PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER - Pitt Public Health analysis found that the years of life lost declined by 28 percent among blacks, over the 25 years that were studied. “We were glad to see this," said DEAN DONALD BURKE. "Every year of life is precious. Asking how much premature or avoidable death there was, is a way of comparing how much life was left on the table and how much we are improving.”
HEALIO - Patients treated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy will incur on average $30,000 to $36,000 in additional costs aside from drug expenses, according to a research letter published in JAMA Oncology. "It is important to quantify the total costs of these therapies to account for them when doing pharmacoeconomic evaluations and deciding on their coverage," said INMACULADA HERNANDEZ (HPM '16).
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - A proposal by the EPA administrator that aims to limit the scientific research that the agency can use to set rules illustrates a widening rift between republicans and the scientific community. If finalized, the action would limit studies only to those whose data is publicly available. In environmental health research perfect, randomized, double-blind clinical studies aren’t possible, says EOH's BERNARD GOLDSTEIN.
WESA-FM - Black Americans have historically lived shorter lives than whites, but BIOS’s JEANINE BUCHANICH found that the years of life lost gap has narrowed significantly since 1990. “It seems to show us that racial disparity and health outcome is not inevitable. Now it’s time to do some further study to see why this happened and how we can build on it.”
On April 28, 2018, Pitt Public Health celebrated recent graduates with awards given upon the culmination of a degree program. Delta Omega's honor society inductees were announced and outstanding thesis/essay and dissertation awards were conferred. Outstanding Student Awards were also given at both the master's and doctoral level, as well as Dean's Service Awards.
Congratulations to EOH's AARON BARCHOWSKY who received the award for the passion and interest with which he teaches, for always encouraging his students, and his constant work to improve as an instructor. As one nominator put it, "He respects students and he is the best professor I've known."
STAT / KAISER HEALTH NEWS - He was surgeon general under President Franklin Roosevelt. He’s been lauded for turning sexually transmitted diseases from a moral failing into a medical concern. During the height of segregation, he acknowledged the need to stem health disparities between black and white America.
Thomas Parran Jr. has also been called an architect of the syphilis experiments on black men and women in Tuskegee, Ala. While surgeon g...
PITT WIRE - In Pitt's graduate student address, EPI doctoral graduate LARA SIMINERIO LEMON told the audience: "You only have one life. So do what you choose with it but remember: it's the only chance you'll get ... Please do not lose the momentum that Pitt has provided to each one of us ... get out there and do what you're trained to do." (View photo gallery)
NEW YORK TIMES - Researchers created a device that can test a drop of blood to tell, in about half an hour, who's immune to certain infections and who's not. The goal is to find groups of people at risk of outbreaks, especially in impoverished and remote areas, in time to save lives. "We need to develop cheaper and more efficient ways to detect outbreaks earlier," said IDM's ERNESTO MARQUES. “This may be one step in that direction.”
PITT WIRE - Led by IDM's TONY SILVESTRE, the Pitt Public Health project serves as the facilitator of the HIV prevention and care community planning process in Pennsylvania. With initiatives like Acceptance Journeys and Project SILK, the work has received recognition from multiple federal health bodies in recent years, helping Pennsylvania set the national standard for integrated HIV planning.
REUTERS - "Caffeine in utero may change how the brain develops," said EPI's LISA BODNAR. "This is important because the brain has a strong influence over appetite." Caffeine passes rapidly through the placenta and has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and restricted fetal development, previous research has found.
HOME HEALTH CARE NEWS - Because of the nature of hospice being separate, Medicare Advantage plans are not as familiar with the benefit and its overall costs. “There is a fair amount of uniformity in the concerns around a carve-in…the fact this has been regulated to be off their radar, they don’t have data on [hospice],” says HPM's JULIA DRIESSEN. “[There’s] no incentive for them to understand the hospice landscape.”
It's that time again. Submit your suggestions for next year's One Book, One Community title. We will be celebrating 10 years of this initiative that has encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends through reading a shared book relative to public health.
BIOPHARMA DIVE - Since 2007, invoice spending has grown 60%, yet net spending rose 36%. Less clear, however, is how those dynamics weigh on patients' wallets. "This does not help us figure out what's affecting out-of-pocket costs," WALID GELLAD, HPM professor.
TRIB LIVE - Penn Hills School District will host a safety discussion for eighth grade and high school students and families. There will be a panel of student athletes and coaches, representatives from the municipal police department, United Way, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape and BCHS's LIZ MILLER. It's a great opportunity to see what resources are available at the high school, everything from social to physical safety.
The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank determined to increase global prosperity by advancing collaborative solutions that widen access to capital, create jobs, and improve health. In 2018, they launched the Future Health Leaders Pilot Program to create the right connections between organizations, students, and schools. Students chosen this year from Pitt Public Health are KAITLYN SAAL-RIDPATH (JD/MPH ’20), JESSICA SALERNO (I...
ASPPH FRIDAY LETTER - Last Thursday, ASPPH Data Center staff visited Pitt Public Health, meeting with administrators, staff, and the university-wide Tableau business intelligence user group. The consultation focused on upcoming ASPPH Annual Data Reporting, ASPPH resources for diversity studies, using the ASPPH Data Center Portal for admissions and careers services strategizing, and how ASPPH is cultivating a data culture among our membership.
TRIB LIVE – LifeX will tackle some of medicine’s biggest challenges for its initial focus. They announced a $2 million grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to help it get off the ground. “The LifeX team is proud to have the Hillman Foundation's support as we continue this longstanding legacy of facilitating cures to the most devastating and prevalent causes of suffering and death”, says CEO of LifeX and HUGEN’s DIETRICH STEPHAN.
NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT from CNBC - Americans are filling fewer prescriptions for opioids, however, heroin and stronger synthetic opioids like fentanyl have overtaken prescription drugs as the biggest causes of overdose deaths. “One of the main [questions] that people are concerned about is whether there’s been a transition to heroin and other forms of opioids because of the reduction in prescription opioids, says HPM’s WALID GELLAD (16:45-19:30...
BCHS's JESSICA BURKE, HPM's ERIC ROBERTS and DIANA DELUCIA (IDM '19) each present recent work ranging from community research on stigmatization of menstrual practices in Nepal, to the economics and equity of Medicaid reform, to the microbiology of HIV re-infection.