Two students from the Drexel School of Public Health received the Best Public Health Poster Award for their Community-Based Research Projects at a poster competition sponsored by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, on May 6, 2008.
Robert Ferdman and Evan Birnholz, both second year Master of Public Health degree candidates, received the distinguished award. The posters from the Drexel students were two of four presentations that received the award from among a total of 54 posters from students at schools across the Philadelphia region.
Robert Ferdman's poster and research project was entitled "Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Stage of Diagnosis among Women in Philadelphia." His research at the Drexel School of Public Health found that minority women are less likely to receive earlier diagnosis. He recommends that breast cancer prevention programs should focus on early diagnosis among minority populations to reduce health disparities. His advisor and research chair at the School of Public Health is Longjian Liu, MD, MSC, PhD, an associate professor in the School’s department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. In addition, Dr. Sriya Krishnamoorthy is Robert’s research preceptor at the Drexel University College of Medicine.
Evan Birnholz's poster and research was entitled "Association between adherence to treatment, clinical risk factors, and quality of life among patients with congestive heart failure." Evan’s research among 121 congestive heart failure patients found that gaining five or more pounds in a single month was strongly associated with 10% decrease in overall patient adherence to heart failure treatment. Poor quality-of-life was independently associated with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class of heart failure, hypertension, valvular disease, sleep apnea, and angina. Socio-economic factors such as lack of employment and low annual income contributed to racial disparities in quality-of-life. Evan recommends that physicians evaluate strategies to improve quality-of-outcomes and adherence at early stages of heart failure, particularly among underprivileged patients. Dr. Liu is also Evan's research advisor, and Dr. Howard Eisen is his research preceptor at the Drexel University College of Medicine.