The inaugural Worcester Public Health Grand Rounds will take place at Worcester City Hall on Thursday, May 24. All are invited to the free event, the first in a series that will focus on public health topics important to the Greater Worcester community. The educational event is made possible through a collaboration of the UMass Chan Prevention Research Center and the Worcester Division of Public Health.
Thomas Land, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, will present “Tackling the opioid crisis in Worcester: What Massachusetts linked databases tell us about potential next steps.” Worcester Health and Human Services Commissioner Matilde Castiel, MD, associate professor of medicine, will discuss how the wealth of information available from state agencies can be analyzed and interpreted to inform ongoing efforts to prevent and treat opioid abuse in Worcester and Central Massachusetts. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and offer comments.
“Linking data provides context, like homelessness, imprisonment and mental illness, which provides a complex health view of an individual over time,” said Dr. Land, who in his previous role as director of the Office of Health Information Policy and Informatics for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, was instrumental in creating a data-linking plan to better understand opioid overdoses statewide. “This presentation will provide a localized perspective on how the data was utilized to both track and understand the effectiveness of specific opioid interventions.”
The Worcester Prevention Research Center was established in the UMMS Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine in 2009 with funding from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control. It is part of a nationwide network that brings together academic institutions and community organizations to conduct research that fosters health and prevents disease. The Worcester center is directed by Stephenie Lemon, PhD, and Milagros Rosal, PhD, professors of medicine in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine.
“Our programs offer opportunities for science to meet practice in an effort to develop solutions that promote the health and well-being of community residents,” said Dr. Lemon. “We are pleased to launch the public health grand rounds as one of these efforts.”
Free and open to the public, the Grand Rounds will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Levi Lincoln Chamber of Worcester City Hall.
To learn more, visit Worcester Prevention Research Center and Worcester Division of Public Health/Central Massachusetts Regional Public Health Alliance.
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