IDM Alumni Stories

TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT - As we did in wearing masks and taking other precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19, we should focus together on getting inoculated to move toward what scientists and doctors call “herd immunity” – a collective level of protection that blocks the spread of the virus. Herd immunity requires 80% of the population to be protected by either vaccination or previous infection, according to alumna Jill D. Henning (IDM ’08). “As ... 

TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT - Pitt Public Health alumna Jill D. Henning (IDM ’08), associate professor of biology at Pitt Johnstown, and fellow experts answer the public's questions about COVID-19.  For starters: The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for COVID-19 contain mRNA and not any virus, which means that you are not contagious. It is safe to interact with members of your household without a mask after the vaccine.  

Colleen R. Zaccard, Lauren Shapiro, Maria D. Martin-de-Saavedra, Christopher Pratt, Kristoffer Myczek, Amy Song, Marc P. Forrest, Peter Penzes Dendritic spinules are thin protrusions, formed by neuronal spines, not adequately resolved by diffraction-limited light microscopy, which has limited our understanding of their behavior. Here we performed rapid structured illumination microscopy and enhanced resolution confocal microscopy to stud... 

"I utilize all aspects of my Pitt Public Health training in my current position. As a consultant, I often work on multidisciplinary teams to solve clients’ unique problems related to human health risk management. I am grateful for the diversity of coursework, training, and other applied opportunities afforded to me as a Pitt Public Health student, because I feel like those opportunities have allowed me to make meaningful contributions to the tea... 

Nicholas V. Resciniti received his MPH with a concentration in infectious disease management, intervention, and community practice from Pitt Public Health in 2016. Currently, he is pursing his PhD in epidemiology from the University of South Carolina, with his dissertation focusing on microbiome disruption and the longitudinal association with cognitive impairment and dementia. His research focus is related to understanding the biological underp... 

Alexander Sundermann is a clinical research coordinator and a DrPH student in epidemiology at Pitt Public Health. As a doctoral student and clinical research coordinator, Sundermann works in the Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory (MiGEL). He and the MiGEL team are working with experts at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Carnegie Mellon University to build an Enhanced Detection System for Healthcare Associated Transmi... 

Congratulations to Justin A. Dutta (IDM '19, HUGEN '23) who was recently awarded a Critical Languages Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to study Portuguese. With an acceptance rate of less than 10%, the Critical Language Scholarship is one of the country's most competitive scholarships and the most prestigious language program for U.S. citizens.