All seven of our outstanding departments boast a diverse faculty with cutting-edge research interests, broad involvement in public health practice, and a commitment to teaching and mentoring. Meeting these esteemed faculty members is not just an expectation at Pitt Public Health—it is a reality. You will learn from and work with professors who are among the most highly regarded experts in the public health field. And they will get to know you.
Pitt Public Health is among the top schools in the country in research dollars per faculty member, which is a testament to the quality of our teaching staff and a measure of how we emphasize research at every level—basic, translational and applied.
Here are just a few of the professional achievements, awards and recognition our faculty members have received:
Professional Achievements
Our faculty members are recognized for their work and research by many organizations and their own peers, including:
Thomas E. Guadamuz was one of seven fellows chosen to participate in the highly competitive Fordham HIV Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute summer training and mentored research program for early career investigators funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Sally C. Morton is a fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is a founding editor of Statistics, Politics, and Policy and has served as chair of Section U (Statistics) of the AAAS and as the 2009 president of the ASA.
Zsolt Urban was elected vice chair, Gordon Research Conference on Elastin, Elastic Fibers & Microfibils.
M. Michael Barmada was appointed associate director of the Center for Simulation and Modeling (Dietrich School of Arts and Science/Swanson School of Engineering).
M. Ilyas Kamboh accepted the position as editor-in-chief of a new journal Current Genetic Medicine Reports, published by Springer.
Lisa S. Parker, PhD, was a member of the expert scientific panel for eMERGE (Electronic Medical Record and Genomics) National Consortium.
Notable Projects
Steven M. Albert received a grant from the RK Mellon Foundation to develop a community violence prevention research effort in the Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Center for Health Equity.
Patricia I. Documet received an R21 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research for her project De la Mano con la Salud/Lend a Hand for Health: A Male Lay Health Advisor Network in a New Growth Community.
Jane E. Clougherty has been appointed by the Allegheny County Health Department to conduct a three-year study of diesel emissions in downtown Pittsburgh.
Trevor J. Orchard, has established collaboration on childhood diabetes in Africa between Pitt Public Health and the National University of Rwanda School of Public Health.
Andrea M. Kriska leads a team working on translation of lifestyle modification to community interventions in our Physical Activity Epidemiology program. Kriska and her group have been active in promoting clinical translation of the Group-Lifestyle Balance Program through the military and have received invitations for international workshops in Canada and Guam.
Public Health Practice Examples
Pitt Public Health faculty members are involved in collaborative projects with public health agencies and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. Among the many are: the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, the Allegheny County Health Department, the South Oakland Community Development Corporation, PERSAD, Tobacco Free Allegheny, the Lehigh Valley Board of Health, the Hospital Council of Southwest PA, the Huntington’s Disease Society.
Chongyi Wei helped the World Health Organization develop new guidelines for the prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men and transgender people.
Linda Frank received funding for a new grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. Her Telehealth AETC Appalachian Project will provide training to community health centers on HIV, hepatitis, and related conditions.
Commitment to Teaching and Mentoring
Pitt Public Health professors are often called upon to serve as expert lecturers and instructors in other academic programs at universities and professional conferences.
Jessica Griffin Burke worked closely with the Kellogg Health Scholars at the University of Pittsburgh to develop a Health Equity: Social Determinants of Health lecture series. Speakers included international experts including Paula Braveman (UCSF), Patricia O’Campo (University of Toronto) and Thomas Glass (Johns Hopkins University). Attendance at each seminar exceeded 50 participants and feedback about the quality of and interest in the series was strong. The talks were held in concert with the Public Health Dynamics Lab, School of Law, and Center for Health Equity within Behavioral and Community Health Sciences.
The Summer Institute in Biostatistics, led by Roslyn A. Stone was re-funded for a second term of three years to continue its mission of introducing exceptional undergraduates from across the country to the fields of biostatistics and public health.
Clareann H. Bunker directs an NIH-funded Fogarty program for training public health researchers in India with training sessions in India and in Pittsburgh.