating and assisting with the self study. Dr. Strobino asked each department chair to nominate a faculty member to serve on a Steering Committee for the self study. The departmental representative will act as the principal liaison between the department and the self study. Among the responsibilities of the department's representative will be to obtain information and materials, in particular regarding educational programs and competencies. The Steering Committee will convene in December.

Dr. Yager announced that the School will use the same criteria as in the 1998-99 reaccreditation. A timeline was provided indicating that the self study will be completed by April 2006 and the School's site visit will be in October 2006. The results of the self study are expected to initiate the next strategic plan of the School that will focus on educational programs.

One of the most significant additions to the self study is that each course and program must have educational objectives associated with them. Dr. Yager is developing resources to assist all instructional faculty in the preparation of course objectives; several chairs noted that this resource, along with specific direction to course instructors, are critical to provide in a timely manner as faculty are now developing courses and materials for the 2005 Winter Institute and third term courses. Better information on teaching assessment and efficiency is also needed. Dr. Krag noted that several teaching workshops are being offered, and peer review methods to evaluate teaching contributions are being considered

After further discussion, members of the Advisory Board thanked Drs Strobino and Yager for their initial efforts.

MPH Program Update

Dr. Brookmeyer reviewed the current status of the MPH program. There are presently over 200 full-time MPH students and 375 part-time/internet MPH students. The 2004- 05 academic year is the second year that full-time MPH students have had the opportunity to elect one of 11 concentrations.

Several areas requiring attention were identified early in Dr. Brookmeyer's tenure as MPH chair. Among them were the need to academically strengthen the summer term, to increase the flexibility and faculty oversight of the capstone experience, and to identify and develop the concentration areas. Dr. Brookmeyer reviewed the enrollments in each concentration area for the past two years and noted that sixty percent of full-time MPH students elected to join one of them. He commented that the students and MPH faculty view the concentration options as a "successful experiment." Some of the changes in the summer term have included offering the introductory epidemiology and environmental health science courses. Recently, the MPH program completed an evaluation of the summer term and found that the proportion of students rating the summer term as "excellent" has climbed appreciably in the past two years. The MPH program faculty are considering other changes to enhance the student experience in the summer term.

Dr. Sommer thanked Dr. Brookmeyer for the report and for his leadership of the MPH program.

Request for additional faculty for the Bioethics Institute

Dr. Kass joined the Advisory Board. She briefly reviewed the history of the Bioethics doctoral program in the School, which began in the early 1990's. She described the program as unique for its public health orientation and for the empirical training required of its students. She reported that the program has been well subscribed and now has competition. In fact, many of the leaders of other Bioethics programs were trained in the Hopkins program. Presently, only one tenure-track/tenured and one non- tenure-track faculty member are fully associated with the Program. With the expansion of educational activities, committee service and other academic obligations, there is a need to expand the bioethics training program faculty, in addition to one senior professor who is now being recruited. She described the organization of the University Bioethics Institute in which faculty are appointed in several divisions but do not offer degree programs as part of the Institute.

Dr. Kass commented that recruitment of several new bioethics faculty into tenure-track positions could take place across several departments as there are many fields with "ethical dilemmas." Dr. Sommer noted that the School may wish to identify the resources to help departments support 2-3 new junior faculty for a few years. Dr. Kass was thanked for her proposal, which will be discussed in greater detail by the Management Committee.

Request for professor in the Department of Population & Family Health Sciences

Dr. Blum commented that Dr. Kenneth Hill is stepping down as director of the Hopkins Population Center. The Center has a long and distinguished history serving the entire University. The Department of Population and Family Health Sciences would like to start a search for a new senior faculty member who will direct the Population Center. The Center is at a good juncture to start the search, and it is hoped that the search will lead to its revitalization as a University and School resource.

Request for two positions in the Department of Epidemiology

Dr. Samet remarked that Dr. Meinert has announced his intention to step down as director of the Center for Clinical Trials and that the Department of Epidemiology would like to undertake a search to replace the Center director in a joint search with the Department of Biostatistics. The goal of the search will be to increase the academic leadership and engagement in the science of clinical trials in the Center, and for the Center to serve the Schools of Public Health, Medicine and Nursing in an academic capacity. Dr. Zeger commented that the scientific orientation of clinical trials is becoming increasingly international, and that the Center's leadership could adapt to these changes by separating the scholarship of clinical trials from their conduct. Dr. Sommer asked that the Center for Clinical Trails be discussed at a Committee of the Whole meeting.

Dr. Samet then commented that the Department of Epidemiology needs to expand its core environmental faculty, in particular with expertise in air pollution. He plans to undertake a search for a junior tenure-track faculty member with the Departments of Biostatistics and Environmental Health Sciences.

Other items

Dr. Knapp commented briefly on a proposal by NIH to change the policy for publication of funded research, in that all published articles of NIH-supported research would be made available in a public access database within six month of publication. The University is providing comments on this proposal via the Association of American Universities.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

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Last updated 04May05 by dgips@jhu.edu