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MIAMI, Fla. (May 14, 2003) – In recognition of the work by the late professor
of Public Health Robert R. Stempel and his family’s contributions to the
University, on Friday, Florida International University will name a school in
his honor.
“The Stempel School will be one of only two schools of Public Health in
the state of Florida,” said Ronald Berkman, Dean of the College of Health
and Urban Affairs, where the new school will be housed. “This school will
make an immediate contribution to this community, which cannot continue to advance
unless some very serious public health issues are effectively addressed.”
Berkman said that among the top health
concerns in South Florida are the rate of AIDS infections, substance
abuse and lead poisoning in children.
The Dr. Robert R. Stempel School
of Public Health will house several existing public health programs
and serve more than 500 students.
“The naming of the School could not come at a more important time for our
profession,” said FIU Public Health Professor William Darrow, who is credited
with having established the role of sexual behavior in the transmission of the
AIDS virus. “The recent SARS outbreak has shown that the current public
health infrastructure is inadequate and new schools such as this one will be
critical in helping to address such issues with international implications.”
Darrow will be the main speaker at
the dedication of the school, which will take place at 2 p.m.
Friday, May 16 at the MARC Building Pavilion
at University
Park
in West Miami-Dade County. Members of the Stempel family will travel
from New York for the occasion.
Stempel joined the Department of
Public Health at FIU in 1991, after having earned a Doctorate
in Public Health (Dr. P.H.) from
the University
of California
at
Berkeley. He was responsible for developing most of the courses in
the epidemiology track, while drawing on his vast experience and
love for
travel. Stempel
served as a Peace Corps volunteer evaluating tuberculosis control
programs in Malaysia
in the late 1960s, worked as a Foreign Service Reserve Officer evaluating
USAID programs in Vietnam and as a Disease Control Specialist in
New York City and
San Francisco. He earned his students respect for his graduate level
courses on AIDS epidemiology, behavioral epidemiology and international
public
health. Stempel passed away in September of 2002.
“Bob was a dear friend and a
wonderful colleague,” said Darrow. “He
was loved by his students from the first moment they met because
he was concerned about them personally and professionally. He
was a member of an extended family
of public health professionals and practitioners, so it is most
fitting that our new school bears his name.”
The Stempel family has made a donation
of $1million toward the founding
of the new school. The Starr Foundation has provided an additional
$1million, creating an initial private endowment of $2 million,
which
will grow to $3.5 million with state matching funds. In addition,
the
Starr Foundation recently made a $250,000 donation to the C.V.
Starr
Scholars Program, bringing that endowment to more than $1 million.
For
more information on the Starr Foundation, visit their web site
at
http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/starr/
For more information, contact Dean
Berkman at 305-348-5840 or visit the
College?s website http://chua.fiu.edu/
Maydel Santana-Bravo
FIU Office of Media Relations
305.348.1555 office
305.972.8276 mobile
http://news.fiu.edu/
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