Hirunwut Praekunatham (EOH, '18) was recently promoted to chief of the Epidemiology and Public Health Emergency Response unit under the new Division of Occupational and Environmental Diseases in Thailand. Praekunatham's responsibilities include surveillance of environmental/occupational diseases at the national level and field work in response to emergencies or events related to chemical and radioactive substances.
BUSINESS INSIDER - Alvaro San-Juan Rodriguez (HPM '20) and Inmaculada Hernandez (HPM '16) published a new study in JAMA Neurology that found that drug prices for individuals with multiple sclerosis quadrupled over a 10-year period. The average price of the the treatments climbed from $18,660 in 2006 to $75,847 in 2016.
Alex Nowalk (BCHS '16), program director at Pitt's Program Evaluation and Research Unit, recently co-authored a chapter in an upcoming book, A Public Health Guide to Ending the Opioid Epidemic. Nowalk's chapter presents screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment as a public health and prevention strategy to address substance use and addiction. The book will be published through Oxford University Press and co-published with the Amer...
UNIVERSITY TIMES - After spending 2002-09 at Pitt as project director and community health coordinator for the Center for Minority Health (now the Center for Health Equity), Mario Browne (BCHS '05) returned in 2011 as the director of diversity for the Schools of the Health Sciences and now aims to bring diversity to the faculty and staff. “It’s not just about knowing each other, it’s about knowing yourself,” he adds, “the way that we service our...
Professor Jessica Burke and student Teagan O'Malley (BCHS '12 '19) developed a framework for evaluating and improving the effectiveness of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which responds to over 1000 calls for help each day. Burke and O'Malley engaged multiple stakeholders including service providers, users, and experts via a content-mapping research methodology to isolate what matters most and to establish metrics for monitoring this vit...
THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT - In the past century, Pennsylvania has become very favorable for the ecology of tick-borne diseases. The region's woodlands, rivers, growing white tailed-deer population, plentiful population of white-footed mouse, and the expansion of human populations into the black-legged tick's habitat create ideal conditions for the transmission of Lyme disease to humans. Jill Henning (IDM '08) breaks down the risks.
HOPE WITH ANSWERS - Discover in-depth information about immunotherapy for lung cancer through this conversation between Kellie Smith (IDM '13) of Johns Hopkins and patient advocate Lysa Buonanno, part of a video series providing the next level of information for patients to understand treatment options, particularly if they've experienced resistances or if their lung cancer has progressed.
INSIDE UPMC - Public health alumnae & RPCVs Marilyn Blasingame (IDM '16) and Ingrid Godfrey (IDM '18), and IDM professor Linda Rose Frank discuss their work on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities through the MidAtlantic AIDS Education & Training Center (MAAETC), which recently was awarded $14.2 million from the Department of Health and Human Services to continue the center’s work for the next five years
PITT MAGAZINE - Lauren Chubb, DrPH, MPH (EOH ’16, ’13) occasionally dons a hard hat to see the results of her work in the lab. Her team at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Mining Program has developed software to analyze respirable dust samples in just a few minutes, rather than days. And time is of the essence: The sooner we detect airborne disease-causing particles, the better the mines can protect their workers' he...
SPECIALTY PHARMACY TIMES - A new studying has found a correlation between children born to pre-pregnancy body-mass index (BMI) and the likelihood of developing childhood cancer, even after correcting for known risk factors, such as newborn size and maternal age. "My hope is that this study can be, in a way, empowering and also motivating for weight loss," said lead author Shaina Stacy (EOH '15 '12).