University of Pittsburgh

The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest award given to an alumnus by the Graduate School of Public Health. Recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award are GSPH alumni who have made a significant contribution to the field of public health, to GSPH, or to both.

The call for nominations is sent out in January each year. The GSPH Alumni Society Nominating Committee chooses the award recipients from the group of nominees, and the award is presented at the Alumni Dinner held in conjunction with GSPH Convocation at the end of April.

Three GSPH graduates were honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award at the annual dinner that took place on April 25. This year’s awardees are:

 
2009 Distinguished Alumni Awardees

Kenneth Miller, MS ’70
Radiation Health

Kenneth Miller is emeritus professor of radiology at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania. He started at the Hershey Medical Center in 1971 as the director of the Division of Health Physics and as a research associate. In 2008, the Kenneth L. Miller Chair in Radiology was created at Penn State Hershey Medical Center to honor his long and distinguished service.

Miller’s other honors include the Founders Award from the Health Physics Society in 2004; the Elda E. Anderson Award of the Health Physics Society, given annually to the outstanding health physicist under the age of 40 who has distinguished himself/herself through professional accomplishment; and election to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, which awarded him distinguished emeritus member status in 2007. He was named editor-in-chief of Health Physics in 1993, and editor-in-chief of Operational Radiation Safety in 1998.

In nominating Miller for the Distinguished Alumni Award, Ronald Kathren, a fellow alumnus of GSPH had this to say: “Although a modest and unassuming and a man of great humility, Ken Miller has had enormous positive influence on the professions of medicine, health and medical physics through his teaching, committee service and other service activities. In the radiological health specialty area of public health he is internationally recognized as an authority on medical health physics and is well known as an alumnus of the Pitt GSPH, furthering the high regard in which the Pitt GSPH is held among practicing health physicists.” 
 

Ken Miller and GSPH Alumni Society president Kristi Riccio Festa

David Reed, MS '61
Health Services Administration

David Reed has led numerous successful health care organizations across the country. He headed the University of Cincinnati hospital with dozens of teaching programs and more than 500 interns and residents. In New York City, he led Lenox Hill Hospital with affiliations with Cornell, the New York Medical College, and New York University Schools of medicine. He was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma, one of the first institutes dedicated to the study of sports and sports injuries in the country.

In Arizona he led the Samaritan Health Services, a system of hospitals, home health agencies, and a diversified for profit subsidiary operating commercial laboratories, an ambulance company, a credit and collections company, and one of the country’s largest air evacuation medical services. In California he headed St. Joseph Health System and its successful health maintenance organization. He achieved AA rating for St. Joseph Health System from Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s. He has extensive experience in developing physician delivery models responsive to the tenets of health care reform.

Upon his retirement in 1995, Reed served as chairman of the board of PacifiCare Health Systems and as a special advisor to Deloitte and Touche, and chaired the board of Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in southern California.

Reed is a life fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He was the first Pitt alumnus to chair the American Hospital Association and served honorably in the United States Army. He has been a member of the Dean’s National Advisory Committee for the GSPH Department of Health Policy & Management. Reed is currently retired and living in San Juan Capistrano, California. 
 

David Reed was unable to accept the award in person because he was traveling on the day 
of the Alumni Dinner. Sam Friede, assistant professor of in the Department of Health 
Policy & Management and director of the Governance Initiative of the Health Policy 
Institute, who nominated Reed, accepted on his behalf.

Jeanne Zborowski, PhD ’00
Epidemiology

Jeanne Zborowski received her bachelor’s degree in medical technology in 1971 and a master’s degree in hematology in 1984, both from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2000, she earned her PhD in epidemiology from GSPH, specializing in women’s health and environmental research. Her employment at the University started in 1987 as a clinical assistant professor and teaching fellow in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. In 1996 she was named a graduate researcher in the GSPH Department of Epidemiology, and in 2000 was appointed a senior research specialist.

Zborowski was the principal investigator of the study “Breast Artery Calcification and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.” She was also the principal investigator for the study of Hazelton and Hazel Township, Pennsylvania, titled “Cancer Risk in a Community Exposed to Benzene from a Gasoline Spill.” She was the co-principal investigator on the University of Pittsburgh Academic Consortium for Excellence in Environmental Public Health Tracking. She worked on numerous investigations involving large data sets including the Three Mile Island Cancer Registry.

Her honors include the Pi Alpha Pennsylvania Society for Medical Technology Presidential Award (1982-1987) and the Omicron Sigma American Society for Medical Technology Presidential Award (1982-1987). She was elected to Delta Omega, Omicron Chapter in 2000 and to Alpha Mu Tau (the national honor society for medical technology) in 1985. She also received the Edward P. Dolbey Award as Medical Technologist of the Year from the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Laboratory Science in 1985. In addition, Zborowski participated in several community and volunteer programs.

Zborowski passed away in January 2009. In nominating her for this award, Evelyn Talbott wrote: “Jeanne was a warm and caring person who was relied on by faculty and students alike. She had a unique ability to bring people together. Jeanne was selfless; that was perhaps her greatest strength. If you had a problem, she’d be the first person you'd think of to call. Jeanne also was a great listener, both as a scientist and friend. She was an excellent researcher, writer, and editor. Her life, which she shared with her students, associates, and family, was one of patience, dedication, laughter, love, and dreams of the future.” 

 

Son Gregory and husband Sam accept Jeanne Zborowski’s award from Kristi Riccio Festa

Previous Distinguished Alumni Awardees *

*Based on GSPH commencement programs. Any errors or omissions, please contact Jill Ruempler, 412-383-8849, or ruempler@pitt.edu