BUZZFEED NEWS - The resumption of an upward trend in overdose deaths matches projections that HPM's Hawre Jalal and colleagues made in a 2018 study. "The trend has been rising for 30 years, and it has only been accelerating in the pandemic," Jalal said, adding that more recent analysis suggests the trend may date back as far as 1959.
HEALIO - Adults with asthma living in neighborhoods that were deprioritized for mortgage investments in the 1930s, or redlined, had worse lung function than those living in non-redlined areas, Alexander Schuyler (EOH '23) and EOH Chair Sally Wenzel found in a cross-sectional study. "Black communities were mostly completely demarked in red or redlined as a result of this racist practice," said Schuyler.
As part of National Public Health Genetics Week HUGEN's Andrea Durst moderated a panel of four Pitt Public Health students offering their perspectives on what interested them in getting into public health and why they chose to focus on public health genetics. "Public health genetics has the potential to shift public health as we know it," said Courtney Kasturiarachi. "It means increased access to genetic testing and screening as well as the forc...
HEALIO - IDM and EPI's Jean Nachega and colleagues published a perspective in The New England Journal of Medicine that said concerns about access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa resemble concerns regarding access to ART for HIV in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, when it was more accessible in high-income countries than African countries – “a disparity that resulted in many preventable deaths in these high-burden settings,” they wrote.
NEW YORK TIMES - "With my unvaccinated children, we will not be socializing maskless indoors with other families with kids. My kids go to school and day care, and I am not willing to risk introducing Covid in those settings due to our family's socialization activities," said BCHS's Stina Mair.
Teaming grants through the University's Momentum Funds are utilized for early-stage planning of large multidisciplinary projects. BCHS' Patricia Documet (BCHS '95, '02) along with a group of Pitt researchers for a project entitled "Developing a Latinx Youth Research Advisory Board to Address and Dismante Structural Inequities in Emerging Latinx communities."
Taylor Robinson won the master's prize at this year's poster competition from the Office of Health Sciences Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for her poster Examining Role of Environmental Pollution, Healthcare Access, and Social Vulnerability in Asthma Emergency Department Visits in Allegheny County. Mary Schiff won the doctoral award with her work The Differential Impact of Residential Segregation on Gestational Hypertension Development Among M...
PITTWIRE - A multisite study for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines being distributed to fight COVID-19 are highly effective in preventing hospitalizations among older adults, the most at-risk group for serious complications from the disease. Clinicians and researchers from Pitt Medicine and Pitt Public Health helped determine the results of the CDC led study.
EPI's Nancy Glynn (EPI '94) is the PittCoVax volunteer coordinator and has volunteered herself with students and staff from Pitt Public Health. "I was thrilled to work side-by-side with an awesome, energetic group of faculty, staff, and students," said Glynn. She also talked about building community and the importance of the vaccine.
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE - In a recent opinion piece, IDM's Peter Salk lays out three things: get vaccinated, continue with cautious mitigation strategies, and remember that anything we do as a nation to help quell the virus elsewhere will be good for everyone. "We have come a long way in over a year. An end to the pandemic may not yet be on our doorstep, but it should be not very far beyond the horizon," said Salk.
WTAE - HPM's Mark Roberts, director of the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, will continue to wear a mask when he's out in public, even though he's been vaccinated against COVID-19. "I was admittedly a little surprised (by the CDC's revised mask guidelines) because I think these policy issues are complicated and they're balancing multiple things."
Claire McCreavy (IDM '21) was awarded a 2020 Bob Yee Public Health Scholarship. A native of Lafayette Hill, PA, McCreavy is pursuing an MPH with a concentration in infectious disease management, intervention, and community practice (MPH-MIC). She studied public health/health promotion at West Chester University of PA and is interested in Irish dance, traveling, and hiking.
Kristen Eggles (IDM '21) was awarded a 2020 Bob Yee Public Health Scholarship. A native of Fort Hill, SC, Kristen is pursuing an MPH with a concentration in infectious disease pathogenesis, eradication, and laboratory practice (MPH-PEL). She studied biology at West Carolina University and is interested in yoga and finding new coffees.
Rachel Poad (IDM '21) was awarded a 2020 Bob Yee Public Health Scholarship. A native of Centreville, MD, Rachel is pursuing an MS in infectious diseases and microbiology. She studied biology at Wake Forest University and is interested in kitting, watching sports, and hanging out with friends.
"Congratulations as you step down from your successful tenure as chair of BCHS, and on your 2021 Fulbright!" said Phil Hallen, president emeritus of the Falk Foundation. "As the third holder of the Hallen Chair in Community Health and Social Justice, you have honored the chair's intent in your work with students and faculty in the community."
Congrats to Chinwoke Isiguzo (BCHS '22) on her award from the BCHS Karen S. Peterson Memorial Research Award for Women's Health for training in longitudinal data analysis. The award will support her dissertation research on stress as a mediator of discrimination shortening breastfeeding among Black women.
Alexander Sundermann (IDM '14, EPI '22), was named a 2021 fellow of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The status is "a distinction of honor for infection preventionists who are not only advanced practitioners of infection prevention practice, but also leaders within the field." Fellows are selected by their years of experience and contributions to the field of infection prevention. Congratulations!
BLOOMBERG - Clinical trials weren’t designed to study how the vaccines perform in specific subgroups and people with certain medical conditions weren’t included, said EPI and IDM's Lee Harrison, also with Pitt Medicine.
PITT WIRE - Congratulations to HUGEN and BIOST's Eleanor Feingold, recently promoted to vice dean, who was named to the 2021-22 class of the longest-running, cohort-based higher education leadership development progam in the U.S. Many of its alumni are now university presidents and provosts and acceptance is extremely competitive.
Dean Lichtveld announced upcoming leadership changes: Steve Albert to step down as BCHS chair with Velpandi Ayyavoo to serve as interim chair; Eleanor Feingold to become vice dean, Jessie Burke to interim as Feingold receives American Council on Education Fellowship. Dan Weeks will be interim chair of HUGEN.