Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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Gates Foundation

Tobacco free cities project aims to curb smoking in China

Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH

Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH, director of the Emory Global Health Institute and vice president for Global Health at Emory University, is leading the second phase of the Tobacco Free Cities project in China, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project, which launched in 10 Chinese cities this week, is a partnership with the ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development in Beijing.

Vice mayors of each of the 10 cities signed an official pledge to strive to create tobacco-free cities for residents. China has more than 300 million smokers, the most of any country, and more than 500 million people in China are exposed to secondhand smoke.

“The two-year project aims to enhance the overall capacity in smoking-tobacco control of the cities and help ease the burden caused by tobacco to public health, the environment and the economy,” Koplan says in an article in China Daily.

The project launch was covered by other major Chinese news outlets, including Xinhua News Agency.

The first phase of the Tobacco Free Cities project launched in June 2009 in seven Chinese cities. The project is part of the Emory Global Health Institute-China Tobacco Partnership. In January 2009 Emory University received a $14 million, five-year grant from the Gates Foundation to establish the partnership.

Posted on January 14, 2011 by admin in Uncategorized 2 Comments

Hong Kong is Bright Spot of Tobacco Control in China

Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH

A remarkably successful 20-year program of tobacco control in Hong Kong can serve as a best-practices example for China and other nations, says Jeffrey Koplan in an article published online today in The Lancet. Koplan is vice president for global health at Emory and director of the Emory Global Health Institute.

Hong Kong’s successful tobacco control program began with a 1982 health ordinance launching a multi-step approach including legislative amendments (regulation of indoor smoking, pack warnings, ban on tobacco advertising), a steeply increased tobacco tax, school-based education, mass-media campaigns, community events, and leadership from the medical community.

Smoking prevalence in Hong Kong fell from 23.3 percent in 1982 to 11.8 percent in 2008 through the efforts of the Tobacco Control office of the Department of Health and NGOs such as the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health.

Read more

Posted on March 26, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized 1 Comment