The League of American Bicyclists Gives Sumter, SC Honorable Mention in Fall 2009 Bicycle Friendly Community Review Cycle

The League of American Bicyclists has announced that Sumter County, South Carolina has received an honorable mention for the Fall 2009 Bicycle Friendly Community review. “While Sumter County has not yet received the League’s Bicycle Friendly Community designation, this honorable mention recognizes its work to promote bicycling in their community,” said League President Andy Clarke.”

Sumter County is an Honorable Mention community for their initiative and progress to become more bicycle-friendly.  Some of these initiatives are: twenty-eight Share the Road signs installed along the county’s roadways; a free bicycle taillight distribution program available for needy bicyclists; celebration of National Bicycle Month/ Bike to Work Day with activities that have included a bicycle ride with the Sumter mayor; and completion of a master bicycle plan.  Recently, several organizations worked together to produce a Share the Road video promoting bicyclist and motorist safety that was aired on a local cable television network.

NOTE: The USC PRC's participatory, community-based core research project is titled "Policy and environmental change to promote PA: A participatory, university-community partnership." The core research project is directly related to the PRC research agenda and mission of conducting research that benefits the public's health, promotes physical activity, and translates this research into practice. This project is conducted in Sumter County, SC, through the Sumter County Active Lifestyles (SCAL) coalition.  SCAL’s work was critical in helping Sumter receive honorable mention.

To learn more about the League’s Bicycle Friendly Community program, visit http://www.bicyclefriendlyamerica.org. For media inquiries, contact Meghan Cahill at 202.822.1333 or at meghan@bikeleague.org.\

New Post Doctoral Fellow at the Prevention Research Center

Dr. Gayenell Magwood has joined the Prevention Research Center as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Magwood is an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the College of Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina.  Her research interests focus on preventing chronic disease in African American women, especially diabetes prevention.  She has been an investigator on the REACH 2010 diabetes prevention project and actively involved in community research partnerships.  As part of a research team led by Dr. Patricia Sharpe, Dr. Magwood will explore sociocultural factors that may be related to participant recruitment, retention and outcomes, including body image and health literacy among women enrolled in Dr. Sharpe's R01 grant project, entitled "Behavioral/support intervention for diet and exercise among underserved women," from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.  To support Dr. Magwoood's fellowship, Dr. Sharpe was awarded a two-year Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research.  Dr. Magwood will conduct research that is complementary to the parent R01 grant and advance her own development as an independent researcher.  The parent grant enrolls women ages 25 to 50 years old from Columbia, SC.  Dr. Sharpe is a Research Professor in the Arnold School of Public Health's Prevention Research Center and Department of Exercise Science.  Dr. Sara Wilcox, Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Co-investigator on the parent R01 project, is also a research mentor for Dr. Magwood on the project.

THE STARS PROJECT

Dr. Patricia Sharpe, Research Professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Prevention Research Center received an R01 research grant from the National Institutes of Health, which will take a comprehensive approach to behavior change among overweight and obese women in economically disadvantaged communities.   The project gives attention to individual attitudes and skills, socio-cultural factors, and environmental barriers and supports to behavior change, including economic barriers for women ages 25 to 50. The intervention will promote behavioral skills and social support for success in the context of challenges to healthy eating, physical activity, and weight loss.  To learn more about the project, go to http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/Projects/stars.htm

• Latest Newsletter
• Recently Added Research Updates
• MPH in Physical Activity and Public Health degree program
• New Video for Older African American Men Research Project