Sept. 27 UT Honors Symposium to Discuss “Zika on Our Doorstep”

Over the summer, the active transmission of the Zika virus in two regions of Miami led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a travel advisory within the continental U.S. for the first time.

In a University of Tampa Honors Program symposium on Tuesday, Sept. 27, Deborah Cragun, assistant professor of public health at the University of South Florida, will discuss some of the issues related to Zika. The presentation, titled “Zika on Our Doorstep,” begins at noon in Reeves Theater on the second floor of the Vaughn Center and is free and open to the public.

While Cragun will discuss some of the topics related to Zika — including infectious diseases, birth defects, mosquito control, tourism, public health, reproductive decision making, politics and health disparities — her presentation will focus on the importance of accurate and targeted risk communication when facing Zika.

Cragun is the founding director for USF’s new genetic counseling graduate training program that is slated to begin in Fall 2017. She earned a master’s degree in medical genetics from the University of Cincinnati and practiced as a genetic counselor in pediatric, prenatal and cancer specialties for six years.

After teaching genetics for two years at UT, she completed her doctorate in public health, as well as a postdoctoral research fellowship at Moffitt Cancer Center and additional training through the National Cancer Institute’s Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer program.

Cragun’s research interests include risk communication and health education, implementation of new genomic technologies into health care and genetic counseling access, service delivery and outcomes. She serves on the board of directors for the Lynch Syndrome Screening Network and is leading the National Society of Genetic Counselors Outcomes Task Force.

For more information, contact the Honors Program at honors@ut.edu.