BBC - One in five deaths around the world is caused by sepsis, also known as blood poisoning. Derek Angus (’92 BCHS), now distinguished professor and Mitchell P. Fink Endowed Chair of Critical Care Medicine at Pitt School of Medicine, has contributed to a groundbreaking study finding that sepsis is twice as common as health officials have long believed, about 20 percent of all deaths worldwide.
KDKA - Imagine locker room talk about respect and stopping violence against women. Studies by BCHS’s Elizabeth Miller, who also directs adolescent and young adult medicine at UPMC Children’s Hospital, found that coaches can reduce abusive behavior toward girls among male athletes, even at the middle school level. Earlier studies had shown that high school coaches could have a significant impact. Pittsburgh Action Against Rape runs the Coaching...
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - Noble A-W Maseru of BCHS and director of the Center for Health Equity, noted the life expectancy difference between mostly white Highland Park (84 years) and nearby, mostly black Larimer (62 years). Dara D. Mendez, EPI, added that racism weathers the body, accelerating aging, and sapping the strength of society through a waste of community resources. Likely coming later this month: votes on a trio of bills that would de...
On a wet Wednesday night, December 4, Pitt Public Health student advocates Sarah Sanders (BCHS ’22), Sarah Bigelow (BCHS ’20), Paris Ekeke (EPI ’20), and Amy Raslevich (HPM ’22) joined peers from the schools of law and nursing for a Health Justice Night at Pitt's Community Empowerment Center in Homewood. The evening was powered by PechaKucha, aimed to spark community level engagement and inter-professional collaboration by offering a unique look...
BCHS’s Jessie Burke and Sara Baumann (BCHS '19) received a Hewlett Award from the University Center for International Studies for their project entitled, “Painting a way forward: Investigating the role of community art on mental health outcomes in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal.” The work extends ongoing research efforts in Nepal.
AIDS AND BEHAVIOR - O’Malley TL, Hawk ME, Egan JE, Krier SE, and Burke JG's findings indicate a dearth of research on women’s PrEP use and IPV and highlight the urgency for research, public heath practice, and policy attention around the HIV risk context and needs of women who experience IPV.
JUNIATA MAGAZINE - Pitt Public Health alumni are leaders in their fields. Congratulations to Jen Jones (BCHS '11) for her spotlight feature!
NEWS MEDICAL LIFE SCIENCES – BCHS’s Christina Mair said, “Careful analyses of the 'social ecologies' of drinking will lead to the development of more effective environmental prevention interventions.” In Mair’s recent study they tackle the problems researchers must address to fully understand the effects of physical and social environments on drinking patterns and problems.
PITTSBURGH MAGAZINE - The Center for Disease Control estimates that 130 people die in this country every day from opioid-related drug overdoses. As the executive director of Prevention Point Pittsburgh, Aaron Arnold (BCHS '13) is working to change that. In addition to offering a needle exchange program and STI testing, Prevention Point provides opioid users with free naloxone access and training, as well as other services. It is, quite literally...
WESA-FM -- A documentary about a local transgender musician’s reproductive health offers a new way to think about public health research: through the visual medium of film. Produced by Pitt Public Health postdoctoral associate Sara Baumann (BCHS '19), the film focuses on Jude Benedict, who identifies as trans-masculine genderqueer (someone whose gender was assigned female at birth, and often expresses themselves in a masculine way, but does not...
JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH - BCHS's Sumetsky, Burke, and Mair find that previous-year opioid-related hospitalizations are connected to common comorbid conditions such as HCV, HIV and mental disorders, illustrating some of the broader health-related impacts of the opioid epidemic.
AIDS & BEHAVIOR - Njagi M, Chandler,CJ, Coulter RWS, Siconolfi D, Stall R, Egan JE find that clinics using a social and sexual network index testing strategy with Kenyan MSM had significantly higher incidence rates of HIV diagnoses than control clinics.
AIDS AND BEHAVIOR- BCHS' Mary Hawk, the AIDS United Retention in Care Intervention Team, and coauthors find that evidence-based support and services help people living with HIV/AIDS who lack stable housing mitigate barriers to engagement in care.
RESEARCH GATE - Albert SM, King J, Anderson S, Dew MA, Zhang J, Stahl ST found the proportion of participants with incident major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder was 11.4% in problem-solving therapy (PST) and 14.3% in the enhanced usual care control arm. However, PST reduced the burden of anxiety symptoms.
JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH - Vanderpool RC, Huang B, Deng Y, Bear TM, Chen Q, Johnson MF, Paskett ED, Robertson LB, Young GS, Lachan R found variations in cancer beliefs were observed across the 3 states’ Appalachian populations. Interventions should be tailored to specific communities to improve cancer knowledge and beliefs and, ultimately, prevention and screening behaviors.