![Jaia Gallegos](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/Gallegos_Headshot_2.jpg?itok=b2dLEg33)
Jaia Gallegos Named 2024 Winner of Bernard D. Goldstein Student Award
Jaia Gallegos has been recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Bernard D. Goldstein Student Award in Environmental Health Disparities and Public Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.![brain illustration](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/1210_brain_0_0.png?itok=O0vXvJLt)
Encouraging early intervention for Alzheimer’s in the Black community through an innovative interdisciplinary approach
“I’m a huge proponent of ensuring that the work that we do is grounded in community experience, lived experience and voice,” Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Director of the Center for Health Equity Dara Méndez said.![The nine-member Board of Health](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/FINAL_24.jpg?itok=krOMcRiN)
Transparency and equity on minds of Allegheny County’s almost entirely new health board members
While serving on the board, Dara Mendéz, associate professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity will “ensure” that people who “have been historically and contemporarily excluded … are centered in our decision making and processes.”![children painting at a park](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/100724_AfterGeorgeFloyd_01_JeffreyPhelps%20%281%29.jpg?itok=8GOQ4lSe)
Milwaukee’s approach: How officials and advocates want to address racism as a public health crisis
“If we’re not going to name racism in the first place, then we’re not going to start to develop solutions to address it,” said Dara Méndez, associate professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity.![mother and child](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/FINAL_20.jpg?itok=7jpobufI)
Study: Racism and sexism keeps Black moms from losing pregnancy weight
The finding flies in the face of a culture of “individual responsibility” around maternal health, said Dara Méndez, associate professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity.![Dara Mendez](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/mendez.jpg?itok=Wx994dT7)
Allegheny County Executive announces new Board of Health appointments
Dara D. Méndez, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity, has been included in a group of eight new members appointed to the Allegheny County Board of Health.![Dara Méndez](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/dara%20mendez_0_0.jpg?itok=R948g1-V)
Experiences of discrimination linked to postpartum weight retention
“Beyond individual choices and behavior, we have to account for an individual's environment, because that can have an impact on health, too,” said lead author Dara Méndez, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity.![HJS Scholar winners](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/HJS%20Scholar%20Winners%20%281920%20x%201080%20px%29%20%28400%20x%20400%20px%29.png?itok=kzLNbKwD)
Introducing the 2024-2025 Health Justice Scholars
Pitt’s Center for Health Equity welcomes a new cohort to the Health Justice Scholars Program.![Dara Mendez](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/dara%20mendez_0.jpg?itok=sg8Ybcny)
EMBRACE Center awarded $13 mil to improve Black birthing outcomes
“Each component of the EMBRACE center is co-lead by community partners or a community clinician,” says Associate Professor of Epidemiology Dara Méndez.![panelists at the frontlines of public health symposium](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/JAP_6502.jpg?itok=wCc1gk-r)
New efforts to combat anti-science rhetoric and encourage vaccines topic of Pitt panel
“Any decline we’re seeing in vaccination rates is concerning,” said Theresa Chapple-McGruder, director of the Center for Health Equity and associate professor of health policy and management.![children and adults attend a back to school event. Photo credit: AP News](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/download%20%281%29.jpg?itok=au56ffiD)
Hundreds of places in the US said racism was a public health crisis. What’s changed?
“If we’re not going to name racism in the first place, then we’re not going to start to develop solutions to address it,” said Dara Mendez, associate professor of epidemiology.![Theresa Chapple-McGruder](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/theresa_chapple.jpg?itok=xzfqwERA)
Center for Health Equity director named
An epidemiologist and public health leader has been appointed associate professor of health policy and management and director of the Center for Health Equity (CHE) at the School of Public Health. She is Theresa Chapple-McGruder, PhD, MPH, who will assume her new role at Pitt on Aug. 1.![Amy Hartman and Dara Méndez](/sites/default/files/styles/lan/public/news-img/Untitled%20design%20%2821%29.png?itok=QMZ-_lGA)