CSDE Affiliate Dan T.A. Eisenberg (Anthropology) authored an article with colleagues in GeroScience, titled “DNA methylation-based estimators of telomere length show low correspondence with paternal age at conception and other measures of external validity of telomere length“. Epigenetic clocks, specifically DNA methylation based estimators, are emerging measures to index health, longevity, and even environmental exposures (e.g. smoking). DNA methylation based estimators of telomere length (DNAmTL) have been shown to better predict telomere length-associated variables (e.g., age, sex, and mortality) than telomere length itself. The biological significance of DNAmTL is unclear. Eisenberg and colleagues used data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey to examine how DNAmTL measures compared to actually measured telomere lengths. Contrary to previous findings, on almost all measures of external validity (correlations with parental telomere length, southern blot telomere length, and age), actually measured TL outperformed DNAmTL. These findings suggest that DNAmTL is not a reliable index of inherited aspects of telomere length and underscores uncertainty about the biological meaning of DNAmTL.
Call for Applications: Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program (Due 3/29/24)
The Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program is open for graduate students to start submitting applications! The Social Entrepreneurship Fellows allows students to explore how best to deploy social enterprise models for innovations that are developed by University of Washington researchers. This is a 10-week program over the summer. Four fellows will be selected from across a variety of disciplines and investigate a range of projects. The projects are focused on finding innovative ways to maintain the balance between financial sustainability and social impact in addition to generating revenue. Link to fellowship details. Applications are due by March 29th.
*New* Limited Submission: AXA Research Fund & Geneva Health Forum (Due 3/29/24)
The AXA Research Fund & Geneva Health Forum have joined forces to offer the Grand Jet d’Or de Genève Award. The objective of the award is to support a research team engaged in researching or implementing research-based projects with a focus on health treatment, measurements, use of data, and community involvement in addressing pollution-related health issues. This opportunity has an internal deadline of 3/29/2024. Please reach out to Gretchen Davis Richey, Director of Research (gsd@uw.edu) and Liz Exell, Senior Director for Corporate and Foundation Relations (lexell@uw.edu) with any questions. Read more in the full story and see the RFP here.
Organization: AXA Research Fund & Geneva Health Forum
Award amount: €50,000
OR internal deadline: 3/29/2024
Sponsor deadline: 4/21/2024 for abstracts
Description:
The AXA Research Fund is joining forces with the Geneva Health Forum to introduce the Grand Jet d’Or de Genève Award: Health & medical solutions to address the adverse effects of pollution on humans. Pollution is a major global health issue, affecting human health by causing respiratory diseases, heart problems, and cancer due to exposure to pollutants in the air, water, and soil. Specific attention has been given to pollutants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are linked to cancer, thyroid disease, and developmental issues. Other pollutants such as heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and indoor air pollutants, present serious health risks, including neurological damage, reproductive disorders, and respiratory illnesses, highlighting the broad impact of pollution on human wellbeing.
The objective of the Grand Jet d’Or de Genève Award is to support a research team engaged in researching or implementing research-based projects with a focus on health treatment, measurements, use of data, and community involvement in addressing pollution-related health issues. The proposed projects must demonstrate their potential to change health practices and improve health outcomes in relation to pollution of air, water and soil, including but not limited to PFAS. Multidisciplinary teams exploring innovative practices or tools will be favored.
The projects should not only focus on preventive measures to reduce pollution in the environment, but also encompass a broader scope, including assessing existing pollution, removing pollutants from the body and environment, developing medical solutions for pollution-related diseases, and finding ways to enhance health despite existing pollution.
Pre-Proposal Instructions:
Please submit:
1. A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.
2. If the final application requires a diversity statement or statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
3. CV (not biosketch) of the PI including past grant funding.
Submit to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Friday, March 29, 2024.
Apply for Funding to Attend the Social Networks & Health Methods Workshop (Due 3/31/24)
The 2024 Social Networks & Health Methods Workshop (SN&H ’24) will be live and in-person this year from May 14-17 on Duke’s campus in Durham NC and is now accepting applications for SN&H ’24 Fellowships. The NICHD Sponsored Social Networks and Health methods workshop is a week-long workshop aimed at introducing attendees to topics in social network analysis and how they can be applied to research on health and health policy. We alternate foundational and advanced topics annually; this year is a “foundations” year, so we assume no prior knowledge of networks or network methods. Fellowship applications are due March 31st. Learn more about the workshop and fellowships in the full story!
The workshop will focus on:
- History and theory of networks and health research
- Network data collection
- IRB considerations for network data collection
- Network measures and description
- Network Visualization
- Ego-network analysis
- Regression with networks (including randomization techniques)
- Diffusion and peer influence
- Exponential random graph models (ERGM)
- Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models (SAOM, or Siena models)
- Respondent-driven sampling (RDS)
- Simulation methods
- Social network-based interventions and experiments
- We include extensive hands-on training in using R to conduct network analysis. The target audience is health researchers familiar with standard social-science methods who would like to learn how to incorporate network analysis into their research.
Thanks to generous support from the NICHD, we offer this training at significantly subsidized cost; registration is $150 for the week and covers lunch & coffee each day. We will send information for general registration shortly.
We have funding to cover up to 12 “SN&H Fellows.” Fellowships cover the full cost of attending the workshop, including registration, travel to/from the workshop, and hotel stay for the week. In addition, each Fellow is matched with a faculty mentor to help guide their research project over the year, including limited support for additional training and working with mentors.
To apply for a fellowship, please send a CV along with a short (~1 page) summary of your research project and why the workshop would be valuable by email to jmoody77@duke.edu with the subject line “SN&H 24 Fellowship” by March 31st. Priority will be given to junior scholars (graduate students, post-docs, and assistant professors) and those with NIH-supported training grants (K-awards and similar), our funding source limits us to funding only US Citizens and domestic travel.
For those interested in online guided tutorials, please check out our catalog of free training videos on the DNAC training site. Now in its 8th year, the SN&H Workshop has built a significant library of training videos, presentation slides, and sample code all free and open to the public
Assistant Professor of Sociology of Immigration (Open until filled)
No CSDE Seminar This Week
CSDE wishes you a happy spring break! Our first spring seminar will with Shannon Monnat from Syracuse University on Friday, March 29th from 12:30-1:30 in 360 PAR and on Zoom (register here). Stay tuned for our 2024 seminar schedule!
Limited Submission Opportunity – NSF Call for General Social Survey Competition
Health Disparities in Liver Cancer are Analyzed by Dwyer-Lindgren, Mokdad, and Colleagues
CSDE Affiliates Laura Dwyer-Lindgren (Health Metrics Sciences, Global Health) and Ali H. Mokdad (Health Metrics Sciences, Epidemiology) released an article in The Lancet Public Health, titled “Burden of liver cancer mortality by county, race, and ethnicity in the USA, 2000–19: a systematic analysis of health disparities“. Understanding how specific populations are affected by liver cancer is important for identifying priorities, policies, and interventions to mitigate health risks and reduce disparities. This study aims to provide comprehensive analysis of rates and trends in liver cancer mortality for different racial and ethnic populations in the USA nationally and at the county level from 2000 to 2019.
Save the Date: Virtual Workshop on Climate Change and Human Migration (3/18 and 3/19/24)
Cohen Evaluates Post-Decentralization Effects in Uganda
CSDE Affiliate Isabelle Cohen (Public Policy & Governance) authored a new study in The World Bank Economic Review, titled “Documenting Decentralization: Empirical Evidence on Administrative Unit Proliferation from Uganda“. Decentralization is an important and commonplace type of reform, yet our understanding of its effects remains limited. This paper documents the effects of the 2009–10 wave of district creation in Uganda, which increased the country’s districts by 42 percent, using rich data on subdistrict units to assess the effects of district creation on a broad range of post-decentralization outcomes in a difference-in-differences framework.