Loma Linda University School of Public Health is celebrating 50 years! On June 23, 1967, LLUSPH was officially accredited by the American Public Health Association. Let’s take a quick look at research and practice from each decade.
- 1967: Professors Frank Lemon, Richard Walden, and Jan Kuzma coauthored a study. It was found that a 35 year old male member of the tobacco-free SDA church can expect to live 6 years longer than his counterpart in the general population. This life expectancy bonus was greater than all the advances of medical science in the previous 40 years.
- 1974: The first Adventist Health Study questionnaire is sent to 50,000 Adventists. Adventist Health Studies are long-term studies exploring the links between lifestyle, diet, and disease among Adventists.
- 1987: First International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition happens in Washington, DC. This congress occurs every 5 years, and in 1997, Loma Linda began hosting. The next congress will be held in February 2018, with the theme: “Plant-foods for the health of people, populations and the planet.”
- 1998: A study by Larry Beeson, David Abbey, and Synnove Knutsen found that long-term concentrations of air pollutants is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking adults living in California. This is part of the larger Adventist Health Air Pollution (AHSMOG) Study.
- 2006: The Lifestyle Medicine program was established at Loma Linda. It was the first medical training program anywhere specifically designed to train physicians to help prevent, treat, & provide long-term health maintenance.
- 2017: A groundbreaking study led by LLUSPH is published, entitled: “Substituting beans for beef as a contribution toward US climate change targets.” Helen Harwatt, Joan Sabaté, Gidon Eshel,Sam Soret, and William Ripple found that if US residents ate beans instead of beef, it could lead to the US immediately hitting 50% to 75% of its greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2020.