The Department of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sadly announces the passing of Professor Emeritus Melinda Meade on November 19th. Professor Meade has been a central presence in our department since 1978, and her contributions to medical geography have been globally recognized. Some of her many accomplishments can be visited here:
http://geography.unc.edu/people/emeritus-faculty/melinda-meade.
Hello Health and Medical Geographers,
I got this note from James Wilson (a former chair of the Health and Medical Geography Speciality Group)
Greetings from a past chair of the HMGSG!
I attended and presented at the APHA meeting in Boston last week and I’ve seen that each year how much geography is incorporated into public health research and work. Epidemiologists and public health practioners are certainly using more geospatial technologies and spatial analysis methods. In any case, I thought it might be of interest to share the theme for the APHA’s conference next November in New Orleans:Healthography: How where you live affects your health and well-being
Submission deadline: Monday, October 28, 2013
Sponsored by: a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health.
Health Services Research (HSR) and the State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) initiative are partnering to publish a Theme Issue on State Health Policy Research
Health Services Research invites papers for consideration in a Theme Issue on the implementation and outcome of state efforts to expand health insurance coverage and access to health care services under health reform. The Journal is interested in both single and multi-state evaluations of the implementation of federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) to inform state health policy and to advance the field of health services research. Relevant policies and programs include but are not limited to: the impact of the Medicaid expansion in improving coverage rates; the effectiveness of outreach and enrollment activities; persistent barriers in access to care; implementation and use of state-based and federally-facilitated health insurance exchanges; payment and delivery system reform specifically linked to access and coverage; employer response to new coverage options; research on provider supply as well as the impact of the ACA on the safety net. The Journal is specifically interested in rigorous quantitative research and evaluation research to advance the field of state policy-based research. This call will not consider disease-specific treatment and outcome research, research on the quality of health care services, qualitative work without a quantitative component, or discussion pieces or commentaries.
The deadline for initial submission of manuscripts is October 28, 2013. Criteria for selection of manuscripts include: (1) quality, rigor and originality, (2) significance and usefulness for enhancing our understanding of state efforts to expand coverage and access to health care services under health reform; (3) and clarity of writing and presentation. All manuscripts must follow the “Instructions for Authors” listed at:http://www.hsr.org/hsr/information/authors/instrucauthors.jsp.
Manuscripts submitted for the Theme Issue will first undergo the same HSR peer review process as all regular manuscripts. However, due to the timeline for publishing the Theme Issue, HSR will monitor the progress of manuscripts through the review process and try to shorten the overall process; likewise, authors should expect to be especially timely in returning revisions. All accepted articles will be published electronically within a brief period after acceptance using Wiley-Blackwell’s Early View process. Articles published through Early View are fully published, appear in PubMed, and can be cited.
Accepted articles submitted for the Theme Issue will then undergo an additional selection process for inclusion in the printed Theme Issue, which will be widely promoted. Approximately 6 to 8 articles will be selected, based on the most original and significant work addressing the theme. Accepted manuscripts that are not selected for the Theme Issue will be automatically scheduled for print publication in a regular issue. The print publication date for the Theme Issue will be December 2014.
Key dates for authors:
Oct 28, 2013: Submission deadline of manuscripts for the Theme Issue
May 1, 2014 – Sept 19, 2014: Notification of accepted papers to HSR (dependent on date of initial submission)
Oct 1, 2014: Notification of assignment of accepted papers to the Theme Issue or Regular Issue
December 2014: Print Publication Date for Theme Issue
Flyer: Spatial and Spatiotemporal Epidemiology at AAG 2014
Several sessions around the theme of spatial and spatiotemporal epidemiology will be organized at the coming 2014 AAG Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida (April 8-12). The sessions focus on the development of spatial and spatiotemporal methodology to answer fundamental epidemiological questions. Sample topics include:
°Spatiotemporal modeling
°Geovisualization and geocomputation for big data
°Point pattern analysis and disease movement analysis
°Use of geospatial techniques in health (GPS, GIS)
°Preventing the spread of disease
°Accessibility to medical care, estimating travel impedance
°Modeling uncertainty
If you would like to contribute to this stream of sessions, please submit your abstract online (http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting).
Email Tijs Neutens (Tijs.Neutens@UGent.be)
or Eric Delmelle (eric.delmelle@uncc.edu) the title, abstract, author information and AAG PIN by October 15 2013 to be included in one of the sessions.
Contact information
Tijs Neutens (Tijs.Neutens@UGent.be)
University of Ghent, Belgium
Eric Delmelle (eric.delmelle@uncc.edu)
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Co-organizers:
Mei-Pwo Kwan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Antonio Paez, McMaster University, Canada
Debarchana Ghosh, University of Connecticut
Gerry Rushton, University of Iowa
Elisabeth Dowling Root, University of Colorado at Boulder
John DeGroote, University of Northern Iowa
Xun Shi, Dartmouth University
Chris Uejio, Florida State University
Brian Bossak, Florida Gulf Coast University
The Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group is pleased to announce our co-sponsor of the Environment Justice session at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers. We would like to thank the leaders of this specialty group for inviting us to participate in their very relevant paper session!
2014 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers
April 8-12, Tampa, Florida
This session will be co-sponsored by the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group, Hazards, Risks, and Disasters Specialty Group, and the Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group.
Organizers:
Jayajit Chakraborty, University of South Florida, jchakrab@usf.edu
Timothy Collins, University of Texas at El Paso, twcollins@utep.edu
Sara Grineski, University of Texas at El Paso, segrineski@utep.edu
Description: Environmental Justice (EJ) research seeks to document and address the disproportionate environmental health and risk burdens borne by racial/ethnic minorities and individuals of lower socioeconomic status. Although its initial focus was on environmental hazards and pollution, the scope of EJ research has now expanded to encompass everything that is unsustainable about the world, including rampant industrialization, resource depletion, energy use, consumption patterns, food systems, and inequitable public policies that adversely affect minority, indigenous, and low-income communities, other vulnerable groups such as immigrants and people with disabilities, and future generations. In a context of intensifying social and environmental inequalities, there is a growing need to further strengthen this research framework and continue diversifying its themes.
This paper session intends to provide a forum for conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and empirical scholarship on EJ. We welcome qualitative and quantitative case studies, reviews of the literature, critical evaluations of methods and tools, comparative analyses, and discussions of future research needs that focus on any aspect of EJ. Paper topics may include, but are not limited to, the following EJ issues:
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted to any one of the session organizers by November 18, 2013. Accepted submissions will be contacted by November 26, 2013, and expected to register and submit their abstracts online at the AAG website by December 3, 2013.
Annual Peter Gould Student Paper Award
Abstract Submission Deadline: November 1, 2013
Sponsored by the Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers
Description The Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group (HMGSG) encourages current single authored student papers on medical-health geography. Papers are invited from any medical-health, disability and/or health systems related topic. The competition is meant to promote written scholarship by students across the field. Papers will be judged by the HMGSG Awards Committee on several criteria: originality, scholarship, organization, appropriate use of methodology, and written composition. A $100 prize will be awarded in each of two categories: 1) undergraduate students, and 2) graduate students (Master’s and Doctoral).
Eligibility The competition is open to undergraduate, masters, and Doctoral level students. Single-authored papers completed in the 24 months prior to the submission deadline are eligible, provided that they have not been previously considered for the competition. Membership in the Association of American Geographers is required, but membership in the HMGSG is not.
Submission & Review The timeline for the competition is as follows:
| 1 November 2013 | An extended abstract (500-word limit) of your paper is due. |
| 15 December 2013 | The Awards Committee will review all extended abstracts and select up to 5 papers per category (undergrad, grad) for submission of full papers. You will receive notification about the Awards Committee decision by this date. |
| 1 February 2014 | Your full paper must be electronically submitted to the paper coordinator (below). |
| 1 April 2014 | Winner(s) will be notified during the month of April. Winners will be publicly announced at the HMGSG business meeting and at the AAG Award Luncheon. They will receive a ticket to the Luncheon and a monetary prize of $100. Results of the competition will be also be published on the HMGSG website. |
Requirements The final, full paper must be written by a single author, include a 500-word abstract, and be no longer than 5,000 words (excluding tables, references, and captions). Authors are also encouraged to submit the names of at least 2 possible reviewers who are not affiliated with the research. Ensure that the purpose, methodology, and findings of the research are clearly stated in the abstract. The body of the paper should be double-spaced, 12-point font size and one-inch margins. Remove any identifying information (e.g. name). References should be in AAG style. Submit the paper as a single PDF file with all figures and tables included in the document. Submission of the extended abstract and final paper will be done electronically as an email attachment to the Paper Coordinator (contact information below). Include the following information in the body of the email message: Your full name, address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, department and university affiliation, name of advisor or mentor, and title of the paper. Please put “HMGSG Student Paper Competition” in the subject line.
Email Chris Hartmann for more information. hartmann.67(at)osu.edu
Health and Medical Geography 