Ian Toothill, 47, a personal trainer from London, has stage IV bowel cancers. Earlier this month, he reached the summit of Mt. Everest. "It's a way of changing the narrative, asserting control," explains Ellen Ormond, PhD, of the Center for Counseling and Cancer Support at the University of Pittsburgh...
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MANAGED CARE - An article by alumna INMACULADA (INMA) HERNANDEZ (HPM ’16) discusses the impact of the outcomes-based pricing arrangements proposed by Amgen on the pricing of PCSK9 inhibitor therapy, and provides recommendations for payers on the design of outcomes-based contracts. She is an assistant professor at Pitt’s School of Pharmacy. Her research explores the intersection of pharmaceutical health services and outcomes re...
Researcher SUZANNE GOLLIN, Department of Human Genetics, has been reappointed as a member of the Pennsylvania Cancer Control, Prevention, and Research Advisory Board. This was confirmed by the Senate on September 20, 2017. She is pictured here with an image of tumor cell biomarkers.
WALL STREET JOURNAL - One of the largest managers of pharmaceutical benefits in the U.S. says it will start limiting the duration and dose of some prescriptions for opioid painkillers, in an effort to combat widespread addiction. The restrictions, based on CDC recommendations published last year, could cause some debate. WALID GELLAD, physician and HPM assistant professor, said the restrictions for chronic pain could cause cumbersome paperwork an...
Alumnus DAVID SALCIDO (EPI ’08) delivered an epidemiology seminar entitled “Cardiac Arrest, Resuscitation and the Opioid Epidemic.” Since 2006 he has developed interests in cardiac arrest physiology (acute phase), resuscitation device and robotics development, signal analysis, and emergency medicine epidemiology. Current Pitt Public Health students JESSICA SALERNO (IDM '18) and ALLISON KOLLER (EPI '18) collaborate in his ongoing research.
The Telehealth Appalachian AIDS Education and Training Center Project, led by IDM's LINDA FRANK, provides web-based HIV education, training, clinical guidelines, and resources to Appalachian community health centers. Frank has worked to increase knowledge and awareness about HIV disease in underserved communities in the hope of preventing discrimination and delivering more care to those who need it.
CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL - After a natioinwide search, NC-based Carolinas HealthCare System has tapped alumnus ANTHONY DEFURIO (HADM ’89) to serve as executive vice president and CFO, effective October 2017. Carolinas recently announced it would merge with Chapel Hill-based UNC Health Care, forming one of the nation’s largest hospital networks. Leading up to this new position, DeFurio was senior vice president and CFO at University of Colorado ...
CURBED - Look at the stats! In addition to a raft of articles talking about the city’s growing tech sector, a new report from the Brookings Institution just found that Pittsburgh’s per capita university research and development (R&D) spending was nearly two and a half times the national average, and its millennial population has risen 37.3 percent between 2000 and 2013.
PITTSBURGH COURIER - Nearly half of all African American adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, and African Americans have nearly twice the risk for a first-ever stroke than Caucasians, resulting in a much higher death rate from stroke. Alumnus MARIO BROWNE (BCHS ’05), Pitt’s director of health sciences diversity and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, talks about how those diseases can be prevented.
WTAE ACTION NEWS - As the opioid crisis sweeping the country, demand for naloxone has soared—and so has the price. HPM’s WALID GELLAD, who studies drug pricing, says the system is completely out of control. Naloxone cost increases have sky-rocketed, a huge concern for emergency service providers and community organizations.
WIRED - Researchers have been calling for this kind of data-driven approach to the national opioid epidemic. They want to study the spread of opioids like infectious diseases, by looking at transmission patterns and recovery rates. But much of the data is locked in state agencies, making it difficult to access, says DONALD BURKE, dean of the Graduate School of Public Health at University of Pittsburgh. “These data should be liberated,” he says.
In 2003, the Department of Human Genetics revived a tradition: a beginning-of-the-year department retreat for faculty, staff, students, friends, and family at the Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology. Last weekend’s 2017 gathering featured a poster session, invited speaker talks, student talks, and a panel and group discussion, as well as plenty of opportunities for bonding over meals, table tennis, billiards, board games, canoeing, hiking, ’smores-m...
BCHS rock star MARTHA TERRY is also amazing outside the classroom. Last weekend she was busy with community work in Pittsburgh’s Friendship neighborhood.
Drug policy researcher WALID GELLAD says the outcomes-based contracts are being viewed as the solution to the drug-price problem, and they’re not going to be, at least not in the short term. The deals don’t stop drug companies from charging high starting prices for new drugs or from steadily raising prices for older drugs. Any rebates or discounts in outcomes-based contracts are off an already inflated number. He favors other ways to curb drug co...
MONEY - “When it comes to finding the best city for jobs, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better,” says Andrew Chamberlain. “These areas stand out for offering some of the greatest job prospects along with a lower cost of living that allows more employees to live comfortably.” Pittsburgh tops the list!
An epidemiology study led senior author ANNE B. NEWMAN and alumna MINI E. JACOB (EPI ’14) was recently named one of the 10 most effective articles in geriatric medicine in 2016 at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting. "Can a Healthy Lifestyle Compress the Disabled Period in Older Adults?" was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society last year, and found that leading a healthy lifestyle not only extends one’s lifespa...
TUFTS NOW - Adding 48 minutes of moderate exercise per week is associated with improvements in overall physical functioning and decreases in risks of immobility in older adults who are sedentary, finds a new study assisted by author NANCY GLYNN, epidemiology researcher with the Center for Aging and Population Health.
TRIB LIVE - Even people who exercise the recommended two-and-a-half hours per week likely face an increased risk of death if they sit a lot every day, according to a new study on sitting’s health risks. The science of sedentary behavior is more limited than the science of physical activity, said epidemiology’s BONNIE ROCKETTE-WAGNER. She tells people to find creative ways to get up and move around – whether it’s pausing a TV show to get a little ...
THE HILL - Emeritus dean and environmental professor BERNARD GOLDSTEIN comments that, as we help communities affected by recent weather disasters, it's time to talk about our national responsibility to fund restoration of areas likely to be repeatedly impacted in the future. “Would it not be better, after the immediate rescue efforts are completed, to require recognition of the reality of global climate change in planning for a rebuilt Houston th...
BCHS student EMMA HOSMAN presented on September 8, 2017, at the second annual Pitt MED Ed Day. Her poster, titled Implementing Responder Safety Trainings at a Local Health Department: A Public Health Preparedness Initiative, was based on work at the Allegheny County Health Department during her participation in the 2017 Pittsburgh Summer Institute.