Stephanie Staras, Ph.D., has been invited to speak at a plenary session at the 2016 STD Prevention Conference about her recent journal article detailing how an increase in Maryland’s alcohol taxes impacted the state’s sexually transmitted infection rates.
“I’m excited to bring our scientifically rigorous analysis to bear on the important debate surrounding the role of alcohol taxes in decreasing the rates of STIs, especially at such a large national venue,” said Staras, assistant professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Policy and faculty member in the Institute for Child Health Policy. “Hopefully, it will help other researchers understand the advances in research design helping these types of interventions.”
The conference, which is organized in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other national and international associations dedicated to improving rates of STI infections, will be Sept. 20-23 in Atlanta, Ga., and its theme is “Transcending Barriers. Creating Opportunities.”
Staras collaborated with Melvin D. Livingston, Ph.D., and Alexander C. Wagenaar, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Policy, on this research project, which was supported by the Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund via a grant to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The journal article was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in December.