Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Dean’s Day competition!
We are already looking forward to Dean’s Day 2014. Read on for more information about Dean’s Day, including a list of all 2013 presenters. Don’t forget to check out our tips on writing an abstract and preparing a poster, good information for any submission or presentation you’re working on.
Dean's Day 2013 consisted of six poster sessions April 1-3, with selected participants giving oral presentations of their work during the awards ceremony on April 15. All students that submitted abstracts gave a poster presentation during one of the six sessions. Presentations were scored by faculty judges to determine the winners.
All currently matriculated Pitt Public Health students are eligible to participate in Dean’s Day, with the exception of those who won first prize in the previous year’s competition.
If you have any questions about Dean's Day, contact Caitlin McCullough, 412-624-3646.
2013 Winners
Departmental Awards
BCHS Department Award, doctoral category:
Jason Flatt, PhD student
BCHS Department Award, master's category:
Chelsea Pallatino, MPH student
BIOST Department Award, master’s category:
Phil Greer, MS student
BIOST Department Award, doctoral category:
Zhen Zeng, PhD student
EOH Keleti Award for excellence in environmental health:
Travis Bui, PhD student
EPIDEM Department Award, doctoral category:
Qu Tian, PhD student
EPIDEM Department Award, master’s category:
Tenley Brownright, MPH student 
HPM Department Awards, master's category:
Second place: tie between Michelle Bassman, MHA student and Joseph Agyei, Jennifer Jozefiak, and Laura Griffin (group project), MHA students
First place: Logan Almasy, MHA student
HPM Department Awards, doctoral category:
Second place: Ana Progovac, PhD student
First place: tie between Carroline Lobo, PhD student, and Manik Razdan, PhD student
HUGEN Department Awards, doctoral category:
Second place: Samantha Rosenthal, PhD student
First place: Sandeep Khatri, PhD student
HUGEN Department Awards, master's category:
Aishwarya Arjunan, MPH/MS student
IDM Department Awards, master's category:
tie between Elsmarie Hormechea, MPH student and Emily Webster, MPH student
IDM Department Awards, doctoral category:
Yanille Scott, PhD student
School-wide Awards
Dean's Day third place, master's: Aishwarya Arjunan, HUGEN
Dean's Day second place, master's: Christian Rosas Salazar, MMPH
Dean's Day first place, master's: Freda Koomson, HPM
Dean's Day third place, doctoral: tie between Shilpi Oberoi, EOH and Ana Progovac, HPM
Dean's Day first place, doctoral: tie between Robert Coulter, BCHS and Jill Diesel, EPIDEM
Delta Omega Poster Award for the best poster, as judged by the Omicron chapter of Delta Omega, with the opportunity to compete nationally for a chance to present the poster at the APHA annual meeting goes to Abhishek Vishnu, EPIDEM
Rosenkranz Award for the project judged to be the most significant contribution to the public health field to Jason Flatt, PhD student in BCHS
The Catherine Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award for Service to the Underserved:
master’s category: Lannea Adamson, MPH student in BCHS
doctoral category: Lynne Marshall, PhD student in EPIDEM
The Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice:
tie between Olivia Houck, MPH student in IDM and Samantha Malone, DrPH student in EOH
Health Disparities Poster Competition is a University-wide award
master’s category: Aishwarya Arjunan, MPH/MS student in Hugen
doctoral category: Johanna Steenrod, PhD student in HPM
Click here for a list of previous Dean's Day winners.
2013 Presenters
Brooke Ackerman HPM I-15
Bullying as a Form of Abuse in Nursing Homes
Jemeille Ackourey, Haoliang Du, Hope McCullough, Chelsea Minsinger, Olamide Oyede II-1
A Survey of U.S. Neighborhoods
Lannea Adamson BCHS VI-1
Group Engagement as a Complement to One on One Mentoring: Preliminary Data from a Longitudinal Study Designed to Reduce Repeat Teen Pregnancy
Joseph Agyei HPM II-2
Reducing Patient Wait Times in the Ambulatory Surgical Unit
Joseph Agyei, Jennifer Jozefiak, Laura Griffin HPM IV-2
TriStar-CareSpot Urgent Care Business Plan
Vasudha Ahuja EPIDEM II-3
Comparison of Insulin Resistance Markers between Caucasian and Japanese men -ERAJUMP Study
Sevinc Alkan HUGEN III-1
ELN mutations and TGF-beta signaling in autosomal dominant cutis laxa
Logan Almasy HPM IV-3
Disaster Planning in Assisted Living Facilities
Aishwarya Arjunan HUGEN I-1
Prevalence of the beta-s gene among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in Central India
Aishwarya Arjunan HUGEN III-2
Improving Health Literacy among the Socio-economically Disadvantaged Scheduled Tribes for Sickle Cell and other diseases in Southern India
Julius Asubonteng EPIDEM II-4
Metabolic syndrome and Carotid Artery remodeling: Study of Women's Health Across the Nation
Michelle Bassman HPM IV-4
Infection Control in Nursing Homes
Erica Bednar HUGEN II-5
Detection of a Microdeletion by Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing
Stacey Benson EPIDEM IV-5
Environmental Burden, Economic Deprivation and Pregnancy Outcomes in Allegheny: A Geospatial Analysis
Stella Berendam IDM VI-2
Innate Immune Potential of Purified Primary Lymphatic Endothelial Cells
Tenley Brownwright EPIDEM V-1
Spatial Analysis of Measles Vaccination Rates, East Africa
Travis Bui EOH III-3
Impacts of Aflatoxin Regulations on the Global Trade of Food Commodities
Jessie Carr EOH V-10
Developing and validating an online GIS-based survey instrument to elicit perceived neighborhood information for public health research: A Pilot Study in New York City and Pittsburgh
Didier Chalhoub EPIDEM VI-3
Risk of non-spine fractures among men and women with sarcopenia, low bone mass or both
Robert Coulter BCHS I-3
Psychosocial health problems associated with risk for multiple sexual partners, sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy among sexual minority girls
Jill Diesel EPIDEM I-4
Gestational weight gain and early childhood growth and obesity
Yvonne Eaglehouse EPIDEM II-6
Reported Changes in Physical Activity Following Participation in the Group Lifestyle Balance Program at Community Sites in Allegheny County
Melissa Fann HPM II-7
Presbyterian University Hospital ICU Transition Project
Catherine Fickley EPIDEM VI-4
Social avoidance shows an increased risk for mortality in a type 1 diabetes cohort: A 22 year follow-up study
Jason Flatt BCHS V-2
Memory performance and the structural characteristics of social networks in community-dwelling older adults
Diana Garciafigueroa EOH III-4
Arsenic-stimulated adipose fat metabolism is mediated by G-protein coupled receptors
Sara Gillooly EOH III-5
Development and Validation of a Magnetic Method Using Deciduous Tree Leaves to Obtain Spatially-Resolved Air Pollution Measurements in Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Kara Golya BCHS IV-7
Regaining Control Over Cancer: A Health Communications Initiative Documenting Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Cancer Patients and Survivors
Kalyani Gopalan HPM II-8
Is Severe Mental Illness a risk factor for 30-day Readmission Rate for Medicare beneficiaries?
Phil Greer BIOST V-3
A Cross-sectional, Multi-site Study of T1 Weighted Magnetic Resonance Image Properties
Fanyin He BIOST II-9
Nonparametric MANOVA Approaches For Multivariate Outcomes in Small Clinical Studies
Tianhua He PHDL IV-8
Hepatitis C Screening in Prisons: Health and Economic Impact on Society
Elsmarie Hormechea IDM III-6
HPV CONNECTION PROJECT: Increasing Awareness of the Links between Oral Cancer and HPV
Olivia Houck IDM I-5
Modeling Staffing Dynamics for POD Operations in an Infectious Disease Emergency
Julie Kenyon BCHS I-6
Kreating Realistic Urban New-school Knowledge KRUNK: Integrating community assets, support and artistic expression to deliver physical and mental health messages
Sandeep Khatri HUGEN III-7
Antagonistic regulation of transforming growth factor-beta by fibulin-4a and fibulin-4b is required for cardiovascular and musculoskeletal development in zebrafish
Freda Koomson HPM VI-15
Management & Policy Analysis of Liberia's National Health Plan 2011-2021
Tri Le HPM III-8
Benchmarking Hospital Performance: Establishing the Inclusion of Interhospital Transfers in Acute Myocardial Infarction 30-Day Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rates
Chien-Wei Lin BIOST VI-6
Assessing Molecular age based on postmortem brain gene expression profile
Carroline Lobo HPM II-11
The Economic and Public Health Impact of Magnetic Resonance Elastography and Transient Elastography for Assessment of Fibrosis in Chronic Hepatitis C
Carroline Lobo HPM V-4
Perceptions of People with Chronic Pain About Their Personal, Professional, and Social Environments: Survey Results of an Outpatient Clinic Population
Christa Lorenchick HUGEN V-5
Craniofacial anomalies in cutis laxa
Beatrice Lors BCHS V-6
Sexual & Reproductive Health Policies for Adolescents in Foster Care
Samantha Malone EOH III-10
Public Health and High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing
Rebecca Marino IDM IV-9
Current Pcr-Based Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Genotyping is Sensitive to Copy Number Variation
Lynne Marshall EPIDEM I-8
A Comparison of Circulatory and Respiratory Hospitalization Rates of Coal Mining and Non-Coal Mining Counties in West Virginia: A Preliminary Analysis
Neha Mehta EPIDEM III-11
Growth and Type 1 Diabetes in Rwanda
Sherri Mosovsky BCHS V-7
RADICLE Moms Study: Minority Stress and Implications for Lesbian Mothers
Nancy Niemczyk EPIDEM IV-10
Nulliparity is Associated with Greater Common Carotid Artery Intima Media Thickness and Adventitial Diameter in Overweight and Obese Youn Women
Karen Nunley EPIDEM IV-12
White Matter Hyperintensities in Type 1 Diabetes
Jennifer Oakley EPIDEM V-8
Assessment of an Acute Stroke Research Program from a public health practice perspective
Shilpi Oberoi EOH V-9
The Global Burden of Disease caused by Arsenic in food
Megan Olson Hunt BIOST VI-5
The effect of imputing a complex outcome on the rejection rate of Pearson’s chi-square test for independence and a resampling-based correction factor
Chelsea Pallatino BCHS I-2
Women's Perception of Hygiene and Sanitation in Rural Andhra Pradesh India
Dhvani Parikh EOH I-10
Roles for telomeric proteins in regulating nucleotide excision repair at chromosome ends
Hannah Pope-Varsalona EOH VI-5
Cellular Defense against Telomere Dysfunction Induced by Hexavalent Chromium
Ana Progovac HPM I-11
Psychological Attitudes Predict Smoking Over Time in the Women's Health Initiative
Manik Razdan HPM VI-7
Breakdowns in the hospital organ donor process: How many organs do we lose?
Bonny Rockette-Wagner EPIDEM V-11
Differences in physical activity outcomes due to changes in accelerometer methodology
Christian Rosas Salazar MMPH V-12
Prematurity and Asthma in Puerto Rican Children
Samantha Rosenthal HUGEN VI-8
Beta-amyloid toxicity modifier genes and the risk of Alzheimer's disease
Adam Santanasto EPIDEM III-12
Intermuscular Adipose Tissue Change is Related to Improved Physical Performance in Older Adults
Gerald Schafer EPIDEM VI-9
Do Food Costs Increase for Participants in a Diabetes Prevention Program?
Yanille Scott IDM VI-10
Evaluation of broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies for protection of human mucosal tissue ex vivo
Devi Sharanya Sampath Kumar HUGEN VI-11
Intragenic differential methylation alters the CXCR3 splice programA direct link
Yomei Shaw HPM IV-13
The Influence of Patient and Physician Factors on Decisions to Adjust Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients in Moderate to High Disease Activity
Tushar Singh EPIDEM III-13
Mobility and Independent Living in Elders Study (MILES): Design and baseline characteristics
Stephen Smagula EPIDEM II-12
Sleep Architecture of Depressed and Anxious Community Dwelling Older Men
Shaina Stacy EOH IV-14
Do Current Aflatoxin Regulatory Standards Adequately Protect Global Health?
Johanna Steenrod HPM V-13
Rural Access to Primary Care: Evaluating the Quality of Research through Citation Network Analysis
Yan Tang HPM V-14
Regional Variation in Use of Generic Drugs and Medicare Part D Cost Sharing
Yerkebulan Talzhanov Hugen V-15
Genetic variants within the MHC region are associated with immune responsiveness to childhood vaccinations
Qu Tian EPIDEM I-12
Objectively Measured Physical Activity Dose, Duration and Intensity and Brain Microstructure in Very Old Adults
Alexander Ufelle EOH I-13
Differential Lung Osteopontin expression is associated with gender differences in the severity of Silica-induced Pulmonary fibrosis
Dovile Usaite HPM IV-15
Pharmacist Integration into Primary Care
Karl Vanderwood EPIDEM III-14
DVD and face-to-face delivery of lifestyle intervention for diabetes prevention are effective regardless of setting
Abhishek Vishnu EPIDEM I-14
Prevalence of Carotid Plaque and Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among 40-49 Year Old White, Japanese American, Japanese in Japan and Korean Men from the ERA JUMP Study
Rachel Ward EPIDEM II-13
Longitudinal Sensory and Motor Peripheral Nerve Function and Incident Disability
Emily Webster IDM VI-12
Overuse of Antibiotics for Asymptomatic Bacteriuria at a University Teaching Hospital
Ann Wiringa EPIDEM III-15
Endometrial neutrophil and plasma cell counts among women with clinically suspected pelvic inflammatory disease
Colleen Zaccard IDM II-14
CD40L induces networks of branching tunneling nanotube-like extensions exclusively in type 1 polarized dendritic cells
Zhen Zeng BIOST VI-13
Improved methods for inferring kinship using genomic data