Rollins School of Public Health

Emory Launches Interactive Map Projecting Health, Economic Costs of Declining Vaccine Coverage Researchers from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health have launched a new interactive tool that projects the state-level disease and economic impacts created when vaccination coverage de...

What does it cost us when childhood vaccinations are removed from the vaccine schedule?

A new visualization tool out of Rollins seeks to show the economic—and human—impact we can expect if vaccination rates decline.

What's Going on with Compounding Pharmacies and GLP-1s? We break down what it means to sell a compounded version of a drug, and what you should know about compounded GLP-1s.

If you watched the Super Bowl on this year, you might have seen a commercial for Hims & Hers.

You also may have heard that the makers of Wegovy are suing them over their compounded GLP-1 pill.

But what are compounded drugs? And why should you care? Find out from Rollins experts.

The U.S. Is Out of the WHO—But Global Health Isn’t Done with America Can America still be healthy and safe from disease without participation in the World Health Organization? A Rollins researcher shares his thoughts.

“It will be essential for U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations, professional societies, academic institutions, and philanthropic foundations that operate independently of government to formally engage with, and contribute to, WHO processes as non-state actors,” says Ken Castro, MD.

Premarket and postmarket real-world evidence studies supporting U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory decision-making, 2016–2024 - Louis Y Li, Reshma Ramachandran, Joseph S Ross, Joshua D Walla... Background/Aims: There is growing interest in leveraging real-world data, such as electronic health records, administrative claims data, and patient registries,...

Real-world evidence from EHRs, claims data, and other sources is requested for FDA regulatory decisions more often. Learn how the real-world evidence landscape is changing, and opportunities for the future, in new Rollins research.

New Study Finds Nearly Two-Thirds of U.S. Hospitals Using Epic Have Adopted Ambient AI—But Disparities Exist Ambient artificial intelligence tools that capture clinician-patient conversations and generate draft clinical notes are now widely used in U.S. hospitals but unevenly adopted.

Many hospitals across the U.S. use ambient AI tools to listen to clinician-patient conversations and draft notes. This can help improve communication and reduce provider burnout.

But these tools haven't been evenly adopted—they are more common larger, metropolitan hospitals, among other factors.

My son had rotavirus before he could get the vaccine. Ending universal rotavirus vaccination is a tragedy A rotavirus expert’s baby caught the disease before vaccines were available. He’s seen firsthand why the vaccine, recently downgraded on the vaccination schedule, is so important.

"I’ve seen firsthand — and around the world — how the rotavirus vaccine has saved children."

Ben Lopman, PhD, infectious disease epidemiologist, provides his insights and personal experience in STAT First Opinion.

For reference:

🍳One egg has 6 grams of protein.

🍗One cup of chicken breast has 43 grams of protein.

🍽️A one-pound block of tofu has 50 grams of protein.

The dietary guidelines recommend adults eat 1.2-1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.

To break that down:

👉The average woman in the U.S. weighs about 172 pounds, which is about 78 kilograms.

👉That means 94 to 125 grams of protein per day.

The government website that announces the new dietary guidelines declares they are “ending the war on protein.”

"What war on protein?" you ask. We had the same question—high-protein alternatives to every day foods seem pervasive on grocery shelves.

The Gym-Bro-Ification of Dietary Guidelines By Shelby Crosier, MPH Has this ever happened to you? You’re scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, or wherever else you consume your daily dose of brain rot (no judgement, I do it too), when suddenly s...

Has this ever happened to you?🤔

You’re scrolling through your brain rot app of choice (no judgement, we all do it), when suddenly an incredibly jacked man is yelling at you about how much protein you need.

You can now have the same experience when reading the new U.S. dietary guidelines! 🥩

"We could start to see rising incidence of diseases like rotavirus diarrhea as soon as this year. It’s clear—this policy will result in fewer kids vaccinated and more kids sick, hospitalized, and dead." - Ben Lopman, PhD, Rollins infectious disease epidemiologist.

Expert Opinion: What Changes to the Childhood Immunization Schedule Mean for Americans’ Health What do changes to the childhood vaccine schedule mean for American kids and the greater public? Infectious disease epidemiologist, Ben Lopman, shares his insights.

Federal health officials made major changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

Some shots previously recommended for all are now only recommended for "high-risk" kids or through shared clinical decision making with providers.

Affected shots include hep A and B, flu, rotavirus, and meningitis.

Research Finds New Cases of Obesity Peak at Ages 8, 26, and 38 Ages 8, 26, and 38 are when new incidences of obesity peak, according to new research.

New research from Rollins identified the ages when people are more prone to develop obesity—meaning providers now have insight into critical windows for prevention.

Researchers identified ages 8, 26, and 38 as important windows for obesity prevention.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New research from Rollins found that military vets who reported lower resilience, chronic pain, or difficulty sleeping tended to more often have subjective cognitive decline.

Dig deeper: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Worsening memory, concentration, and other cognitive abilities are often an early warning sign of Alzheimer's disease. This group of symptoms is known as subjective cognitive decline, and 5.4% of U.S. military veterans experience it--a higher proportion than in non-veterans.

The team looked at “molecular fingerprints” in blood samples and learned that when the weather was hotter, there were changes in molecules and pathways that manage how the body deals with stress or makes energy.

The same kinds of changes were also seen in those mothers who gave birth prematurely.

Study Identifies Molecular Changes Associated with Hotter Weather and Preterm Birth A new Emory University study provides the first evidence that exposure to higher temperatures during pregnancy is linked to specific biological changes in mothers that are also associated with preterm...

Heat exposure during pregnancy may impact birth outcomes, including preterm birth, according to a Rollins study.

Opioid Monitoring Programs Linked to Increased Pain Reports in Older Adults, Study Finds A new study shows that state policies requiring clinicians to check prescription drug monitoring databases before prescribing opioid pain relievers may be associated with increased pain among older ad...

Over 80% of states use opioid monitoring policies to combat opioid overprescribing and keep patients safe. But a new study found these programs are associated with more pain in older adults.

Enhancing FDA Drug-Safety Surveillance — Beyond Releasing Daily Adverse-Event Data | NEJM The FDA recently announced that it will be releasing daily drug adverse-event data. But questions remain about how it will manage frequent releases and how the public may interpret released informa...

Now out in @nejm.org is a new Perspective piece from the CRRIT team on the potential consequences of @fda.gov's recent announcement to release daily drug adverse event reports from FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... (1/11)

A study from Rollins and University of Kansas found:

👉49 states have Plans of Safe Care (POSC) policies for infants with prenatal substance exposure.

👉Only 18 states have any part of their POSCs codified, making them hard to implement.

👉31 state policies were rated as very inaccessible.

New Study Finds Implementation Barriers to States’ Plans of Safe Care for Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure A recent study from researchers at Rollins shows that policies designed to support infants exposed to substances before birth remain difficult to access and implement.

Almost every U.S. state has a policy to support infants exposed to substances before their birth, but many are unclear, hard to access, or lack clear standards.

The result? Challenges for families affected by prenatal substance exposure.

New Analysis Shows Delaying the Hepatitis B Birth Dose May Lead to Thousands of Preventable Infections and Hundreds of Millions in Avoidable Healthcare Costs - HepVu

ACIP recommended that babies not vaccinated for hep B at birth should get the first shot at 2 months.

Per modeling data, delaying to 2 months could yearly cause upwards of:

1400 preventable hep B infections
300 cases of liver cancer
480 deaths
$222 million in excess health care costs

ACIP Changed Hepatitis B Birth Dose Recommendations. Now What? The ACIP voted today not to universally recommend the hepatitis B vaccine at birth for babies born to mothers who tested negative for hepatitis B. This is a major change to U.S. vaccine recommendation...

ACIP voted today to not universally recommend the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.

Parents can still choose to give the birth dose after consulting their doctor, but this is a major departure from our previous guidance with big potential health consequences.

The findings highlight the need to:

👉Strengthen mental health screening and referral within oncology and primary care

👉Expand the mental health workforce that accepts Medicaid and CHIP, including through telehealth

👉Develop culturally and linguistically responsive services

Even more troubling are inequities in who gets mental health care. The study found that cancer survivors living in the most disadvantaged communities were less likely to get needed mental health support.

👉 Less than 4 in 10 children with depression, anxiety, or trauma/stress received at least the minimum recommended mental health care.

👉 Only 1 in 5 young adults received the minimum recommended mental health care.

New Study Finds Significant Mental Health Care Gaps for Childhood Cancer Survivors Childhood cancer survivors are not receiving the mental health care they need, according to a new study.

Childhood cancer diagnoses take a physical, mental, and financial toll on patients and their families. A study from researchers in our Department of Health Policy and Management looked at how often childhood cancer survivors get the mental health care they need.

The answer? Not nearly often enough.

If we delay the birth dose of hep B vaccine to 12 years, every year we could see...

Up to 2,700 extra infections
503 excess cases of liver cancer
788 preventable deaths
$313 million in excess health care costs

If we delay the birth dose of hep B vaccine to 2 months, every year we could see...

Up to 1,400 extra infections
300 excess cases of liver cancer
480 preventable deaths
$222 million in excess health care costs

Economic evaluation of delaying the infant hepatitis B vaccination schedule Introduction Children who acquire hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in early childhood through perinatal, household or community exposures are at highest risk of all age groups for experiencing chroni...

A Rollins researcher and colleagues developed a model looking at the health and economic impacts of delaying the hepatitis B birth dose.

Their findings? Delaying hepatitis B vaccination a newborn's first day to later in life won't just hurt American health—it will also hurt our wallets.