WQED - EPI’s Dara Mendez, BCHS’s Patricia Documet, and Diego Chaves-Gnecco (MMPH ’00) are featured in a 30-minute documentary showcasing widespread and troubling health disparities. Lack of access to affordable care, racism, marginalization and other factors have led to increased rates of cancer, diabetes, asthma, and fetal and maternal death in Pittsburgh’s African American, Latinx, LGBTQIA+ and disabilities communities.
Epi Gives Back members Robbie Burke, Harika Dyer, Elora Kalix and Dr. Nancy Glynn, joined Dr. Tiffany Gary-Webb, Dr. Dara Mendez and the Black Equity Coalition for a Holiday Health Fair and Vaccine Clinic in North Braddock on Saturday, December 11, 2021. This event was an opportunity for the group to collect data on the community’s reasons for getting the COVID-19 vaccination, as well as to learn why some individuals might be vaccine-hesitant. M...
PITTWIRE - From addressing health disparities in transgender communities to researching links between racism and asthma, the Health Justice Scholars program challenges students to approach their work with a focus on equity. EPI's Dara Mendez said students were the inspiration behind starting the program. "They wanted to build community and work with other like-minded people who are doing similar work," she said.
JAMA NETWORK OPEN - In this cross-sectional study of 1059 Minneapolis residents who gave birth to a live singleton in 2016, the odds of preterm birth for pregnant people living in a neighborhood with high police presence was significantly higher compared with the odds of their racial counterparts in a low-presence neighborhood (90% increase for White individuals, 100% increase for US-born Black individuals, and 10% for Black individuals born out...
The Black Equity Coalition is a partnership between local physicians, public health professionals, government officials and community funders featuring Pitt Public Health's Dara Mendez, Tiffany Gary-Webb, Richard Garland, and Pitt Health Sciences' Noble Maseru.
HPM’s Marian Jarlenski and EPI’s Dara Mendez were recently awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their project “Evaluating interventions in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program to promote equity in pregnancy and child health for Black and Native populations.” They’ll draw on established partnerships to collect and evaluate data and incorporate community-based approaches to research, intervention development, and advocacy.
UPMC - “The fact that these resolutions and declarations garnered enough support to pass in multiple state and local governments is worthy of celebration,” said lead author EPI’s Dara Mendez, interim director of the Center for Health Equity. “Simultaneously, it signals an opportunity to advocate for further action to eliminate racism, which has well-documented negative effects on the health of individuals and communities...
UPMC - Americans are consuming more craft beer with higher alcohol content but are drinking less beer by volume, according to a new analysis from Mary Schiff (EPI '21) and EPI's Tony Fabio (EPI '99, '94) "We were pleasantly surprised to learn...that Americans seem to be self regulating," said Schiff. Additional Pitt Pubilc Health colleagues involved in the work were EPI's Dara Mendez and Tiffany Gary-Webb.
The Center for Health Equity along with co-sponsor Block Chronicles, held a Poetic Health Justice Forum to curate a space where people in public health, scholars, artists, writers, and creatives are in conversation about issues of equity, justice, and health. They invited poets and writers "who inspire us to envision a future, to think beyond our boundaries, and to be in concert with community across our areas and disciplines.”
In observance of Black Maternal Health week, EPI's Dara Mendez presented Black Maternal Health in Pennsylvania and the U.S., presenting data, discussing the implcations of racism and next steps. Open for the full recording.