Daily Business Report-Oct. 29, 2018
California’s death rate from lung cancer is 28 percent lower than the rest of the nation’s, largely due to anti-smoking policies. (Photo: CALmatters)
Analysis: Low number of lung cancer deaths
saved California more than half a billion dollars
By Matt Levin | CALmatters
California’s low rate of lung cancer deaths saved nearly 5,000 lives in 2014—and saved Californians at least $500 million just in that year, according to a CALmatters analysis in consultation with public health researchers. Those savings will likely grow into the billions of dollars in the decades ahead, experts say.
Earlier this month, a study from the UC San Diego School of Medicine found California’s rate of lung cancer mortality was 28 percent lower than the rest of the country in 2014, the most recent year of available data. The study’s authors attributed California’s low number of lung cancer deaths to the state’s early and aggressive anti-smoking initiatives.
If California had the same rate of lung cancer deaths as the rest of the country, on average, roughly 4,700 more Californians would have died in 2014. Those terminal patients would have cost an estimated $546 million in hospitalization expenses alone that year, according to a CALmatters analysis vetted by public health experts at UC San Francisco and UC San Diego. That does not include other expensive components of cancer treatment that don’t require hospitalization, or savings from non-terminal lung cancer cases.
The savings are even larger when factoring in the lost economic productivity from premature lung cancer deaths. When the continued earnings and other economic contributions of saved lives are considered, savings top $1.5 billion for 2014 alone.
With nearly one-third of Californians on Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents, it’s likely lots of those savings are going directly into state coffers. The Department of Health Care Services, which administers Medi-Cal, said it could not provide reliable cost savings estimates.
But 2014’s savings are by no means an outlier, and experts project savings from California’s low lung cancer mortality rates will only grow in the years ahead.
“You’ve seen a huge difference between California and the rest of the country in people starting smoking under [age] 35,” said John Pierce, a professor of cancer research at UCSD and a co-author on the study. “Lung cancer’s peak years are 65 to 80, so there’s going to be huge affects decades from now.”
In 1974, 45 percent of Californians age 18 to 34 had ever started smoking, compared to 48 percent of younger Americans in the rest of the country. By 2013, only 19% of younger Californians had ever started smoking, compared to 31 percent in the rest of the U.S.
Research indicates that preventing young people from smoking greatly reduces the chance of heavy smoking later in life. Smoking causes the vast majority of lung cancer cases.
Pierce credits California’s low smoking rates with two related initiatives: California consistently raising excise taxes on cigarettes between the 1960’s and 1990’s, and the launch of a first-in-the nation tobacco control program in 1988.
Aided by state laws restricting tobacco advertising and smoking in public places, the program’s anti-smoking media campaigns helped tilt California into a state that culturally frowns on smoking.
“Unless it starts going up all the time, you can adjust to a tax,” said Pierce. “What you don’t adjust to is the social norms.”
In 2016, California voters overwhelmingly approved the biggest hike in cigarette taxes since the state began taxing tobacco in 1959. Anti-smoking advocates hoped the new $2 per pack tax would induce smokers to quit and prevent new smokers from starting while reinvigorating the tobacco control program with new revenue.
The results look promising since the tax went into effect in April of last year. Cigarette pack “distributions”—tax lingo for a pack of cigarettes typically sold from a distributor to a retailer, and a good proxy for consumption—are down 20 percent from two years ago, according to data obtained from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
About 80,000 fewer packs were sold in the first three months of 2018 than the first three months of 2017, which preceded the tax.
While the sustained decline in cigarette purchases is good news for California lungs and pocketbooks, experts worry that a rise in e-cigarette smoking may temper the gains the state has made over the past few decades in reducing tobacco consumption.
The new cigarette tax approved in 2016 included a tax on e-cigs, making California one of just a handful of states to tax so-called “vaping” devices containing nicotine.
The big worry among California public health experts is not so much the health risks of e-cigarette use on its own, but whether e-cigarette use will lure younger consumers into conventional cigarettes.
“Just when we thought we really had this under control, the whole world changed,” said Wendy Max, a professor of health economics at UC San Francisco. “Cigarette smoking is down but electronic cigarette usage is back.”
State health agencies have been retooling their anti-tobacco messaging to deter e-cigarette use.
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Navy scientists engage nation’s
classrooms in ‘virtual field trip’
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific in San Diego (SSC) reached into classrooms across America through a first-ever livestream outreach event on Oct. 16 in an effort to stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and to help build a robust future pool of American scientists and researchers.
The “virtual field trip” offered middle school students from more than 73 school districts across 18 states the opportunity to tune in live to watch SSC scientists Dr. Burton Neuner III and Dr. Brittany Lynn of the Advanced Photonic Technologies Branch discuss photonics through an interactive presentation of “Ocean Light and Communication and Invisible Light.”
SSC Pacific videographer and event coordinator Aaron Lebsack explained the project’s significance this way:
“Our conventional approach of sending our scientists and engineers to the classroom has always inspired STEM learning; however, by reversing that process and inviting the student inside our laboratories in the form of a ‘virtual field trip’ allows our team to inspire the next generation of STEM professionals on a much larger scale.”
Locally, the Mary McLeod Bethune K-8 school in Paradise Hills hosted the live-stream for the 40-plus enthusiastic students in teacher Kelly Marcarelli’s 8th grade science class. In addition to participating in the live-stream, SSC Pacific’s Dr. Sarah Lauff offered first hand additional classroom activities and answered students’ questions in real-time.
School principal Valerie Jurado was thrilled by both the professionalism of the scientists and the engagement from students. “This was such a great opportunity for students to see real-world applications of science in everyday life,” she said. “I am so proud of our kids. This is a fantastic opportunity for them to engage, and who knows what the impact will be on them in the future? One of our kids went to Space Camp just a short while ago, and now she wants to be an astronaut. This is an incredible opportunity for our kids to learn from real scientists.”
The presentation can be seen via the webcast link at https://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/17026
(This is an abridged version of a story by Patric Petrie)
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Judgeship Appointments
Eran Marie Bermudez
Eran Marie Bermudez, 38, of San Diego, has been appointed to a judgeship in the Imperial County Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown. Bermudez has been a complaint resolution officer at the University of California, San Diego since 2016. She was a partner at Garcia Hernandez and Sawhney LLP from 2011 to 2016 and an associate at Best Best and Krieger LLP from 2005 to 2011. Bermudez earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine. She fills the vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Ruth B. Montenegro as a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. Bermudez is a Democrat.
Shereen J. Charlick
Shereen J. Charlick, 54, of El Cajon, has been appointed to a judgeship in the San Diego County Superior Court. Charlick has been acting executive director at the Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. since 2018, where she has been chief trial attorney since 2005. She served as a supervisory assistant in the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Southern District of Florida from 2004 to 2005 and was a supervisory attorney and trial team leader at the Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. from 1999 to 2004. Charlick was an associate at the Law Office of Tarlow and Berk from 1998 to 1999 and a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office in 1998. She served as a deputy public defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Southern District of Florida from 1994 to 1998, as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program from 1991 to 1994 and as a law clerk for the Honorable William J. Zloch at the U.S District Court, Southern District of Florida from 1989 to 1991. Charlick earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Kerry Wells. Charlick is a Democrat.
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Chula Vista PD to launch
drones as first responders
The Federal Aviation Administration, city of Chula Vista, city of San Diego, San Diego Regional EDC and Cape announced the launch of a test program to deploy drones for proactive public safety operations by the Chula Vista Police Department. The project has been made possible through the FAA’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Integrated Pilot Program (IPP).
As part of the IPP, drones equipped with Cape Aerial Telepresence software will be deployed to a scene within two minutes from Chula Vista Police Department headquarters, to provide police with video and decision quality data. The drones will serve as first responders, assisting in incidents such as life safety, crime in progress, fleeing subjects, fire and more. The drone program is an element of the Chula Vista Smart City Action Plan to implement technology and data tools to enhance city services, advance public safety, promote the efficient use of taxpayer dollars, engage residents, and encourage growth in the local economy.
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GreatCall inks deal with
Massachusetts health insurer
San Diego-based GreatCall, acquired by Best Buy this summer, has inked a five-year agreement with a Massachusetts health insurer to provide in-home health monitoring for high-risk seniors. For those eligible, GreatCall will supply its Lively Home product – 10 sensors installed throughout the home to monitor movement, eating, sleeping and other daily activities.
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Illumina among Fortune’s Future 50 list
San Diego-based genomics giant Illumina is among Fortune Magazine’s Future 50 list, which ranks global companies with the best prospects for long-term growth. Other companies on the list with San Diego operations include Intuit, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, ServiceNow, Amazon, and more.
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Crowe PR wins 2 Eward L. Bernays Awards
Crowe PR, a San Diego-based public relations firm, gathered two Edward L. Bernays Awards from the Public Relations Society of America — the PR Team of the Year Mark of Excellence Award and the Marketing Consumer Products Silver Award. The annual awards ceremony, which recognizes the most effective public relations campaigns and individuals in the region, was held at The Alexandria at Torrey Pines on Oct. 25.
The PR Team of the Year Award honors the public relations team that has demonstrated excellence and outstanding achievement in their work as evidence by teamwork, results and contributions to the field of public relations, their clients and community.
Crowe PR also received the Marketing Consumer Products and Services Silver Award, which goes to public relations professionals and teams whose campaigns directly impact clients’ business objectives through the launch or promotion of a consumer good or service. Crowe PR was recognized for connecting the UK-based barefoot shoe company, Vivobarefoot, with wellness-minded women in the U.S.
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Personnel Announcements
Grace Lee joins Cubic Corp. as senior vp
and chief human resources and diversity officer
Cubic Corp. announced the appointment of Grace Lee as senior vice president and chief human resources and diversity officer. Lee will be responsible for the strategic leadership of global human resources for Cubic, including talent acquisition, organizational learning and development, talent management, total rewards and HR systems. Lee will also oversee the development and advancement of the company’s diversity strategy.
Prior to joining Cubic, Lee was senior vice president of global human resources for Charles River Laboratories, a biotechnology company with 14,000 employees across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. She has also previously held the top HR role at Beckman Coulter, TTM Technologies and IMI Severe Service. Lee has led integrations and restructuring through numerous global mergers and acquisitions initiatives. This includes the development of onboarding and integration programs, integration of best practices and establishment of succession and talent development plans for organizations.
Lee graduated from the University of the Philippines with a bachelor’s degree in communications and earned a Master of Science in global leadership from the University of San Diego.
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Rob Singh appointed CEO of The ConAm Group
The ConAm Group, a San Diego-based real estate investment, development and services firm, announced that industry veteran Rob Singh has been appointed CEO in addition to his role as president, coinciding with the firm’s ongoing growth in the industry. Singh has served as ConAm’s co-president and CIO for three years, alongside Bob Svatos, who will continue to serve as the firm’s president and COO.
As president and CEO, Singh will lead the investment, operational and financial activities of ConAm, while also guiding the firm’s business development including sourcing capital and client relationships. Singh is an Executive Committee member of the board of directors of the National Multi-Housing Council. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute, a Policy Advisory Board member for the University of San Diego Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, and he serves on the Building Industry Association Presidents’ Council.
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Jose Luis Laparte resigns as CEO of PriceSmart Inc.
PriceSmart Inc. announced the resignation by mutual agreement of its chief executive officer, president and director Jose Luis Laparte, effective Nov. 16. Laparte has agreed to support the interim CEO and make himself available at her request through the end of the current calendar year. Sherry S. Bahrambeygui, a director of the company, has been named interim CEO.
Robert Price has moved from chairman of the board to executive chairman of the board, and Leon Janks, a director, has been named lead director.
Price said that both the company and Laparte feel that the Company can benefit from a fresh perspective to respond to the rapidly changing world of merchandising.
Laparte has served as CEO of the company from July 2010 and president of the ompany from October 2004. He has been a member of the board since February 2008.
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