Just like Pittsburgh’s beloved neighbor Fred Rogers, who inspired and educated generations of children, a computer modeling software system named after him is teaching us how to use scientific data to improve health and save lives.
FRED – the Framework for Reconstructing Epidemiological Dynamics – has been used for more than a decade to predict the spread of influenza throughout communities. Originally developed to simulate infectious disea...
In response to the growing interest in public health careers among younger generations and the need for a more diverse and community-focused public health workforce, the University of Pittsburgh is officially launching an undergraduate program for students seeking a career in public health.
The inaugural class will matriculate in fall 2022, and applications have already greatly exceeded expectations.
On December 1, 2021, The Hill released their annual list of Top Lobbyists, including 2004 HPM graduate Kelly Lavin Delmore (HPM ’04). Ms. Delmore is a Principal in the Government Relations and Public Policy Practice at the health law firm, Hooper Lundy & Bookman, P.C., where she lobbies for an array of health care clients on a bi-partisan level. With close to two decades of experience on Capitol Hill, much of her work in the past year focused on...
“For the longest time, I wanted to be a physician,” says Jonathan, a native of Long Island, N.Y. “But, I never thought about it in a global context or considered all the things that shape health until my volunteer work. I started really thinking about public health and how it could be a window into practicing medicine. Public health is as much science as it is social justice.”
Russell Rycheck, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology, passed away on December 17, 2021. He will be remembered as a celebrated professor and respected colleague. Dr. Rycheck was a professor at Pitt Public Health for 42 years, where he received multiple awards for teaching, including Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Excellence in Teaching and the Margaret Gloninger award for teaching and service.
NBC NEWS – HPM’s Mark Roberts, director of the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, said he’s concerned that regions of the country that currently don’t have mitigation measures for Covid will see a large increase in flu cases in the coming weeks. “What I think is worrisome now is that there are many states where they’re not doing much to try to prevent Covid,” Roberts said. “They’re getting rid of mask mandates, they’re letting people come indoor...
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - New research from secondary EPI faculty Rebecca Thurston sheds light on the ways that being kinder to yourself may be good for your heart. The study found that women who practice self-compassion overall have stronger cardiovascular health, further cementing the correlation between mind and body. “Self-compassion is a psychological construct that includes relating to oneself with kindness or compassion, particularly duri...
NBC – HPM’s Mark Roberts, said the data in the new preprint "is certainly consistent with what I know from the rest of the world right now.” The potential, he said, for a “really large influenza season this year is real. So much of the immunity that you get in a population comes from the people who had influenza the year before. There could be substantially bigger epidemics this year, especially if the strain that appears is different than the s...
WQED - EPI’s Dara Mendez, BCHS’s Patricia Documet, and Diego Chaves-Gnecco (MMPH ’00) are featured in a 30-minute documentary showcasing widespread and troubling health disparities. Lack of access to affordable care, racism, marginalization and other factors have led to increased rates of cancer, diabetes, asthma, and fetal and maternal death in Pittsburgh’s African American, Latinx, LGBTQIA+ and disabilities communities.
Congratulations to EOH’s Sally Wenzel and Valerian Kagan and EPI’s Anne Newman for their inclusion in the 2021 list of Highly Cited Researchers. The list identifies researchers who have demonstrated significant influence in their chosen fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. A total of 18 researchers from Pitt were included in this year's list.
Gerard Portela (EPI ‘24) was honored for the abstract “Comprehensive Assessment of Cognitive Function in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease Deficits in Memory and Processing Speed” at the American Society of Hematology conference in Atlanta.
“While I explored a community health career, I found that medicine is my true passion. I know that my public health background will help me to better serve my patients and to better understand how their social conditions may impact their physical or mental health.”
Epi Gives Back members Robbie Burke, Harika Dyer, Elora Kalix and Dr. Nancy Glynn, joined Dr. Tiffany Gary-Webb, Dr. Dara Mendez and the Black Equity Coalition for a Holiday Health Fair and Vaccine Clinic in North Braddock on Saturday, December 11, 2021. This event was an opportunity for the group to collect data on the community’s reasons for getting the COVID-19 vaccination, as well as to learn why some individuals might be vaccine-hesitant. M...
Shan Wu (BIOST '24) will receive the 2022 award, created in 2013 by the American Statistical Association (ASA) in partnership with the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA) in rememberance of Lingzi Lu, the first-year student in the statistics master's program at Boston University who lost her life in the bombing at the Boston Marathon in April of that year. Lu was an ambitious, talented, and vibrant student, who looked forward to...
Dean Lichtveld wishes everyone a wonderful winter break and holiday season!
PUBLIC SOURCE - EPI’s Donald Burke wants the department to review what it’s doing now, get data from other jurisdictions and consider how it might better achieve the goal of safe and livable housing. “It’s an important function of the Health Department,” Burke said. “The environmental factors that are found in the housing inspections that deal with air quality, water quality [and] the social environment are all important determinants of health.”...
CNN - "We need more research to disentangle all the factors that may link seasonality to COVID-19 cases," HPM’s Hawre Jalal said. "Since it has been doing it twice so predictably, it's highly likely that a winter wave will happen again. That doesn't mean that we should give up and say, 'It's seasonal, we just have to go with that.' I think a very important distinction to make is that we have some predictable pattern to it, so we can prepare for ...
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NEWS - EOH student Sam Totoni authored a two-part feature series to inform the public. “Hunting and fishing have a science denial problem. Special interest groups are misleading hunters and anglers—some of the country's proudest conservationists—into poisoning wildlife. Hunters are also being misled into risking the health of their families and recipients of donated meat. Even small amounts of lead affect nearly every organ ...
PITTWIRE - From addressing health disparities in transgender communities to researching links between racism and asthma, the Health Justice Scholars program challenges students to approach their work with a focus on equity. EPI's Dara Mendez said students were the inspiration behind starting the program. "They wanted to build community and work with other like-minded people who are doing similar work," she said.
U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT - A groundbreaking analysis of decades-old stool and blood samples from the early AIDS epidemic suggests that men who had high levels of inflammation-causing bacteria in their intestinal tract may have had a greater risk for contracting HIV. "A healthy gut microbiome is essential for many bodily functions…" said IDM’s Yue Chen, lead author. “Scientists are increasingly learning that it has other wide-ranging impacts.
...