Volume 2, Issue 2May 2009
El Faro Staff
Liliane Cambraia Windsor, Ph.D., M.S.W., Editor
Sheila Kaupert,
Newsletter Coordinator
National Office
Jane Brooks, M.Sc., C.M.P.
Website Coordinator
National Steering Committee
José Szapocznik, Ph.D., NHSN Chair
Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, M.D., Ph.D.
Hortensia Amaro, Ph.D.
Ana Mari Cauce, Ph.D.
Joe Martínez, Ph.D.
Patricia Molina, M.D., Ph.D.
Humberto Nicolini-Sanchez, M.D., Ph.D.
Bryan Page, Ph.D.
Rafaela Robles, Ed.D.
Avelardo Valdez, Ph.D.
Bill Vega, Ph.D.
Current Issue
Career Diva
by Jose Szapocznik, Ph.D.
For many years I conducted research that never left the journal. Why conduct research? I now understand that there is one very important reason: to make a difference that has the potential to improve the health of the public. Whether we do basic or applied research, all of our research has public health implications.
It was my second mid-life crisis! I wanted my work to make a difference in a shorter amount of time. Hence, I became involved in translational research both in my applied and in my basic research. My applied research is in drug abuse treatment. I applied and was funded for a NIDA Clinical Trials Network Center grant, the purpose of which is to bring efficacious treatments into the front lines of drug abuse treatment. Also, in my basic research I became involved with an area that was imminently translatable—the built environment. The public built environment, that is what we see when we jog down the street, has been found to have an impact on physical activity, weight, and the prevalence of chronic diseases related to obesity. We also know now that physical activity has a neurobiological impact on the dopaminergic system, and in fact physical activity not only reverses some of the effects of addiction in the brain, but it also prevents addiction.
Interventions in the built environment do not cost a cent, but they do require political will. For example, by re-zoning a community to require wide sidewalks, shade trees (in tropical climates like Florida’s), mixed use (commercial in walkable distance to residential), require that new developments have short blocks and streets that create a matrix (no cul-de-sacs), neighborhoods become more walkable over time. Think Manhattan, San Francisco, New York, Barcelona…. Any new buildings going up will have to meet the new requirements, and over time- maybe 25 years – the neighborhood is transformed. I am currently doing a very translational activity related to my built environment research. I am working with Florida’s Surgeon General on a new initative: “The Surgeon General Seal of Walkability.” We are using proven built environment criteria that have been associated with walking and physical activity, to create a state-wide competition among communities in Florida. This has appeal to communities in many ways; one that should not be discounted is that communities will want to use the Seal to market themselves. In fact, research suggests that walkable communities are a better investment.
Of what good is my built environment research unless I can use it to improve my State?