Center for Minority Health
Established in 1994 and administratively headquartered in the office of the dean, the Center for Minority Health (CMH) is recognized as one of the nation’s premiere academic centers of excellence in minority health and health disparities research. CMH is directed by Stephen B. Thomas, PhD, Associate Dean for Diversity and Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice.
One of the signature projects of CMH is the Healthy Black Family Project (HBFP). According to Healthy People 2010, the nation’s guide to better health, significant improvement in quality of life can be achieved with a focus on health promotion and disease prevention. The HBFP is designed to reduce and prevent diabetes and hypertension in Pittsburgh’s African American community through physical activity, nutrition education, smoking cessation, stress management, and self-management of chronic disease. More than 6,000 African Americans have enrolled in the program.
Pittsburgh Influenza Prevention Project
GSPH was awarded a two-year, $2.75 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions against outbreaks of influenza in schools and homes. The Pittsburgh Influenza Prevention Project (PIPP) is developing a school-based early warning system to identify early cases and outbreaks of influenza and test the effectiveness of simple ways to help reduce the spread of the outbreak. The results of PIPP will be used in Pittsburgh and around the globe, according to Donald S. Burke, MD, dean of GSPH and principal investigator on the project.
According to Sam Stebbins, MD, MPH, director of the University’s Center for Public Health Preparedness and co-principal investigator of PIPP, “This project will help us learn a tremendous amount about how influenza can be successfully prevented. This is useful information every flu season, but it also will be applicable in the event of a serious pandemic such as might be caused by avian influenza.” Bird flu has killed tens of millions of birds worldwide and infected more than 250 people, more than half of whom died from the virus.
Although the project will be headed by GSPH, additional partners include the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Allegheny County Health Department, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.