National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
HealthPOWER! Prevention News Winter 2015: Staff Updates
An evaluation of NCP’s recently completed Telephone Lifestyle Coaching (TLC) Pilot culminated in the presentation at the November 2014 annual meeting of The Obesity Society and The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Titled, “The Veterans Health Administration Telephone Lifestyle Coaching Pilot for Weight Loss: Treatment Engagement and Outcomes,” the abstract focused on participant engagement in the weight management intervention of the multi-year, multi-site pilot. Authored by Terry Bush and Kelly Carpenter (Alere Wellbeing), Jennifer Lovejoy (University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle), and NCP’s Sophia Hurley, Dr. Rachel Urrutia (University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill), Trang Lance, and Dr. Linda Kinsinger, the abstract was awarded a “Top Ten” in the meeting’s Clinical Management Section.
Recently, NCP VHEI staff, led by Becky Hartt Minor, collaborated with AMVETS and The American Legion and to promote the Veterans Health Library (VHL) through two informational publications. AMVETS’ Fall 2014 issue of American Veteran included an article (http://pubs.royle.com/publication/?m=21771&!=1) on the VHL, as did the December 2014 newsletter of The American Legion. NCP is also now working to link these Veterans Service Organizations’ Web pages with that of the VHL, which will enhance Veteran access to this important resource.
Sophia (“Sophie”) Califano, M.D., is our current resident from the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill (UNC) Preventive Medicine Residency (PMR) Program. Sophie is a second-year resident who completed her Infectious Diseases fellowship, also at UNC, in July after finishing residency and chief residency at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is originally from Rhode Island, received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University, and went to medical school in a combined program through Dartmouth College and Brown University. Her main interest is in keeping people healthy, with a particular focus on preventable infections and on populations who have poor access to quality preventive care, education, and health resources. She enjoyed working with Veterans in both medical school and residency, and hopes to do both clinical work (adult general medicine) and public health work (general medicine and infectious diseases) for the VA after finishing her training.
Dr. Jane Kim will present a poster at the late February annual meeting of the American College of Preventive Medicine. Titled, “A Pilot Telephone Lifestyle Coaching Program for Veterans Improves Multiple Health Behaviors”, and co-authored by UNC PMR Dr. Rachel Urrutia, and NCP staff Sophia Hurley, Trang Lance, Dr. Michael Goldstein, Dr. Peg Dundon, Sue Diamond, and Dr. Linda Kinsinger, the presentation will cover the overall design, structure, and main results from NCP’s recently completed National TLC Pilot.
