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Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin 

Research and Education Program
Improving health through education and biomedical and population health research
 

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In This Issue
NEW 2014-18 AHW FIVE-YEAR PLAN
MCW-GREEN BAY DEAN SELECTED
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION TIP
HIGHLIGHTED PROJECT
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Research and Education E-News
Winter 2014
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ADVANCING A HEALTHIER WISCONSIN ENDOWMENT LAUNCHES STRATEGIC PLAN 

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin (AHW) endowment's new strategic plan launched in January and will guide the organization over the next five years. This plan will advance AHW's mission of working with community and academic partners to improve the state's health.

 

The MCW Consortium on Public and Community Health and the Medical College of Wisconsin Board of Trustees approved the plan which will, according to Cheryl Maurana, PhD, Director of the AHW Endowment, Vice President for Strategic Outreach, and Professor of Population Health, make an important shift in AHW's focus from grantmaking to changemaking.

 

"The 2014-2018 AHW Five-Year Plan builds from the knowledge and experience we have gathered over the past ten years of accomplishments while embracing the challenge of how we can have a greater impact for the future," Dr. Maurana said. 

 

"The Plan includes the vision, mission and framework for AHW's funding strategies for 2014-2018, as well as describes the new emphasis on strategic, responsive and capacity-building strategies.  As these strategies are implemented, AHW will be better able to catalyze changes in health outcomes and measure their impact on improved health in Wisconsin's communities."

 

In January, the Consortium began the implementation process of the AHW Five-Year Plan. Through the process, the Consortium will further develop the enhanced framework's new components. It is anticipated that the Plan components will be implemented on a rolling basis as priorities and processes are developed.

 

AHW will provide additional information as soon as new funding opportunities are ready to be released.
  
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY DEAN SELECTED

Matthew L. Hunsaker, MD, was named Dean of the Medical College of Wisconsin-Green Bay during a news conference held in Green Bay City Hall on December 4, 2013.

 

Dr. Hunsaker will lead the launch of the new Green Bay campus, which is expected to matriculate its first class of students in July 2015. The effort of developing campuses in Green Bay and Central Wisconsin is partly funded by the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Research and Education Program.

 

For more information on Dr. Hunsaker's appointment and background, please visit MCW In The News.

 

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION TIP

How To Use and Find Images with Impact

The International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge, co-sponsored by Science and the National Science Foundation, demonstrates how visual depictions of science can be both attention-grabbing and educational.

  

Investigators often study topics that prominently feature miniscule molecules and far-away phenomena in space. Most people cannot or do not experience these subjects first-hand after thei school career ends. An image can deliver that experience through visual interest, and a film can add additional excitement through motion and sound.

  

A strong visualization can play a key role in your communications efforts as a hook to get a live audience to listen, or a reader to scan the prose below your headline. Illustrations can also be used to help teach a concept or tell a story. Most of the charts and diagrams generated for scholarly journals, however, are not developed with non-scientists in mind. Good judgment is necessary when choosing the appropriate illustration for a public audience.

 

Once you know what you are looking for in an image, it is equally important to consider where to find it. It is not best to jump on a search engine and download everything in sight. Each of the images pulled up by a search engine will have its own copyright status and you will need to seek (or pay for) the permissions necessary for using each image that you plan to distribute.

 

Rather than fill a year's worth of newsletters discussing attribution and copyright, below is a selection of resources you can use to find free or affordable images to boost your communications efforts:

  • Public Health Image Library (Centers for Disease Control)
    • This gallery includes photographs of healthy behaviors, clinical interactions and laboratory research. Many of the images are in the public domain.
       
  • National institutes of Health Photo Galleries
    • This website provides links to images related to the work of many of the National Institutes of Health, and many are in the public domain.
       
  • morgueFile
    • Named after the colloquial term for the archives in which newspapers store previous issues and production materials, this website provides free quality stock photography for use in any creative project.
       
  • Wellcome Images
    • This collection includes more than 40,000 clinical and biomedical science images from the United Kingdom's teaching hospitals and research institutions. All images are licensed under a Creative Commons license for personal use, teaching or studying. Competitive rates can be negotiated for those who wish to publish or broadcast images from the collection.

The alternative to these and other online resources is for you and your team to create an image to depict your work and findings. If you have the appropriate resources to create an original image, illustration or video, you may wish submit your creation for the 2014 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. Submissions should open in February 2014.

 

An image can be one of the most powerful tools in a science communicator's toolbox.

 

 

HIGHLIGHTED PROJECT
Sanjay Kansra, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics (Endocrinology), investigated receptors for the hormone estrogen and the role they play in the growth of common pituitary gland tumors. These tumors, called prolactinomas, are a major cause of infertility and impotence.

 

Dr. Kansra published findings from the project in PLOS One. For more on his project, please see his award summary on AHW's website.
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Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin 

Research and Education Program 
Medical College of Wisconsin 
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Milwaukee, WI 53226