REUTERS - "Caffeine in utero may change how the brain develops," said EPI's LISA BODNAR. "This is important because the brain has a strong influence over appetite." Caffeine passes rapidly through the placenta and has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and restricted fetal development, previous research has found.
HOME HEALTH CARE NEWS - Because of the nature of hospice being separate, Medicare Advantage plans are not as familiar with the benefit and its overall costs. “There is a fair amount of uniformity in the concerns around a carve-in…the fact this has been regulated to be off their radar, they don’t have data on [hospice],” says HPM's JULIA DRIESSEN. “[There’s] no incentive for them to understand the hospice landscape.”
BIOPHARMA DIVE - Since 2007, invoice spending has grown 60%, yet net spending rose 36%. Less clear, however, is how those dynamics weigh on patients' wallets. "This does not help us figure out what's affecting out-of-pocket costs," WALID GELLAD, HPM professor.
TRIB LIVE - Penn Hills School District will host a safety discussion for eighth grade and high school students and families. There will be a panel of student athletes and coaches, representatives from the municipal police department, United Way, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape and BCHS's LIZ MILLER. It's a great opportunity to see what resources are available at the high school, everything from social to physical safety.
ASPPH FRIDAY LETTER - Last Thursday, ASPPH Data Center staff visited Pitt Public Health, meeting with administrators, staff, and the university-wide Tableau business intelligence user group. The consultation focused on upcoming ASPPH Annual Data Reporting, ASPPH resources for diversity studies, using the ASPPH Data Center Portal for admissions and careers services strategizing, and how ASPPH is cultivating a data culture among our membership.
TRIB LIVE – LifeX will tackle some of medicine’s biggest challenges for its initial focus. They announced a $2 million grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to help it get off the ground. “The LifeX team is proud to have the Hillman Foundation's support as we continue this longstanding legacy of facilitating cures to the most devastating and prevalent causes of suffering and death”, says CEO of LifeX and HUGEN’s DIETRICH STEPHAN.
NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT from CNBC - Americans are filling fewer prescriptions for opioids, however, heroin and stronger synthetic opioids like fentanyl have overtaken prescription drugs as the biggest causes of overdose deaths. “One of the main [questions] that people are concerned about is whether there’s been a transition to heroin and other forms of opioids because of the reduction in prescription opioids, says HPM’s WALID GELLAD (16:45-19:30...
An update on Pitt Public Health work making headlines around the world.
The winners of the 20th Dean's Day Student Research Competition were announced during an Oral Presentations and Awards Ceremony on April 17, 2018. Visit publichealth.pitt.edu/deansday for a list of winners.
“[Jonas Salk] had no idea what was going to come out of this experiment. He was just terrified that it wasn’t going to turn out to work, but it did,” said Peter Salk of his father's early tests of the first polio vaccines. Jonas Salk developed the first successful polio vaccine while working at Pitt. PETER SALK give his personal account of the polio vaccine development and talked about his father's other research and the 21st century work to mov...
Faculty and alumni spoke on a panel to highlight the public health impact on global communities, including immigration crises, planetary health, climate change, and the importance of health systems. KELLY SALDANA (BCHS ’01) talked about creating resiliency and figuring out what that means both at the individual level and the systems level to help lessen negative effects of climate change.
Experts from across public health disciplines discuss opioid epidemic research, intervention strategies, challenges, and steps for the future. “What we have to start to ask is what is it as a culture that we think is the most important part of what drives us, and that shouldn’t be bottom line, it should be quality of life, ” says JAN PRINGLE (EPI ’86) about the cultural shift on attitudes towards drug use.
Dean DONALD BURKE talks about the history of Pitt Public Health and looks to a future full of continued success of our alumni and faculty. DAVID SATCHER (HON '01), 16th United States Surgeon General, presents the keynote, "Informing and Influencing Public Health Policy and Practice." Satcher is also the founding director and senior advisor for the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine.
PITTWIRE - Doctoral alumna MALIHA ZAHID ( HUGEN '09) aims to reduce the amount of radiation that patients are exposed to when undergoing diagnostic imaging. Her creation, to be used during cardiac stress tests, was a previous Pitt PInCh winner.
In charming footage from an early episode of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," famed Pittsburgh muralist and sculptor, Virgil Cantini shares the maquette for his scientific "Man" sculpture and explains his vision for the work. The angular, larger-than-life metallic figure has adorned the Fifth Avenue facade of the school for the last half century, showing Man ever-reaching for the expansion of knowledge. (Excerpt courtesy of The Fred Rogers Company...
“It’s not about doing the cool work. It’s about doing the work that is necessary for that community,” says RUTH MODZELEWSKI (HUGEN '96) in a discussion featuring faculty and alumni about their impact on local communities, including collaboration between the private and public sector, the value of community based participatory research, empowering communities with early access to data, and acknowledging the “invisible” Latino community in Pittsbu...
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW - An iron lung machine will be on display at Pitt Public Health to honor polio pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine in 1955. The vaccine, tested in Pittsburgh school children, is considered one of medicine's most significant medical breakthroughs. “It's a reminder of the advances we have made in public health,” said Dr. Donald Burke, dean of Pitt's graduate school of public health.
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - The tubular yellow artifact placed on display in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health lobby Tuesday was an unfamiliar oddity to the many millennials walking by it, but 73-year-old Jael Greenleaf of Squirrel Hill knows it well. “I am claustrophobic to this day,” said Ms. Greenleaf, who spent months as a 5-year-old in one of the life-saving iron lungs used to assist the breathing of polio victims ...
UCSF NEWS - A study that involved combing through more than 50 years of data to assess the link between asthma and daycare and preschool attendance may provide welcome reassurance to working parents. Early child care does not boost children’s risk for developing this common respiratory disease, according to the study led by researchers including JUAN CELEDON, EPI and HUGEN professor.
WKSU-FM - No one knows what causes schizophrenia. It’s a devastating mental disorder that affects more than 3 million Americans. And while most people with schizophrenia can be treated, many don’t respond to medications. New research may find ways to help them. HUGEN’s VISHWAJIT NIMGAONKAR heads a team of researchers that’s looking at the genetic underpinnings of schizophrenia.