Portland, Ore.

Scholars aim to help people with disabilities, educate college students about HIV

Two OHSU investigators are among the approximately 800 United States faculty and other professionals who received 2001 - 2002 Fulbright grants to lecture and conduct research abroad. Pamela Hanes, Ph.D., associate professor of public health and preventive medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, and director of the Center on Health and Disability Policy in the Oregon Health Policy Institute, will travel to the Jagellonian University Medical School in Krakow, Poland. Marie Brown, Ph.D., professor of nursing (population-based nursing) in the OHSU School of Nursing, will visit the University of Botswana School of Nursing, Botswana, Africa.

Hanes will lecture on "Improving Population Health in the 21st Century,"in the Department of Public Health at Jagellonian. Currently she is co-principal investigator in a national Teaching Assistance Center, sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that provides technical assistance to states attempting to enhance their Medicaid programs and health care delivery systems to better facilitate return to work and full community integration for individuals with significant disabilities.

"I hope to establish new collegial relationships with faculty in the medical school that will result in cross-national research opportunities in evolving health care systems and disability policy," Hanes said.

Brown will assist the faculty of the University of Botswana School of Nursing in designing a research project to address the issue of AIDS prevention on that campus. Through her project, "Evaluating Interventions to Reduce High-Risk Sexual Behavior in Botswana: A Participatory Research Project,"Brown and her colleagues will explore the understanding young adults at the university have of the disease, its causes, their use of preventive strategies and more. Her research will be "qualitative,"she said, involving interviews and focus groups.

"Botswana has the highest rate of AIDS in Africa, an estimated 35 percent,"Brown explained. "Africa is the most severely affected continent in the world. In fact, 70 percent of adults and 80 percent of children with HIV/AIDS worldwide live in Africa. Our hope is that the results of this project will form the basis for further research on culturally appropriate interventions.”

The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the U. S. Department of State with additional funding provided by participating governments, and host institutions in the United States and around the world. Nearly 82,000 U.S. and foreign scholars have participated in the program since its inception in 1946. For more information about the Fulbright Scholar Program, go to www.cies.org