By: Mariella Roque/Staff Writer
Mary Jo Trepka, associate professor in the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, was notified on Sept. 26 that she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
Trepka will receive the award on Oct. 14 from Obama along with 93 other researchers in the “early stages of their independent research careers.”
Obama said in a White House press release, “It is inspiring to see the innovative work being done by these scientists and engineers as they ramp up their careers—careers that I know will be not only personally rewarding but also invaluable to the nation.”
The award was originally established by former President Bill Clinton in 1996. It is the “highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals.”
“I don’t know why they chose my project,” Trepka said, “[but] I’m happy they like it.”
“All of us in the [college] are thrilled to have one of our faculty members recognized by the President of the United States for her exemplary research,” said Dr. Michele Ciccazzo, interim dean of the college, in an email to Student Media.
Ciccazzo said the school was “thrilled, but not surprised.”
“Dr. Trepka has consistently demonstrated remarkable efforts in research,” Ciccazzo said.
Trepka’s research involves trying to understand why African-Americans die more quickly once diagnosed with AIDS than other races. Trepka looked at three factors: poverty, racial segregation at the residential level and rural versus urban environments.
“Material deprivation is the main reason why African-Americans die faster,” Trepka said.
After collecting data from the Florida Department of Health from the time when Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy – standard AIDS medication – was first sold to the public, Trepka believes that “African-Americans didn’t get the [AIDS medication] as quickly as non-Hispanic Whites and there is still a gap.”
“Because there is a higher percentage of poverty among African-Americans living with HIV than there is among non-Hispanic Whites living with HIV,” Trepka said, “a higher percentage of African-Americans did not get the medication initially.”
She is currently looking at other factors independently associated with survival.
“I think that when [HAART] were first available, people who were wealthier and more educated had better access to the new therapies,” Trepka said in an email. “Then the therapies became the standard of care and were more widely available.”
Trepka’s research is the first conducted at the state level.
“There is a waiting list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, so we do have a problem with people in Florida getting their medication,” Trepka said.
The National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, an institution within the National Institute of Health, nominated Trepka for the award last year. She submitted a grant application for her research in September 2009 and was granted funding for five years, ending in April 2014. The grant was originally for $1.35 million.
“It was a very long process,” Trepka said. “I’m happy for FIU and for my college.”
Also working on the project are Spencer Lieb and Lorene Maddox, both master’s of public health, two investigators from the Florida Department of Health Bureau of HIV/AIDS, as well as former University professor and biostatician Theophile Niyonsenga, Ph.D.
Also working on the research are doctoral students Khaleeq Lutfi and Elena Pavlova.
“The research is very interesting and it is in an area of public health that could use some improvements,” Lutfi said in an email to Student Media, “At the moment, data cleaning is my focus.”
Student Media emailed Elena Pavlova for comment as well but she was not available as of press time.
Trepka graduated with her bachelors in chemistry and German from Grinnell College, attended the University of Minnesota Medical School and completed her master of science in public health at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She went on to work in several places, including as an epidemiologist in Munich, Germany.
“I’ve been interested in studying HIV and other STDs for a long time,” Trepka said. “I was aware of the [death] rates from working in disease prevention.”
Trepka also worked in the Miami Health Department in 1998 and entered academia in 2003. Trepka currently teaches Infectious Disease Epidemiology and HIV/AIDS epidemiology at the University at the graduate level.
“A community is only as healthy as its unhealthiest areas,” Trepka said.