For the past three months, 11 School of Public Health students have been partnering with professionals at the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to observe and participate in the kinds of projects they may one day undertake in their future careers as participants in the 13th Pittsburgh Summer Institute (PSI).
“I love PSI because the projects are really well developed and these students are literally out in the field doing incredible and necessary work,” says Adrianna Gradisek (MPH, BCHS ’20), PSI coordinator and experiential learning specialist in the Office of Student Affairs at Pitt Public Health. “It’s a great partnership with ACHD that helps our students learn what public health is all about.”
A showcase was held this past Friday (July 26) in the Commons, where students shared information about their projects with faculty, staff and other students.
Leah Gruss (MPH, EPI ’24) described her experience working with Nick Baldauf, a health department vector-control coordinator, and fellow intern Zachary Storn (MPH, IDM ’25).
“We were based out of the Housing and Community Environment Office,” says Gruss, explaining that she and Storn set mosquito traps in the City Pittsburgh and additional spots throughout Allegheny County to survey for the presence of West Nile virus. “Day to day, we collected the mosquitos and shipped them to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection lab in Harrisburg for testing.”
Positive cases were first observed in late May and continue to be seen in the county, according to the ACHD, which has been treating known mosquito breeding sites in Garfield, Baldwin Borough, and the Beltzhoover Knoxville, Sheraden and Corliss neighborhoods in recent weeks.
“It’s fascinating to see the results of the testing in real time, and interesting to see the steps the vector-control team takes when there are positive cases,” says Gruss. “This includes public education and the use of pesticides to control the mosquito population.”
The risk of infection with West Nile virus, the leading mosquito-borne disease in the United States, can continue to through the fall. Last year, the county only recorded one human case of West Nile virus, but the patient, a woman in her 80s from the city's Elliot neighborhood, died after she was hospitalized.
According to the ACHD, most people who contract West Nile do not feel sick. Only one in five people infected with the virus develop symptoms, which can include fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash. Fewer than 1% of infected people develop a serious illness. There are neither vaccines to prevent nor medications to treat the disease.
“Generally, the species of mosquitoes that carry West Nile are active from dusk to dawn,” says Baldauf. “Residents can deter mosquito bites by using insect repellent on exposed skin or wearing long sleeves and pants. Both methods are effective at reducing or eliminating the possibility of getting a mosquito bite.”
It’s also important for people to remove potential mosquito breeding sites around their property, according to ACHD. “Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a half-inch of stagnant water, so residents should pay close attention to places stagnant water can collect like tires, unused swimming pools, buckets, corrugated piping and clogged gutters.”
Before starting the internship, Gruss was unaware the county had something called a vector-control team. “I was so surprised to see how active we are in the community,” she says, adding that the experience gave her insight into how ACHD functions as a whole. As an undergraduate at Pitt-Johnstown, Gruss worked with biology Professor Jill Henning (PhD, IDM ’08) doing research on ticks and tick-borne disease.
“I knew vector control was one of my interests but working hands-on with the ACHD has given me a new passion for it,” she says. “This internship has made me consider working in vector control as part of my career. I’m so grateful to have had this experience.”
PSI students also engage in a group project that exposes them to the multidisciplinary, cross-cutting nature of work that is done in a local health department. The PSI offers a stipend of $1,500 to each student.
In addition to Gruss and Storn, 2024 PSI participants are:
• Aurora Conley (MPH, EPI ’25)—Lead Risk Assessment
• Mauricio Gil-Silva (MPH EPI ’24)—Overdose Surveillance
• Jade Heckman, (MPH, EOH ’25)—Animal Bites / Immunization
• Alex Lai (MPH, EPI ’24)—Animal Bites / Immunization
• Alexa Miller (MPH, BCHS ’25)—Condom Distribution
• Audrey Moran (MPH, BCHS ’25)—Animal Bites / Immunization
• Kathryn Ryan (MPH, HUGEN '25)—Advanced Molecular Laboratory Project
• Teddy Swift (MPH, BCHS ’25)—Wastewater and Activated Filter Media Treatment
• Kylie Zaffina (MPH, EPI, ’24)—Hepatitis C Free Allegheny
-Michele Baum