Campaign News
Designed with Healing in Mind
In the new Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library, students are hard at work, studying for medical credentialing exams, working collaboratively in the facility’s study rooms and tackling the rigors of research and medical education.
The gleaming new facility, located in the new Medical School and Research Building at 3500 N. Broad Street, opened in June and has quickly become a central hub for studying and socializing among students across several of Temple’s health science disciplines. There they can do everything from check their email to access surgical texts from a previous century.
The library is named in memory of the parents of Dr. Howard Ginsburg, a 1971 Medical School graduate who donated $2.5 million toward its construction.
The Ginsburg library brings together services and resources formerly housed separately at the Kresge and South libraries, serving the schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy, the College of Health Professions and the Temple Hospitals. (The School of Podiatric Medicine continues to be served by the Charles E. Krausz Library of Podiatric Medicine at the school’s Center City campus).
According to Health Science Libraries director Mark-Allen Taylor, the new facility was designed specifically to meet the needs of those deeply engaged in the study of patient care.
“Over the past 20 years, health sciences libraries have transformed from print-oriented collections of journals and books into electronic information centers,” said Taylor. “The Ginsburg Library provides online access to the tools necessary to meet the diverse needs of our community of caregivers.”
The library has seating for more than 1,000 students and includes 30 study rooms, 10 collaborative learning “smart” rooms that students can use to work on various projects and two health science classrooms. There are also “quiet” study rooms that allow students the solitude needed to concentrate on anatomy textbooks or study for demanding exams, Taylor said.
The building provides wireless network access and includes 75 public computer workstations for students to use. In addition, the library has 175 public computer workstations and a collection of rare medical textbooks, including journals such as MD Consult, Natural Standard, and The Journal of the American Medical Association.
While the Ginsberg Health Sciences Library was built for service, Taylor says the building’s aesthetics were also given careful consideration. Just inside the first floor entrance from the Medical School and Research Building, there are several modern computer workstations and a spacious seating area where library patrons can overlook Broad Street through floor-to-ceiling windows. A sweeping spiral staircase leads to three floors filled with books, magazines and medical journals.
Funding Interdisciplinary Research Nationwide
Temple University's Beasley School of Law has been selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to manage a new $19 million national program that will fund interdisciplinary research exploring legal and regulatory solutions to pressing health challenges such as chronic diseases, and health emergencies including floods, bioterrorism and epidemics.
The Public Health Law Research program will operate under the direction of Temple Law professor Scott Burris, an internationally recognized authority on how law influences public health.
"The Public Health Law Research program brings long-needed funding and attention to the crucial role of law in public health," said Burris, who also co-directs Temple Law's new Center for Health Policy, Law and Practice. "Law can be a powerful tool for improving public health. Laws have contributed to reductions in smoking and they have increased use of seat belts." But, he explained, laws and law enforcement practices can also endanger health.
"RWJF's investment is important because only good research can tell us what laws work and what laws don't work for public health," he added. "This is a golden opportunity to give policy makers and health advocates the information they need to pursue healthy policies — and our job at Temple will be to do everything we can to make sure the evidence our researchers produce gets to the people who need it."
A Temple Law faculty member since 1991, Burris is one of the founders of modern public health law and a pioneer in the use of empirical research in the discipline. He published the first law review article detailing the public health law issues raised by HIV/AIDS and led the effort to create the first comprehensive legal analysis of the epidemic. His work has been funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. He is currently working with the United Nations to reduce policy barriers to treatment of pain and drug dependency.
Burris is also a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health, where he is associate director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health. Before joining the Temple Law faculty, Burris worked for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, where he represented people with HIV in cases of discrimination, privacy and access to care in prisons, as well as played a leading role in developing privacy and confidentiality legislation in Pennsylvania.
"We expect the Public Health Law Research program to launch a new era of research through the best talent in law and public health. We know that strong policies and laws can help Americans lead healthier lives," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and chief executive officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The first call for proposals under the new program will be announced this spring. Universities and other research institutions from around the country will be invited to submit proposals. For more information about the program or to sign up for announcements about funding opportunities, go to www.publichealthlawresearch.org.
"Under the leadership of someone as accomplished as Scott, this program will bring national recognition to the school's newly created Center for Health Policy, Law and Practice,” said JoAnne A. Epps, dean of Temple Law.
Co-founded and co-directed by Burris and Temple health law professor Frank McClellan, Temple Law's Center for Health Policy, Law and Practice is devoted to finding solutions to critical legal issues in public health and healthcare through interdisciplinary research projects, courses and problem-solving partnerships with academics and community leaders both locally and internationally. Efforts will focus on promoting community collaboration in cities like Philadelphia, while integrating the law school’s international work in areas such as HIV/AIDS, health and rule of law. Other program faculty members include Jennifer Wood, an associate professor of criminal justice in the College of Liberal Arts, and Jennifer K. Ibrahim, an assistant professor of health policy in the College of Health Professions.
Developing Powerful Voices
Philadelphia Children Develop Powerful Voices with Support of University Partnership
From colorful commercials for sugary cereals to the use of cartoons as a marketing tool, children are constantly being bombarded with media images that can be difficult for them to decode.
In an attempt to help school-aged children learn to strengthen their critical thinking and communication skills, Verizon has awarded a $50,000 grant to Temple University’s Media Education Lab. The award is one of two grants totaling $100,000 Verizon has provided in support of Temple educational programs.
Funding from the grant will go toward supporting “Powerful Voices for Kids,” a media literacy program housed at Russell Byers Charter School that seeks to enable children to become effective communicators.
“Media literacy education is an effective bridge between the classroom and the culture,” said Renee Hobbs, professor of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media at Temple’s School of Communications and Theater.
The Powerful Voices pilot program will allow urban students to participate in an array of literacy and technology activities, including critical viewing of television commercials to identify persuasive rhetorical strategies and instruction on the creation of persuasive media through the use of digital still cameras and image manipulation software.
“Education is the key that can unlock a brighter future for every child,” said Gale Y. Given, president of Verizon Pennsylvania. “We are proud to play a role in this collaboration between Temple University and the Russell Byers Charter School to provide students with innovative literacy and technology instruction and valuable skills to help put them in a stronger position to reach their full potential.”
Founded by Renee Hobbs, the Media Education Lab’s mission is to improve media literacy education through scholarship and community service.
