KDKA - Radio afternoon news host Robert Mangino interviewed EOH's JIM FANISIAK about the American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report. Even though our Pittsburgh air seems clear, there's a lot more we can do to clear up some of the worst air quality in the country.
Outstanding alumni from the master's and doctoral programs at Pitt Public Health are recognized in five categories including Distinguished Alumni Awards for Practice, for Research, and for Teaching and Dissemination; The Margaret F. Gloninger Service Award for volunteer service, and the Early Career Excellence Award. At the annual banquet in May, alumni and faculty members are also initiated into the Delta Omega honor society.
POST-GAZETTE - “Air pollution in the form of soot and smog poses a serious threat to the health of those all across the region with children and the elderly being among the most susceptible,” said Jim Fabisiak, associate professor of Environmental & Occupational Health with the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health. “There are no known completely safe levels of exposure.” He said the fine particulates can penetrate deep into...
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging, announced its newest elected officers, including Elsa S. Strotmeyer, Department of Epidemiology. Officers are chosen by the GSA membership of more than 5,500 researchers, educators, and practitioners, and are responsible for matters of governance and strategic planning, and represent the Society’s four membership section...
Biostatistics doctoral student TIANZHOU MA (BIOS‘18) was awarded the 2017 Student of the Year Award by the American Statistical Association (ASA) Pittsburgh Chapter.
On April 13, 2017, TREVOR ORCHARD shared his inaugural lecture as Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology with Chancellor Patrick Gallegher and a throng of well-wishers during an event sponsored by Patricia Beeson, provost, senior vice chancellor, and chief academic officer of the University of Pittsburgh. Orchard's talk was titled "The Cardiovascular Complications of Type 1 Diabetes: A 30-year Pittsburgh Perspective."
CBS NEWS - Among women between 40 and 53 years of age, frequent hot flashes were linked to poorer function in blood vessels, the study found. This association was independent of other heart disease risk factors, noted the team led by REBECCA THURSTON, EPI faculty, professor of psychiatry and psychology, and director of the Women's Biobehavioral Health Laboratory.
INGRID GODFREY (IDM), pictured, and CLAY COOK (BCHS), both Peace Corp Volunteers in Moldova, were delighted to receive the care packages sent by friends via the Center for Global Health. The boxes were filled with cards and small, non-perishable items like candy, magazines, lightweight books, and small personal care items.
WASHINGTON POST - California's school vaccination rate is at its highest level since 2001 after the state required almost all public school children to get immunizations. Pediatrician and elected official Richard Pan authored the new legislation after viewing the dramatic impact of measles vaccination via our own Public Health Dynamics Laboratory's FRED (Framework for Reconstructing Epidemiological Dynamics). The data visualization stirred Pan to...
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER - Hot flashes may be more than a troublesome nuisance for some women during menopause -- they may be a signal for increased risk of heart disease, suggests a team led by REBECCA THURSTON, Department of Epidemiology. The study showed that the association was independent of other heart disease risk factors, and the link seemed restricted to the younger women in the study -- there was no such relationship among women aged 5...
PITTSBURGH COURIER - Coordinating health services in African American barbershops. Documenting the daily life of Latino immigrants. Exploring strategies to reduce gun violence. Building academic-community partnerships. These are some of the initiatives of the CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY (CHE) at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health. The center has a goal to reduce the major causes of excess mortality among underserved popu...
Epi Gives Back, an organization of students, faculty, and staff led by NANCY GLYNN, volunteered to assist the Allegheny County Health Department with assembling Safe Sex Kits for distribution through regional health clinics. ACHD supplied condoms, lubricant, and informational packets for the service project.
Epi Gives Back is a Department of Epidemiology group with a goal of contributing to the Pittsburgh community through volunteer service projects. Students and faculty recently volunteered with the Allegheny County Health Department, packing safe sex kits (comprised of condoms, lubricants, and informational literature) are designed for distribution through local health agencies. For details about upcoming service projects to be held in the Pitt Pub...
With the data, the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Health is using its platform, the Framework for Reconstructing Epidemic Dynamics (FRED), to “model how different census tracts look with regard to different cardiovascular risk factors as well as outcomes in terms of mortality,” ACHD director and HPM faculty KAREN HACKER said. “Then we’re going to look to see if any of these social determinants may actually contribute to the differenc...
NEW YORK TIMES - The idea of dropping unnecessary medications started cropping up in the medical literature a decade ago. In recent years, evidence has mounted about the dangers of taking multiple, perhaps unnecessary, medications. To reduce the chances of adverse drug effects, patients can play an important role in medication “deprescribing.” HPM's WALID GELLAD advises that at every visit with a doctor, “patients should ask, ‘Are there any medic...
CNBC.COM -- Professor of human genetics and biostatistics DANIEL WEEKS reported that applications for BD2K biomedical training grants submitted by the University were denied because of concerns over future funding for the BD2K Initiative.
Short for Big Data to Knowledge, BD2K refers to an NIH-funded program to update biomedical big data sets. Weeks had high hopes of procuring funding, calling it "quite disheartening" given the time and effort sp...
HARPERS BAZAAR - Pittsburgh is the top-ranked city in this list of "The 17 Best Places to Travel in 2017" -- ranking #4 overall worldwide after New Zealand, Canada, and Finland. "It's not the first thing you think of when dreaming of a weekend getaway, innovative food scene or art hub, but it delivers on all accounts in droves." (Jan 5, 2017 issue)
Doctoral student YI LIU (BIOS ’17) was awarded the Mihaela Serban Best Poster Award in the American Statistical Association (ASA) Pittsburgh Chapter's 2017 poster competition for her presentation "Copula-based Score Test for Large-scale Bivariate Time-to-even Data, with an Application to a Genetic Study of AMD Progression."
INSIDEUPMC.UPMC.COM -- Pitt’s Global Health Student Association recently traveled to Lima, Peru, on a week-long service trip. GHSA is composed of grad students who share an interest in global health and believe health care should be available to everyone. The students collaborated with MedLife to help provide preventative screening, health care and service to community members living in poverty.
Medicare beneficiaries with Part D prescription coverage with six or more chronic conditions who were connected to an ACO had the highest savings on medical costs — $966 per patient in 2012, said lead author HPM's YUTING ZHANG upon releasing findings. “This is encouraging because it demonstrates that ACO providers may be prioritizing their focus on beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.”