Medicare beneficiaries with Part D prescription coverage with six or more chronic conditions who were connected to an ACO had the highest savings on medical costs — $966 per patient in 2012, said lead author HPM's YUTING ZHANG upon releasing findings. “This is encouraging because it demonstrates that ACO providers may be prioritizing their focus on beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.”
R&D MAGAZINE - The caps of DNA at the end of our chromosomes known as telomeres are a crucial part of our biology. Their condition has been linked to aging, cancer, and a host of other conditions. The short and long extremes of telomere length significantly increase cancer risk, according to new research by EPI professor and study lead author JIAN-MIN YUAN. His team found that certain cancers are much more likely in people with longer telomeres, ...
SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC - The TVA case study fits with many other examples of how coal pollution can harm health, says EOH's BERNARD GOLDSTEIN. “We should get rid of particulates, and coal contributes to that.... If the president gets his way, this would slow [coal’s descent] down,” says Goldstein, who coauthored a March 23 New England Journal of Medicine opinion piece on why the Trump administration should pay attention to environmental...
UPMC.COM/MEDIA -- Longer-than-expected telomeres “caps” of DNA that protect the tips of chromosomes may predict increased cancer risk and be a potential target for future therapeutics according to UPCI researcher and professor of epidemiology JIAN-MIN YUAN and colleagues--including doctoral candidate ZHENSHENG WANG (EPI ’17)--who analyzed blood samples and health data on more than 28,000 Chinese people enrolled in the Singapore Chinese Health ...
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW - On Tuesday, Jennifer Silva, an assistant professor of sociology at Bucknell University, will share her research tales at Pitt Public Health's “One Book, One Community” lecture. Among the questions Silva is trying to answer in her research: What happens when people feel left behind? Who do they blame? And if they can't rely on getting a job to have a good life, how do they create a life that is meaningful?
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - From dialects and colloquialisms to food and beyond, there is too much diversity among Latinos for one box. That reminder is one of the riches resulting from Ojo Latino. The photographic exhibit, running April 10-24 in the Pitt Public Health Commons, will kick off with a presentation on 4/10, 2 to 3 p.m., in A115.
CAMILO RUIZ, a Colombian, is studying for advanced degrees in public health (BCHS) and anthropology. Wit...
During first-floor construction in March and April, access to room A115 will be via the Crabtree elevator or the stairwell from the parking garage (see "First floor Parran Hall construction"). Note there will be no handicapped emergency egress from A115 (i.e. during an emergency in which the elevator is shut down), so avoid scheduling events here during this time. For questions or scheduling, contact Joanne Pegher in Student Affairs.
REUTERS HEALTH - College students in the U.S. who say their campus is welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are less likely to be victims of sexual assaults at school. Researchers found that students who perceived their campus as an inclusive environment for LGBT people were significantly less likely to be the victims of sexual assault. "I believe this study provides proof of concept for how environment may influence sexual ...
Guest Lauren Hughes, the commonwealth's deputy secretary for health innovation, shared details about the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Rural Health Initiative to a packed room of students and faculty. Read about the plan's implementation at bit.ly/2nvKGMT.
DENTON — After an extensive national search, Texas Woman’s University on March 21, 2017 announced it has tapped Alan C. Utter (EPI '95) as Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, effective July 1. Utter currently serves as the interim VP for Research and a professor in the Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science at Appalachian State University (ASU) in North Carolina where he previously directed ASU’s Health Promotion academic degree pro...
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BCHS doctoral student SARA BAUMANN, co-author Pema Lhaki, and advisor JESSIE BURKE will present a poster at the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research in Atlanta in June. The title is "Preliminary Lessons from Using Collaborative Filmmaking in Public Health Research: A Pilot Study of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Nepal." Baumann will also present a series of short documentaries highlighting different menstrual experiences.
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW - One expert sharing this focus on environment, disease prevention and improving health, is DONALD BURKE, dean at the Pitt Public Health and associate vice chancellor for global health. Burke says the region still has work to do for healthier communities, “The state of our health in Allegheny County has not been very good... We need more discussion at a population level about living longer and better.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Participants without physical activity trackers showed nearly twice the weight loss benefits at the end of the 24 months. Participants who used wearable devices reported an average weight loss of 7.7 pounds, while those who partook only in health counseling reported an average loss of 13 pounds, according to researchers WENDY KING, ABDUS WAHED, and STEVEN BELLE.
MPH students ERIN COX (EPI) and ALISON FEATHERS (IDM), along with members of the National Health Corps Pittsburgh, represented the Allegheny County Health Department at the Carnegie Science Center’s annual Sci Tech Days. They presented information about Lyme disease to middle and high school student participants.
We're proud that Epi's KATHLEEN CREPPAGE's #opioidepidemic discovery of illicit fentanyl in Allegheny County caught the attention of PA Physician General Rachel Levine and the PA Department of Health. Very timely research.
TIFFANY GARY-WEBB and ELIZABETH FELTER of Pitt Public Health's Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences have been awarded a two-year contract to evaluate a Diabetes Prevention Pilot Project for Feeding America. They will be helping to determine the feasibility of offering DPP to people at risk of diabetes who receive food from a food bank.
HEALTH PROMOTION PRACTICE – Doctoral student TEAGEN O’MALLEY (BCHS '18) and faculty co-authors examine the Pittsburgh Homicide Review Group to evaluate how academic–community partnerships can enhance public health research, encourage translation of research into practice, and support a data-driven approach to improving community health and well-being in "Preventing Violence: A Public Health Participatory Approach to Homicide Reviews."
Congratulations to MPH students SHANNON HUGHES (BCHS '17) and KALI STALL (BCHS '17) on their new positions at the Consumer Health Coalition, a leading consumer health advocacy organization in Southwestern Pennsylvania--where they'll join fellow MPH alumna KATIE HOLLER (BCHS '16).
Four BCHS students have recently been awarded travel scholarships: SARA BAUMANN, the Dr. and Mrs. Ryonosuke Shiono (Nationality Rooms) Scholarship; LYCIA NEUMANN, a Global Health Travel Award and theTinker summer pre-dissertation grant from Center for Latin American Studies; CYNDY SALTER, the Ruth Crawford Mitchell Memorial (Nationality Rooms) Scholarship; and MPH/MID student KATIE SIVES, a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship.
REUTERS - In an editorial accompanying this new study, HPM's JULIE DONOHUE and DEREK ANGUS suggest five broad solutions to drug shortages, including early warning systems, rapid changes to professional guidelines about drug alternatives, and expanded stockpiles of drugs. Some of these approaches would "require major restructuring of the industry and its regulation," they write.
INSIDE HIGHER ED- "If sexual assault prevention efforts solely focus on heterosexual violence, they may invalidate sexual- and gender-minority people's assault experiences and be ineffective for them," said BCHS doctoral candidate ROBERT COULTER. "To overcome this, existing programs could be augmented to explicitly address homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and racism. And new interventions could be created specifically for sexual, gender, racial ...
Congratulations to several HPM students on their recent job placements, including MPH candidate JARED GARFIELD (HPM '17), and MHA candidates DANIELLE CEREP (HPM '17), SARAH MILLER (HPM '17), and MATT BAUER (HPM '17).
MEDICAL CARE BLOG - Contributor and HPM assistant prof, MARIAN JARLENSKI, says the future of federal and state Medicaid policy will personally impact the 74 million people now covered through their states’ programs, including the 14.6 million who have gained coverage under the ACA expansion. Has there been a correlation between state-level changes in insurance coverage under Medicaid expansion and states’ political ideology or presidential voting...
WASHINGTON POST - An active lifestyle during pregnancy is safe and beneficial. Last week, epidemiology’s LISA BODNAR published a new report in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that investigated the diets of 7,500 pregnant women. The study revealed alarmingly high percentages of added sugars and solid fats in the women’s diets. “Many women gain too much weight during pregnancy, and this has become a major public health concern...
STAT News -- “There are discounts that reduce the price of a drug for everyone and there are rebates that do not reduce prices for everyone. But if a wholesaler does not pass along discounts, then these may not be reducing the overall cost of the medicine, and that’s confusing.” said HPM's WALID GELLAD, co-director of Pitt's Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing.