With the creation of the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University are joining together in the fight against preventable diseases.

The center will become part of Maxwell on behalf of the efforts of Sid Lerner, a graduate of Newhouse, and his wife, Helaine.

Lerner, who has extensive experience in marketing and advertising, has recently been using his experience in these fields to fight preventable chronic illnesses, and now, with the Lerner Center, SU will do the same.

Thomas Dennison, a professor of practice in public administration, said he is honored to serve as the first director of the Lerner Center.

‘It is a wonderful opportunity to work with creative people on and off campus to improve the health of the community,’ Dennison said in an email. ‘It is a rare opportunity to work with people like Sid and Helaine Lerner who have given so much of their time and talent to improving the community we live in.’

The two schools will work to reduce the number of people suffering from preventable diseases by uniting public health policy and communications. The center aims to combine the expertise of these two schools to reduce the number of people suffering from preventable illnesses such as high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes.

‘The Lerner Center will apply the best practices of marketing and science to create public health programs that are motivating and sustainable,’ Dennison said. ‘The Center is a laboratory for the development strategies that can be replicated in community and national prevention programs.’

Lerner has exhibited the ability to unite these disciplines with the Meatless Monday campaign that he initiated. The campaign encourages people to cut meat out of their diet on Mondays, as meat is responsible for much of the excess saturated fats that many Americans have in their diet, according to a NPR article published Aug. 9, 2010.

Rebecca Bostwick, program director for the Lerner Center, said a study done by Johns Hopkins University shows that people are more inclined to make changes to their lifestyles on Mondays.

‘Respondents chose Monday as the day they would start diets, exercising, quit smoking, and make doctor appointments,’ Bostwick said in an email. ‘Monday represents a special unit of time in our culture, and is viewed as the start of a brand new week.’

The Monday Campaigns have developed from this philosophy and have become a part of life on many college campuses, including SU. The Healthy Monday campaign at SU includes initiatives like Meatless Monday, Move it Monday, Meditation Monday, Mindful Monday and Restock Monday, Bostwick said.

The Lerner Center will continue to focus on the efforts of the Monday Campaign, but it will also extend its goals to decrease the prominence of preventable chronic illnesses beyond the first day of the week.

Bostwick said some programs that the Lerner Center hopes to initiate are public forums on community health needs and a Meatless Monday campaign with area restaurants. A nutrition literacy program for Syracuse refugees is also a goal of the center, Dennison said.

‘The Maxwell School is about citizenship and improving the world around us. People come to Maxwell to make a difference — contributing something positive to communities large and small, global and local,’ Dennison said. ‘The Lerner Center couldn’t fit better.’

cffabris@syr.edu 

Published on October 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris