In honor of Mental Health Awareness Week and Depression Awareness Month, I interviewed Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell,  an associate research professor of Global Health in DGHI whose research focuses on positive mental health, clergy health, and the integration of care within health systems.

In 2007, Proeschold-Bell founded the Clergy Health Initiative, a program developed to improve health outcomes among the clergy of North Carolina. In their first study, they performed a longitudinal survey of nine Methodist churches in North Carolina to determine the clergy’s health status. It was found that the clergy had a far higher obesity rate (41%) than the rest of North Carolina (29%). High rates of chronic disease associated with overweight/obese individuals were also present. The most interesting find, though, was that depression rates were double that of the regional average. Why?

The Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research is currently hiring for an Administrative and Research Assistant to the Director position. Interested applicants should apply through the HR careers website at Duke University (www.hr.duke.edu) and search using requisition number 401067747 and send a cover letter and resume to alisa.barrett@chpir.org.

The Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health working group at the Duke Global Health Institute hosted the first MACH symposium on September 28, 2015 entitled Transforming Global Maternal, Adolescent, and Child Health: From Research Evidence to Practice and Policy.

Ann Starrs from the Guttmacher Institute was one of the keynote speakers presenting on Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health 2014.

Mariam Claeson from the Bill & Malinda Gates Foundation was the other keynote speaker presenting on Turning Evidence into Policy and Action Saving Lives in Maternal and Newborn Health.

Gavin Yamey from DGHI wrapped up the day with a presentation entitled Can we change global maternal, adolescent, and child health in a generation?

Four panels consisting of 16 researchers and faculty members presented throughout the day.

Panel 1: Integrated Interventions: Targeting More Than the Individuals

Eve Puffer- DGHI

Tricia Petruney- FHI360

Margaret Cannon- The Futures Group

Karen O’Donnell- CHPIR

Panel 2: Social Innovation and Technology

Eric Green- DGHI

Lavnaya Vasudevan- CHPIR

Nimmi Ramanujam- DGHI

Laneta Dorflinger- FHI360

Panel 3: Global Mental Health

Joy Noel Baumgartner- DGHI

Helen Egger- Duke Psychology

Asia Maselko- DGHI

Melissa Watt- DGHI

Panel 4: Adolescence: Peak of Vulnerability

Audrey Pettifor- UNC

Katherine Turner- Ipas

Kathryn Whetten- DGHI

Erica Field- Duke Economics

The MACH working group at DGHI is looking forward to continuing collaborations throughout the triangle region with MACH experts.

For more information on the event, please visit the MACH website hosted by DGHI here.