December 1, 2003

Activities and Achievements: Newsmakers

Newsmakers is a selection of UConn people and programs in the media. Most of the stories were placed by communications staff at the main campus and at the Health Center.

Dr. Rob Aseltine, Behavioral Sciences and Community Health, was highlighted on U.S. Newswire Aug. 13 about his program for high schools "Signs of Suicide."

Ivar Babb, National Undersea Research Center, was interviewed as part of the research team taking the first in-depth look at the steamship Portland wreck off the Massachusetts coast. The stories ran in mid-September in the Associated Press, The Hartford Courant, The Providence Journal-Bulletin, The Day (New London), The Boston Globe, and The Boston Herald.

An op-ed by Regina Barreca on Arnold Schwarzenegger, "A Dangerous Morass" ran in The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Oct. 12.

On Sept. 25 and 26, the homeland security conference organized and sponsored by the School of Engineering was covered by The Day (New London), The Chronicle (Willimantic), The Hartford Courant, and the Journal Inquirer, and radio stations WNPR, WSTC/WNLK, and WTIC-AM.

Amir Faghri, dean of engineering, Nigel Sammes, director of the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center and Ray England, assistant research professor, were interviewed by The Hartford Courant on Nov. 9 for an in-depth feature on the center and its role in developing the state's fuel cell industry.

William Kraemer, Kinesiology, was interviewed for a story about the pros and cons of hiring personal trainers. The story ran in the November issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.

Dr. Scott Kurtzman, Cancer Center, and his study testing a new breast cancer prescreening device were featured in The Hartford Courant, Houston Chronicle, Ann Arbor News, Monterey County Herald and other newspapers, as well as WVIT-TV30 and New England Cable News during August, and on WNPR on Oct. 7 .

Zita Lazzarini, Community Medicine and Healthcare, commented on the law and ethics of intentionally infecting a person with HIV in the Los Angeles Times Sept. 10.

Dr. Gerald Leonard, Otolaryngology, was featured in an article about hearing loss and baby boomers which appeared in The Hartford Courant Oct. 5; St. Paul Pioneer Press, Oct. 6; Providence Journal, Oct. 7; Houston Chronicle, Oct. 8, The Indianapolis Star, and others.

Robert McCarthy, Pharmacy, was interviewed in mid October about his new appointment to the deanship for articles in The Journal Inquirer and The Chronicle (Willimantic).

Dr. Janet McElhaney, Center for Immunotherapy, commented on the new mist flu vaccine. Her comments appeared in USA Today, Sept. 3.

Dr. Cheryl Oncken, Hypertension/Medicine, was featured in articles about her research on the use of nicotine patches to help pregnant woman who want to stop smoking succeed. Stories appeared in The Chicago Tribune Oct. 5, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 22, and The Hartford Courant, Sept. 16.

Dr. Karen Prestwood, Center on Aging, was featured nationwide about her study on low dose estrogen that appeared in JAMA. Highlights include: CBS radio network, Aug. 26; Bloomberg News, Reuters/UK, USA Today, Drkoop.com, ABC online/Australia, Yahoo, and WebMD Aug. 27; Los Angeles Times, Sept. 1; Good Housekeeping/Daily Health Headlines, Sept. 14.

Helen Rozwadowski, Maritime Studies, was interviewed on Nov. 9 about the new maritime studies program offered at the Avery Point campus.

Dr. Peter Schulman, Cardiology, commented on plant steroids and cholesterol lowering drugs on ABC News Oct. 16.

Dr. Pamela Taxel, Center on Aging, was quoted about her research involving men and osteoporosis in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Arizona Republic, Iowa City Press-Citizen, drkoop.com, and others, during July and early August.

The Concord Monitor ran an editorial about the Supreme Court that was based on a talk by David Yalof, Political Science, during the Association of Opinion Page Editors conference. The editorial was titled "No Vacancy" and ran in the Monitor on Oct. 12. An opinion piece about the Supreme Court by Yalof also ran in The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Nov. 6.

Dr. Kristen Zarfos, Surgery, commented on the connection between smoking and breast cancer for stories that aired Oct. 15 on WTNH-Ch. 8 and Oct. 16 and NBC-30. She also answered a range of questions related to breast cancer during a one-hour, live interview on CNN on the morning of Oct. 19.